Hello Hikers!
Wed Sept 9
This report was written by Jim
Bob Cameron Loop, Connecticut Hill WMA
On Wednesday September 9th six hikers and one dog met at the radio tower on Tower Rd Town of Newfield for a hike of the Bob Cameron Loop. An additional hiker arrived late, but was unable to catch up to the group and did a solo hike of the same route.
Temps were warm but not unreasonably so. Trail conditions were dry, and had none of the slippery surfaces that resulted in my early departure in May. The group completed the Loop in fairly quick time.
Hikers found not only the trail to be dry, but all water crossings as well.
After completing the Loop, hikers opted to round out the two hour hike time by following the FLT on the same side of Tower Rd instead of crossing to the opposite side as the group often does.
Upon reaching the more Northerly FLT crossing on Tower RD, half of the group opted to re-trace their steps on the FLT, while the other half of the group chose to road-walk up Tower Rd back to the radio tower parking area.
This was a great end-of-summer hike.
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Sat Sept 12
This report was written by Jim
Curtis Road in South Danby south into Danby SF
On Saturday September 12, a total of 18 hikers and four dogs met at the intersection of Hill and Curtis Rds in the Town of Danby
These hikers were then joined by two additional hikers during the course of the hike.
This makes this the largest hiking group that the Ithaca Hikers have enjoyed on a single hike since the Covid pandemic started. Thanks to everyone for sticking around. It wouldn’t have been the same 2020 without you.
Hikers proceeded down Curtis Rd, propelled by a slightly chilly and blustery wind.
Despite the wind, I heard no complaints from anyone in the group. If anything, the weather seemed to be perfect hiking weather. I actually heard comments from some people that they for once weren’t having to shed or add layers to remain comfortable
After the usual stop along the fenceline of the Karenville B & B to admire and feed the pony there, the group continued South on Curtis Rd.
At the FLT crossing the group split into roughly halves, with one half proceeding down the FLT, and the reminder continuing the roadwalk on Curtis Rd.
I hiked with the roadwalk group but spoke to the FLT group at the end of their hike; they reported several group members sustaining bee stings on their hike near the new bridge.
The roadwalk group did an out-and-back hike, finding a small amount of mud and puddles along Curtis RD but nothing to slow us down or detract from what was a great day hike in Danby. The trees are really starting to show some color change, although nothing of any brilliance yet.
More photos:
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Sun Sept 13
This report is by Jim
Lindsay Parsons Preserve, West Danby
Thirteen hikers and 5 dogs met in the parking lot of Lindsey Parsons preserve on the Town of Danby. The group was fairly dispersed throughout the hike, with a few of the dogs and a couple of the hikers who had opted to hike in the normal route rejoining the group only at the end of the hike.
A highlight of this hike this time of the year is the goldenrod that thrives in the first field or two we generally walk through, if it hasn’t been mowed down yet. I had originally planned on doing this hike a month ago; Leigh Ann had checked out the Preserve for me in anticipation of an earlier hike. At that time the goldenrod was not fully grown, and so we delayed the hike until the middle of September.
Hikers who arrived early today scouted the fields for me and reported back that the fields of goldenrod had been mowed. To compensate for this loss, I led the group initially around an observation loop for Coleman Lake that starts at the southerly end of the parking lot. The group hasn’t done this loop in the past, but I scouted it out briefly this morning and found that the goldenrod was NOT mowed in that area.
After doing that very brief loop, I led the group to the trailhead we normally launch our hikes from, but opted to reverse our normal hiking direction as a way to vary the hike.
First we stopped by an observation point for the beaver ponds that we haven’t regularly stopped at in the past. This provided a very pastoral overview of the mown fields, the beaver ponds and near-by forested areas. After that we bushwhacked across the mown fields and commenced our reverse loops of trails. We hiked red, yellow, orange, blue and purple trails over the course of the hike.
There are a number of fairly newer looking signs indicating various observation or other points of interest within the preserve or also private property lines, and it seems that part of the path is a re-route around private land that we hadn’t seen previously.
Towards the end of the hike we stopped at the end of Coleman Lake, something we normally do in the beginning of our hikes in the Preserve. We found that a considerable amount of work has been done filling in around the end of the lake and improving access roads to the lake. Water levels seemed lower than normal, and the array of tree trunks in the lake were visible.
The weather held out for us today; there was supposed to be rain, but that didn’t start until after the hike had concluded. Temperatures during the hike were warm enough that many hikers were shedding layers very early in the hike.
There were a few other hikers encountered along the route, but overall contact with other people was extremely minimal.
This was a great hiking day and location.
More photos: