Wednesday, December 10
Six Mile Creek, Mulholland Wildflower Preserve
Hike report by Jim
Twelve hikers and one dog met in the parking lot of the Mullholland Wildflower Preserve for a hike of the trails there as well as a visit to Wells Falls ( Businessman’s Lunch ) across Giles Street below the falls there. this is hike #1 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-1
The Wildflower Preserve trails were in good condition, although there was a slick icy walking surface, probably due to the volume of traffic that uses these trails.
No one else was in the parking lot as hikers arrived, and we only saw one other couple with a dog while we were on the hike.
The day was generally overcast and cool, and on the open bluff above second dam there was a cold wind blowing. The days snow held off until the group was done with our hike.
Our hikers left the parking lot, walking the blue blazed trail along the creek. Water levels were decent, and a good amount of water was flowing in the creek today. We paused for a group photo in a small grove of trees that offers a good view of the ice-covered cliff face on the opposite side of the creek. Occasionally when the water levels are low I’ll take the group closer to second dam along these lower trails, but we didn’t have that opportunity today.
We climbed the gradual hill towards the second dam access road, turning onto the path that skirts along the hillside towards second dam. There was a good view of the dam and reservoir today through the bare tree limbs. The one creek crossing on this trail was solidly sheathed in ice, but everyone made it across that obstacle without incident
Reaching the access road the group walked to second dam where we paused for a while before turning around and following the access rod back to Giles Street.
Theres a fairly new sidewalk along Giles Street that we took back to the bridge above first dam. The group crossed the bridge and turned into the downhill path towards the falls area. We skipped the upper blue blazed trail that crests the hill and comes down at the dam, due to trail conditions. This shaved a few minutes off of the normal hike duration.
The group came out at the bottom of the Wells Falls area. The cliffs opposite our viewing area were not as solidly ice-covered as it sometimes is, and while we were there some of the ice peeled away from the rocks and crashed to the creek below.
The hikers returned to the parking area, ending the hike significantly sooner than is normal. The snow commenced shortly thereafter.
Saturday, December 13
Woodard Road east into upper Robert Treman SP, Enfield
Hike report by Dave Bock
An overcast morning and a few flurries greeted 27 hikers and 2 dogs for an outing in and near Upper Treman S.P.. Setting off from Woodard Rd., we headed east on the FLT to reach a park access road that connected us to the Rim Trail. That soon led us to a winter-wonderland view of Lucifer Falls. The waterfall itself wove in an out of a massive sheet of ice, and the gorge’s rock walls offered ledges adorned with countless icicles. on the way back from the overlook, the group bifurcated, most doing a short bushwhack to reach the FLT for an out-and-back, others exploring more established trails. On the eventual trek back toward the trailhead patchy blue skies and moments of sun began to warm the morning. The two groups reunited back at the cars — all but 1 accounted for. As a few hikers were about to mount a search, a welcome text response relieved our concern. All’s well that ends well!
View Nancy Lorr and Randy Olson’s photo album.
Sunday, December 14
YMCA Outdoor education trails
Hike report by Jim
Fifteen hikers and three dogs met on Mecklenburg Rd at the YMCA Outdoor Education Center, for a looping hike that included trails within the YMCA property and nearby Ecovillage. This hike is not listed on our hikes list.
Normally on our hikes here I include a short segment of the Coy Glen Cornell Botanical Gardens property that lies between these two parcels, there’s a nice short red blazed trail that runs along the top of Coy Glen ravine. As I found out on a recent pre-hike of the trails for todays event, that trail segment is still closed by Cornell for hunting season for a couple more days. As a result, we had to stay within the YMCA property a bit longer than normal, and the hike ran overtime. Thanks to everyone for hanging in for the longer hike duration.
Overnight snowfall had left an inch or two of light powder on the ground, and as the hike started the trees were shedding a fine mist of snow from their branches. The sun wasn’t out at first but did eventually appear, giving us a mottled sunny day through the tree branches around us without hitting us with blinding white light reflecting off the fresh snow.
Today’s route started on the blue blazed trail that loops around the outside edge of the YMCA property, but I soon turned off that loop and took a combination of red, white and pink blazed trails that eliminates a section of the blur blazed loop that’s perpetually either wet or icy depending on the season. Anyone who missed the hike who might want to check out the property will want to bring a map to help them navigate the trail system here.
There are a couple of blow-down trees across the trails that are easy to navigate around until they can be cleared away.
The group returned to the blue blazed loop and bypassed the Cornell property before finally exiting onto the Ecovillage trail system which I have rely on notes I’ve made from previous hikes here to navigate successfully because the Ecovillage trails aren’t blazed in any way. A quick circuit around the Ecovillage fields brought us back to trails leading back onto YMCA property. From there we returned to the cars via the same selection of trails we’d used on the outbound leg of the hike.
