Author: Benben

Wednesday, June 25

Oakley Corners State Forest, Tioga County

Hike report by Jim

Four hikers met in Tioga County for a loop hike of the yellow blazed trail system in Oakley Corners State Forest. This is hike # 60-3 on our list of hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.

This was the first time the group has hiked at Oakley Corners in about three years. Since the last time we hiked here the state had opened some new red-blazed trails, which I hiked on Tuesday before deciding to not include those trails in today’s route.

The day was sunny, although the hikers stayed under the forest canopy for most of the route, except for a quick stop or two at one of the two ponds our route today had us passing. Because of this we seemed to escape the worst of any heat we might have otherwise experienced.

Other than a group of juvenile campers with their adult group leaders that we ran into along the way, we had the trail system to ourselves during the hike.

Welcome to Ann H and Ralph H on their first hike with the group!

Saturday, June 28

Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area, Newfield

Hike report by Dave Bock

Three Hills Loop: A group of 18 hikers set out from the cemetery in the Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area for a 4.25-mile loop hike. The morning was cool, a welcome change after a week of hot, steamy weather. After a brief walk south along the road, we turned west through a short stretch of tall grass to enter the woods for the rest of the hike. We passed a vernal pool, strangely dry despite recent rains, before stopping to look at a tree that’s home to a porcupine. There was no sign of the critter, just a pile of droppings at the foot of the tree. For quite a while the terrain was varied, generally flat with several short uphills and a few gullies. It led us into a fairly remote area of the WMA. where a visiting hiker from Georgia remarked that she thought she heard banjo music. (Younger hikers not familiar with the reference might want to stream the movie Deliverance.) Soon thereafter and well past the halfway mark the trail descended steeply to a stream crossing where, despite very slippery stepping stones, only a few feet got wet. After crossing back a few hundred yards later, the trail paralleled the stream before heading uphill, a mile long steady climb that brought us back to the cars in 2h 10m. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

View Randy Olson and Nancy Lorr’s photo album.

Sunday, June 29

Upper Buttermilk Falls State Park from Yaple Road

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Twenty-one hikers and one hiker dog on leash met where the FLT Buttermilk Spur crosses Yaple Road for a loop-and-spokes hike into upper Buttermilk. When approaching the meet-up spot on Yaple or Comfort Road, we saw signs for a race, which we hadn’t anticipated: the Tortoise and Hare Trail Run. So, we knew we would share the trail with runners. For about the first half hour of our hike, we stayed on the left-hand side of the trail and pulled off to applaud whenever a runner passed.

The weather couldn’t have been better for late June. Humidity was low and there hadn’t been much rain over the past week, which made it fun to cross Buttermilk Creek on rocks or through water. Air quality was excellent, so there was no orange glow in the sunlight and the sky was hard-candy blue. All colors and shadows were saturated. 

Our route took us around the eastern side of Treman Lake/marsh and up to La Tourelle. We remarked at the lovely Firelight glamping area, which has a nice coffee/bar/check-in area that’s open to the public until 11:00 pm and live music on Tuesday nights in the summer. Then we headed across the Treman Lake dam, up the Bear Trail to King Road, and back around the western side of Treman Lake. We arrived back at the cars 10 minutes later than expected, after about 4.75 miles and 725 feet of elevation gain.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

View Randy Olson and Nancy Lorr’s photo album.

Wednesday, June 18

Robinson Hollow State Forest

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Eleven hikers met at the junction of the FLT and Robinson Hollow Road to head south for an hour on the FLT and back. This hike starts at a large beaver dam and pond, then goes up and down some gentle slopes until it passes an old homestead foundation that is two miles in from the road. This is where we turned around because the trail heads much more steeply down from there. The weather was like a warm, pleasantly drizzly blanket. There had been some big weather action this season that brought down enormous trees with enormous root pads, but these had already been sawn through by the time we passed them. We returned to the cars in 110 minutes, so a few of us headed up the FLT to the north of Robinson Hollow Road and back to add a bit more time and a tiny bit more elevation gain.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, June 21

Jenksville State Forest, Newark Valley

Hike report by Jim

Thirteen hikers and a single dog met on Allison Hill Rd in Tioga County for a loop hike of the yellow and blue trails in Jenksville State Forest. This is hike # 60-4 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.

The day was sunny and quite warm, but the route today was entirely under the forest canopy. I didn’t realize how hot the middle of the day had become until we arrived back at our cars at the end of the hike. The footpath was mostly clear of mud but there were still a few locations along the way that were the consistency of brownie batter, if not actual mud. Most of the footpath was clear of overgrown weeds, but especially in the lower parts of our route there were some overgrown weeds that crowded the trail. Poison ivy along the trail was a common sight, and some people spoke of stinging nettles along the route.

Elevation changes on this hike were fairly minimal compared to some hikes we go on. The first third or more of the hike is a generally steady downhill direction, which would normally lead hikers to think that the second half of the hike entails a similar uphill segment. That is not the case for this particular hike thanks to the very gradual uphill elevation changes on the return part of our route.

As in the past we stopped along the way to check out the view across the valley as well as some of the old foundations found in the state forest.

There were a few family-sized groups of hikers who arrived as I was pulling in the parking lot, and a few extra cars were in the lot as we wrapped up the hike, but we had our entire route today to ourselves.

Sunday, June 22

FLT east from Logan Rd. toward Burnt Hill Rd., Finger Lakes National Forest, Burdett

Hike report by Casey

Nine hikers met on Logan Road at the FlT trailhead.
We went east on the FLT for a one mile climb to the first crossing of Burnt Hill Road. We then continued east on the FLT with various ups and downs and many obstacles such as blown down trees and overgrown wild rose until reaching the second crossing of Burnt Hill Road at about one hour and ten minutes. From there we took the road uphill and back to the first crossing and reengaged the FLT to head west and back to our cars for a total of 4.9 miles and two hours and five minutes. 
It was hot and buggy but just a few raindrops here and there.

Wednesday, June 11

Connecticut Hill, Newfield

Hike report by Dave Bock

10 hikers and a dog met on the west slope of Connecticut Hill for a 4 mile loop hike following trails mostly new to the group. The day was comfortably warm with an occasional breeze, and while we encountered some wet areas there was less mud than the recent rains threatened to offer. Led by Dave G, we briefly walked east on Van Loon Rd (Schuyler County) before turning into the woods. The trail passed across the top of an old gravel bank, traversed mixed forest around the end of a large DEC cut, and then ascended to hit the road again farther east. After crossing the road, the group walked through a grassy field to an abandoned logging road, then veered off into the woods again. A relatively fast pace allowed time to visit the site of CtHill’s “lost coal mine”, a bogus venture by a local landowner to try to sell his property a century ago. Heading west from there, a newly cleared trail afforded hikers their first look at some of CtHill’s western woods as we returned to the cars.

View Nancy Lorr’s photo album.

Saturday, June 14

The Abbott Loop from Bald Hill Rd., Danby SF

Hike report by Jim

The Ithaca Hikers hosted an FLTC Founders Day hike on part or all of the Abbott Loop in the Town of Danby in memory of FLT founder Erv Markert. This is hike # 19-A on the Ithaca Hikers hike list of regular hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-19.

Joining the Ithaca Hikers were members of the Cayuga Trails Club as well as several out-of-town hikers who RSVPd to the hike through the FLTC hike registration process.

Weather conditions were cool and a bit overcast; overall, good hiking weather. The usual points along the Abbott Loop were a little muddy, and the stream crossings had a good amount of water flowing after the recent frequent rains.

The hike took place on map sheet “The Abbott Loop”, available in paper or electronic formats at: https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/.

Here is a short synopsis of the contributions Mr. Markert made to the FLT:

Erv Markert held the position of Trail Committee Chairman for over 20 years. The FLT was less than 50 miles on the ground when Erv took his place as Trail Manager.

In June of 1964, along with some friends he flew more than 350 miles in a small plane piloted by Fred Hiltz scouting out routes in the eastern part of New York State.

He also served as FLT president from 1971-1973. Erv graciously made a place for the FLT office in his home and though he recruited help for some of the endless tasks associated with record keeping, he and his family were the folks who answered the phone when anyone needed something or had a question.

Erv heard about the trail from a news article and attended [the] first meetings. Erv and his wife Kathy met Wally Wood on the trail of the Bristol Hills Branch one day. Wally knew a good thing when he saw it because soon afterward, he knocked on the Markert’s’ door and proceeded to talk Erv into taking the position of Trails Manager.

During those 20 years he worked tirelessly for the FLT and was the perfect public relations liaison with the Appalachian Trail Conference and other groups.

He served on the Board of the National Trail Council, North Country Trail Advisory Board and was instrumental in the establishment of the New York State Trails Council.

When asked why he became interested in the FLT his reply was simple: “I have always been interested in the outdoors but hunting and fishing didn’t answer all my needs. The Trail offered a chance for my family to do something together.”

Erv’s legacy is truly phenomenal. When he received the Wally Wood Award in 1985 the main trail was 420 miles and branch trails totaled 196 miles. Most of those miles were nurtured by the intelligence and carefulness of Erv Markert.

