Author: Benben

Wednesday, August 27

Finger Lakes National Forest

Hike report by Mark Sussman

Fifteen hikers and one dog met at Picnic Area Road in the Finger Lakes National Forest for the 5 Ponds Loop Hike. Although the weather forecast looked promising, we unfortunately started out in the rain. This certainly did not help on the slippery puncheons on the quarter of a mile stretch before Foster Pond. Some hikers wore spikes (which helped a lot), and some used poles, while some were just extra careful. Luckily no one slipped and fell on these treacherous board walks.

Once we got to Foster Pond, the rain had stopped, and the weather held up for the rest of the hike. The group enjoyed seeing all the ponds, and the walk overall. We finished very close to the 2 hour time window.

Saturday, August 30

Hammond Hill, Dryden

Hike report by John D.

Twenty-four hikers and two dogs met at the parking lot on Hammond Hill Road. Summer was missing-in-action but more than a few hikers were fine with that. It was a mostly sunny day and the trails were dry. This hike was entirely a woods hike with hints of a vista in the portion facing Route 38/Dryden Harford Rd.

The map posted at the trailhead is out of date. It does not include several recently added trails. However, our route was entirely on yellow trails so that map sufficed. We travelled Y1 -> Y3 -> Y8  -> Y4 -> Y5 -> Y6 -> Y1,  a total distance of 4.3 miles in a tad under two hours.

We encountered a few trail runners and one cyclist. I was happy for the latter having warned of that possibility. We also came across a hollow tree which appeared to have burned on the inside.  There was speculation as to whether this was from a lightning strike.

I was pleased to lose no one in my first time as hike leader.  Thanks to Leigh Ann for acting as sweep to make that happen.

After the hike two hikers went back to investigate the dilapidated shack seen from the trail. No word of their fate.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 31

Cayuga Trail north side, Varna cliffs, Ithaca

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Thirty-six hikers and three dogs on leash met at the Cornell Agricultural Plots on Freese Road for this out-and-back hike. We followed the North Monkey Run section of the Cayuga Trail over toward the junction of Hanshaw and Lower Creek Roads, where the people in front turned around. The trail conditions were excellent – well-mowed, dry, and easy to navigate – except for a heavily-traveled short stretch that the creek is undercutting. This is well known to be an opportunity for rerouting, and it looks like rerouting would dramatically increase the safety of that stretch once it happens.

The weather was stunning – really, it’s hard to imagine how it could have been better. Spirits were high as the long train of hikers stretched several tenths of a mile through the woods. It was fun to see and hear others across the wooded edges of gullies where the trail doubled back and coming down switchbacks to the creek. Everyone arrived back at the cars within two hours, and many stayed to chat for a while after that.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, August 23

Mundy Wildflower Gardens (Forest Home) to Beebe Lake Loop, Ithaca

Hike report by Nina F.

Twenty-seven hikers and two dogs met at Mundy Wildflower Gardens on a gorgeous day for a diverse and beautiful hike. We started by walking through Mundy Wildflower Gardens along a tranquil, shady path, left the Wildflower Gardens and crossed Judd Falls Road over to Cornell Botanic Gardens, where we made a loop around the stunning herb garden, seemingly still in full bloom, and from there to Beebe Lake and Sackett Bridge. We made a photo stop at the observation deck overlooking Fall Creek Cascades, walked around Beebe Lake and enjoyed the larger waterfall as we crossed the Beebe Dam Bridge on the West end of the Lake. From there we walked through the Forest Home neighborhood, former home of Pearl S. Buck, author of The Good Earth.

We spent the second half of the hike walking though F.R. Newman Arboretum – voted the #1 college arboretum – where we saw two young fawns, passed the sculpture garden, crossed a lovely marsh and wound our way back to our starting point. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 24

Black Diamond Trail southbound from Kraft Road

Hike report by Margaret F.

17 hikers and no dogs met at the intersection of Kraft Rd. and the Black Diamond trail on 8/24 for an out and back hike.  1 new hiker joined the group.  The weather was warm and sunny and the trail very conducive to conversation along the way.  The fastest hikers reported 7 miles round trip!  Margaret F. as hike leader completed 5 miles in the middle of group. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, August 13

The FLT in Danby State Forest from 96B to the Tamarack Lean-to

Hike report by Casey

11 Ithaca Hikers met at the corner of Durfee Hill Road and Route 96B in Danby for hike #23-2  .

Last Sunday’s hike went from South Danby Road on the FLT, to and past the Tamarac lean to. This hike covers the same part of the FLT but starting from the opposite direction. This was a simple out and back which gave everyone the chance to hike at exactly their own pace. The faster hikers got about ¾ of a mile from the South Danby Road access point when they turned around. Since they managed to get back a little ahead of the two hour goal, it is a safe bet that in the future the faster hikers may go all the way to South Danby Road, turn around, and get back not more than 5 minutes after 2 hours.

