Two steep trails up the hill from lower Buttermilk Falls SP to the upper level
This is the entrance to the Owl Creek Trail, which starts off the road from the lower parking lot up to the cabins. I never heard of this trail until late last fall — it’s not on the main park trail map and it starts in a very obscure place (though it is on this trail map). In any case, it’s a beautiful trail and well worth doing regularly. It’s basically just about as steep as the other better known trails that run from the lower parking lot up the hill — that’s to say, it’s a killer.The trail ends in this small cemetery on upper Stone Quarry Road. It’s a nice little spot but there’s not much to see — it’s really just a place to turn around.For part of the way, the trail runs right along the edge of a very deep and steep ravine through which Owl Creek flows — if you’re into contour maps, you can see the Google contour map showing the ravine and the road here.Here’s a view of the creek — very prettyWe made the trip up and back to the cemetery in just an hour — to fill out the other hour, we walked up the rim trail and then walked on the Bear Trail for a little while. This added up to a lot of time spent going uphill strenuously — and it puts this hike into maybe first place as the most strenuous one we do.
Danby SF — Loop trail from Bald Hill Road to Diane’s Crossing and back
Diane’s Crossing, the little bridge across Michigan Creek where we started heading back toward the carsIt looks a bit overgrown and brushy in the photo, but it’s actually a very lovely and serene spotBack at Bald Hill Road
Official head count: 25H, three D
More photos:
Jack V. I’m not able to get a working link to this album of Jack’s. To see these shots, use one of the other two links to Jack’s work in this report, and then click on the phrase ” > Ithaca Hiker Photos >”. That will take you to the home page for Jack’s photos, and you’ll see his Danby shots album in the top left.
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Sun April 7
Monkey Run Natural Area, south side of Fall Creek, Varna