A total of 24 hikers met for this hike. There were two hikes offered: a short two hour out-and-back hike, led by Casey C. The second option was a complete loop of the 8+ miles pf the Abbott Loop, led by Leigh Ann. Seven hikers opted for the full loop, with the remainder doing the shorter out-and-back hike.

All hikers left from the junction of Station and Bald Hill Rd, setting off on the seasonal portion of Bald Hill Rd. Reaching the Abbott Loop hikers turned onto the orange blazed trail and climbed towards the Pinnacles, which offered a good view across the valley.

Continuing down the other side of the hill the trail passes through some nice stands of evergreens until it reaches another part of the seasonal section of Bald Hill Rd. Casey’s group crossed over the road and continued on the Abbott Loop until reaching the hour mark, at which time they simply turned around and re-traced their route.

For those hikers who did the shorter hike, miles hiked to be applied towards your 2025 FLT50 or FLT100 patches were 4.5 miles. Obviously, those hikers doing the full circuit of the Loop would use the 8+ miles of the loop towards their patch.

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Five hikers took four hours to do the 9.1-mile hike of Abbott Loop from the junction of Bald Hill and Station Roads. Trail conditions were substantially better than on Wednesday when I last did the loop, because Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were substantially drier than the previous three days. The trail was lovely and parklike in some places, a stream-crossing obstacle course in others, and lung-busting long and steep in others. Spirits were high. We took four breaks of 5-10 minutes each, which were excellent for snacks, fluid balance, story telling, and taking pictures of wildlife. The biggest non-human animal we saw was a 3-foot black rat snake that was trying to warm itself up on the return leg of Bald Hill Road. It was having limited success because the day was overcast and about 60 degrees. Other than this snake, one toad, and many, many, many efts, we had the trail to ourselves.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, June 4

Hinchcliff Family Preserve, Spafford, Onondaga County

Hike report by Jim

Seven hikers met on the first really warm and sunny summer morning of the year for a hike of the Hinchcliff Family Preserve led by Casey C. This is hike # 60-8 on our list of regular hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.

Water was flowing well at all stream crossings, and there were a few muddy spots along the way. Overall, a good and enjoyable hike day and location.

Saturday, June 7

Cayuga Trail South Loop

Hike report by Jim

Twenty -two hikers and two dogs met at Flat Rock for an out-and-back hike of the Cayuga Trail South Loop. This is hike # 4-2 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-04. While the FLTC does produce a Cayuga Trail map available in both print and electronic formats at: https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/. There are better Cayuga Trail maps available elsewhere.

As I arrived at the parking area, I found that there were numerous tour buses and private vehicles lining the road. I found that a foot race was just ending, and luckily the majority of the vehicles were gone by the time the remainder of the hikers began to arrive.

The morning was warm although a little humid after recent heavy rains, the after-effects which impacted our route this morning due to the amount of footpath that was under standing water or reduced to a flowing stream due to the quantity of water coming off open fields and hillsides onto the trail.

The hikers started out from the parking area and crossed the Stevens suspension bridge before turning right on the opposite side of that bridge and making our way along Fall Creek. The creek was flowing vigorously and quite loudly, the water levels very high after recent rains. We stayed close to the creek, continuing to make right turns at successive trail intersections.

Eventually the trail breaks free of both the woods and the creek as it enters several open fields as it draws closer to Freese Rd. Here we encountered both ankle-deep standing water as well as flowing water of the same depth that transformed the footpath into a flowing stream Arriving at Freese Rd we crossed the derelict old bridge (yes, they’re still planning on replacing it…) before making a left turn and rejoining the orange blazed footpath as it now followed the southerly bank of Fall Creek.

We soon entered and traversed a couple more open fields before returning to the woods, which I greatly prefer over hiking in open fields. There are some good viewpoints of the creek along this part of the hike, and I made sure to grab a couple of quick seasonally appropriate photos to use for future Meetup thumbnails for this hike, to replace the winter photo we posted for today’s hike.

Reaching the turn-around point we reversed course and re-traced our previous route back to the cars. Along the way we encountered a couple of dog walkers and trail runners but otherwise had the trail to ourselves.

Warm welcome to Lucia, Yeonso and Francisco, on their first hike with the group.

Of course, the sun came out as soon as the hike ended. So it goes in Ithaca….

As a quick PS, a reminder that our annual summer picnic will be the first weekend in August. We will need a number of volunteers to forego the hike that morning to make preparations for the picnic.

We are also in need of more hikers who may be interested in leading group hikes in the future to make their interest known.

