Report to Hikers November 6 – November 12

Wednesday, November 8

Yellow Barn State Forest

Hike report by Jim

Thirteen hikers and a dog met at the end of Signal Tower Rd for a hike of Yellow Barn State Forest. This is hike 33 on our list of regular hike locations:

 https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-33.

The day was cool, and there was a dusting of fresh snow on the ground. The group set off down the seasonal road that extends beyond the end of the maintained portion of Signal Tower Rd. This location has been the site of some recent residential development, but soon we were past the new house lots and following the old logging road in a southerly direction. Reaching a fork in the road we turned towards the horse fields to the east and walked the edge of the fields until reaching the cross-country ski loop at the end of the second field. The group completed a loop of the ski trail and returned to the horse fields, re-tracing our steps back to our cars. The wind had picked up by this point, the sun had come out, and the new snow was quickly melting from the forest floor around us as we reached the cars.

Edit: if you were on today’s hike, be sure to check yourself well after getting home. I picked up a tiny hitchhiker somewhere along the hike route today.

Photo by Greg H.

Saturday, November 11

Black Diamond Trail

Hike report by Jim

Twenty-two hikers and a single dog met in the Jacksonville Rd parking lot for the north end of the Black Diamond Trail for an out-and-back hike of the Black Diamond Trail. This is not a hike that currently exists on our list of regular hike locations. The day was cool and overcast, although the sun made a limited appearance during the morning.

The group set off without incident and quickly broke down into distinct subsets according to people’s walking pace. The fastest group hiked a total of 7.25 miles during the hike. We encountered a few other day hikers and dog walkers during the hike, but the trail was surprisingly empty for a weekend.

Welcome to Joy and Linda on their first hike with the group!

Photo by Leigh Ann

Sunday, November 12

Ekroos Rd Roadwalk

Hike report by Jim

Twenty three hikers and a single dog met on Ekroos Rd, just over the line into Tioga county, for a rural out-and-back road walk. This is hike number 54-1 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-54

We are more often here as a late summer or winter hike location for the group, and I like it best when the colors are changing or we’re in the depths of winter and the plowed roads here make an easy hike when so many other locations are snowed in. The road was shut down for several months and unavailable to the group, however, so today it made for a nice hunting season road walk.

Temperatures were on the cool side, with a little bit of breeze that chilled you until the hike started. The skies were generally overcast. The outbound leg of this hike is a gradual decline until nearly the end, when it becomes more of a serious downhill grade that’s often entirely impassible due to ice build-up when we are here in the winter months. A nice motivation to make that last downhill descent and climb back up on the return leg of the hike is a small ravine that runs alongside the road in that area. There are a couple of houses towards the turn-around point, and a new post-and-beam house is going up along the road as well. There is one spot along the route where the view opens up across open fields to the south and hikers are rewarded with views of the distant peaks.

On today’s hike the group made it to the intersection with 76 Rd inside of Tompkins County before turning around and re-tracing our steps.

On today’s hike the group had a new hiker Caroline with us. Caroline is a journalism student at Ithaca College and came on the hike to interview members of the group on our views about preserving green space for the future generations. A completed video product including our interviews will be released via an on-campus source in the future. I’ll be sure to send out a link of that video to the group after I receive it.

Photos by Leigh Ann

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Report to Hikers October 30 – November 5

Wednesday, November 1

Lime Hollow Nature Center

Hiker report by Jim

Nineteen hikers met in Cortland County for a hike of the Lime Hollow Nature Center trails, hike # 37 on our list of regular hike locations: 

https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-37.

The day was cool with light breezes as the group gathered in the parking lot on Gracie Rd, a dusting of snow on the ground remaining from the overnight low temperatures. Hikers initially set off in a westerly direction on the Lehigh Valley Trail, before turning onto the Hawthorne Connector (currently undergoing a re-route ) and completing a circuit of the High Vista Loop. Returning to the Lehigh Valley trail we quickly turned onto Hermits Way and then Fen Way, which took the group in a circle back to the Lehigh Valley Trail. Here the group encountered a fairy large group of school kids , the only other people we saw during our hike today. Returning to Gracie Rd the group continued on the Lehigh Valley Trail in an easterly direction until we reached Maple Run. The group hiked to the Chicago Bog, paused briefly for some photos, and continued on the Philips Memorial Trail to the lower parking lot on Gracie Rd. From there we took the Esker Connector back to Maple Run, then back to the Lehigh Valley Trail and our cars. As we arrived back at the cars a light snow began to fall; despite ending a few minutes early I heard no complaints from the hikers.

Photo by Jim

Saturday, November 4

Buttermilk Fall State Park

Hiker report by Jim

Twenty-eight hikers met on Yaple Rd in the Town of Danby for a hike of trails around Upper Buttermilk Falls State Park. This location is hike 10-2 on the list of our regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-10.

This was a re-attempt of an earlier hike this summer which had been rained out soon after we started that hike; my intent today was to simply re-do the planned route of the earlier hike, which would have had the group circling Lake Treman and visiting the La Tourelle trail along the way. Unsurprisingly we found that the website for Buttermilk Falls State Park was not updated and while it showed that all trails were still open, this was not the case. Entering the park via the FLT spur trail the group paused at the dam for a group photo. Since the path across the dam was now seasonally closed I re-routed the group to the Bear Trail and upon reaching West King Rd we did a partial loop of the Gorge and Rim Trails. Returning to upper Buttermilk Falls State Park the group road walked back to the Treman Lake Trail and returned to Yaple Rd. We ran into numerous other park patrons along our route; the warm weather and dry trail conditions added to the hike being an enjoyable fall morning for everyone compared to the last hike here.

A warm welcome to Eric, Arlene and Michael on their first hike with the group!

Photo by Jim

Sunday, November 5

Hammond Hill State Forest

Hike report by Jim

Twenty-eight hikers and two dogs met on the paved portion of Canaan Rd, just over the county line in Tioga County, for a loop hike of some of the Hammond Hill State Forest trails. This was hike 31-2 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-31 .

The day was a little overcast, and throughout the hike we were getting small amounts of precipitation and wind. Still, overall, an enjoyable morning to be on the trail. From the parking area the group did a loop of the Rabbit Run snowmobile trail, followed by multi-use trails blue 1, yellow 6 and 7, with yellow 8 trail thrown in as a quick out-and-back last-minute addition to burn up some time. We had the trails to ourselves except for one bicyclist we encountered along the way. Trail conditions were excellent. The group got back to our cars about ten minutes sooner than expected.

Welcome to Chuck, Andrew and Andrew’s canine hiking partner Porsche, on their first hike with the group!

Photos by Leigh Ann