Sunday, June 8

Loop Hike: FLT and Lower Treman Park Trails

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Sixteen hikers met up at the Shady Corners parking lot for this hike. We followed the FLT west to the YMCA shelter, then took the spur trail northwest from the YMCA shelter to the rim trail. From there, we followed the rim trail to the bridge below Lucifer Falls, crossed this bridge, and followed the gorge trail east to where it ends at the lower Treman parking lot. We returned to the cars by walking along the park road back to the FLT, then taking the FLT back to the Shady Corners parking lot.

This was the first day in a while that didn’t have rain, and the creek was powerful and impressive. The air quality was worse than the day before – not good for sensitive groups. This air quality gave this hike a golden-hour quality all the way through. Most of the group returned to the cars by noon, and a few hikers took longer. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, May 28

Trumansburg Walking Tour

Hike report by Mark Sussman

On Wednesday, May, 28 18 hikers and 2 dogs met at the Trumansburg Farmers Market for a hike around Trumansburg. We were supposed to begin by exploring the Habitat Trail, but we skipped that due to wet conditions. We did explore the old and new neighborhoods, and discussed several of the items of historical interest. These included showing where Robert Moog’s workshop was and that Morse Chain began in Trumansburg in 1880 before it moved to Ithaca in 1906. People enjoyed the beautiful and varied architecture of the village houses. They also commented that it was an excellent time of year for the hike since so many things were in bloom.

The hike finished in 2 hours and covered over 3 miles.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, May 31

Kennedy State Forest

Hike report by Jim

On a very wet Saturday morning five hikers and two dogs met on the seasonal part of Owego Hill Rd for a loop hike within James Kennedy State Forest that included parts of the Spanish Loop, the FLT, and the Ukranian Loop, with a short road walk at the very end to close up the loop route. Most of this hike was led by Greg; thank you Greg for stepping up on request to lead the group!

This is hike # 40-5 on our list of regular hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-40.

All of today’s hike took place on FLT map sheet M19, available for sale in paper or electronic formats at https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/ . Sale of the map sheets help to defray the on-going costs associated with trail maintenance. Hikers should know that the FLTC has recently updated Map Sheet M19 as well as the various International Trail map sheets for Kennedy Forest. Be sure to update the maps you carry!

Yes, it was very wet. As the early morning passed, I received a number of cancellations via text or on the Meetup page, leaving me wondering if anyone would show up. In the end we had a small crew of hikers and dogs who were willing to brave the continuous precipitation and mud.

Yes, there was mud, a lot of it. So much mud that I soon gave up trying to avoid it, and near the end of the hike at the very last stream crossing I actually face planted into it as a rock in mid-stream shifted under my foot and I ended up on my face on the far side of the stream.

There was a good amount of water flowing in the streams, an obvious result of our many recent days of rain. Nothing too deep, although as I said I quickly lost any interest in trying to stay dry during the hike. That made the stream crossings a little easier to navigate.

We had the trail to ourselves for the duration of the hike.

We did encounter one small blowdown as we started the downhill portion of the Spanish Loop off Owego Hill Rd. It was easily navigated around.

For those who are trying to earn their 2025 FLT50 or FLT100 patch, todays hike included 1.1 FLT miles. I am not sure if the International Loop trails are being counted as FLT miles for patch purposes.

View photo album of the hike.

Sunday, June 1

O.D. von Engeln Preserve, Freeville

Hike report by Jim

Twenty-Seven hikers met in the O.D von Engeln Preserve at Malloryville for a hike of the trail system there. This is hike # 44 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-44.

Compared to Saturday’s weather the Sunday hike was a distinct improvement; the sun appeared briefly as hikers arrived at the parking lot, and while it didn’t stay sunny long, the morning was still a huge improvement over the non-stop rain we enjoyed on Saturday’s hike. There was an occasional breeze that cooled us down during this hike but for the most part this was perfect weather to be in the woods.

About a quarter of our group indicated that they had never hiked this particular location. This was not surprising, as the group only comes to this preserve about once a year.

The group left the parking lot and began a clockwise hike of the preserve trails in the more southerly part of the preserve as depicted on the preserve trail map: https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/Malloryville-Swamp-Preserve.pdf.

About half-way through the loop of the trail system, we left the preserve and crossed over to the former railbed that runs along the eastern edge of the preserve. We took the former rail bed to the northern edge of the preserve and re-entered the preserve near its northern border. The group walked in a southerly direction across the various eskers, across the old beaver dam, and some open fields along one edge of the preserve property to get back to the former rail bed. We then took the rail bed back to West Malloryville Rd and re-entered the preserve property to complete the trail loop within the southern end of the preserve.

The hikers arrived back at the cars about five minutes early.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.