I would not want to try that starting from the other direction because when you start at 96 B you fairly soon encounter a formidable uphill that just goes on and on for quite a climb. You would not want to do that in the middle of your hike. But getting it out of the way up front and then being able to pick up lots of time coasting down that hill on the way back seems to work just fine.

We managed to get in 4.6 miles.

As usual for this hike there were a few people who didn’t get the memo about not trying to arrive via Durfee Hill Road due to its roughness.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, August 16

Lick Brook from Townline Road

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Twenty-one hikers and one dog on leash hiked from Townline Road, down the FLT to Lick Brook Falls, over to the railroad tressle, back up the blue trail to the cars. Eleven of these continued around the orange-blue trails loop in Thayer preserve back to the cars. This is a short (appx. 3 miles) but steep-in-sections route. Fortunately, there are several options that let people choose their own adventure to some degree, with enough places where we come back together and communicate about who is choosing which option. These options include whether you turn around after seeing Lick Brook Falls, whether you take the blue trail or the white FLT trail back up to the cars, and whether you do the orange-blue Thayer loop or leave early. We communicated well amongst ourselves about who chose to do what.

We reliably stop for a few minutes to admire Lick Brook falls on this hike. Instedad, today we stopped for about 15 minutes to walk all across the base of the falls, which were astonishingly dry. There is usually enough splashing, crashing water that crossing the stream to get anywhere near the base of the falls is a challenge, as is doing the stream crossing to get to the railroad tressle. Not today.  And the normally challenging stream crossing to get to the railroad tressle was also dry. Heat aside, this was a lovely route, and we were delighted to find that someone had given the often-overgrown section of trail between the falls and tressle some weed-wacking. All the hikers had returned to the cars by 11:30, whichever choices of routes they took.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 17

Finger Lakes Trail from Woodard Road to Hines Road and beyond, Enfield

Hike report by Nina F.

Sixteen hikers and one dog met on Woodard Road in Enfield to hike a beautiful stretch of the Finger Lakes Trail through Upper Treman State Park. The first mile is quite hilly, with some steep elevation changes, but our hardy group made it look easy. On the second mile the trail levels out and winds through some picturesque fields, past an impressive stone wall and back into the woods to the turnaround point. On the return, two hikers left the group to take the faster route back to the cars along the road while the rest of the group returned through the woods.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, August 6

South Hill Rec Way/Six Mile Creek, south side, rim trail

Hike report by Jim

Sixteen hikers and one dog met on Crescent Place in the city of Ithaca for a hike of the South Hill Rec Way and associated blue blazed trails led by Anne B. This is hike #2-1 on our list of regular hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-2.

Conditions were warm and sunny, with just a hint of the haze from the Canadian wildfires in the air.

The group left Crescent Place and walked a short way on the Rec Way to the first turn onto the blue blazed trails. The group stayed on the upper section of the blue blazed trail system during this hike.

Only one of the stream crossings today had any flowing water; the rest were bone dry. Not surprising, seeing as it’s been several days since the last rainfall.

The group stopped briefly at the second dam overlook before continuing on.

Upon reaching the Rec Way again the group split into two subgroups. One group took the Rec Way directly back to our cars. The second group simply turned around and retraced our route on the blue blazed trails.

There were a few other people on the blue blazed trails. The Rec Way itself was obviously much more populated with trail users.

Warm welcome to Alissa and Marek on their first hike with the group!

Saturday, August 9

Dabes Diversion Loop, Kennedy SF, Cortland County

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Eleven hikers did the Dabes Diversion loop counterclockwise from the junction of Bleck and Hauck Hill Roads. After almost a week of air quality indexes over 100, it was pleasantly exotic to have good air qualty. The sky was blue and it looked blue all over.  This hike reliably comes in under two hours in the summer (when footing is good) because it is less than four miles long. So, some hikers extended the hike to two hours by doubling back from the cars to where the diversion loop meets up with Hauck Hill Road before returning a final time to the cars. The temperature was pleasant until well into the second hour of the hike, and the trail was dry all the way.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 10

Finger Lakes Trail in Danby State Forest from S. Danby Road to the Tamarack Lean-to

Hike report by Nina F.

On Sunday, August 10th, 27 hikers and 2 dogs met along s. Danby road to hike the Danby State Forest out to the Tamarack Lean-to and back (hike #23-1). It was a warm day, with temps in the mid-80s, but the gorgeous pine tree/hemlock forest trails kept the trail shady and the forest cool. It’s a stunning hike, with a winding trail, tall trees and ancient ferns. We saw small forest creatures, including a few toads and a somewhat rare sighting of a luna moth caterpillar. A few hikers who were a bit in front of the main group walked an additional quarter mile past the lean-to down a decline and back up in order to add a little distance. This enabled two club members to reach their 100th mile of the summer on the FLT during this hike – congratulations June and Lincoln!

The rest of the group waited at the lean-to and were clearly having a good time, as the conversations and laughter could be heard from a good distance away. It was a lovely morning all-round.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, July 30

Bull Hill and Stark Roads, Newfield

Hike report by Jim

For the last July hike, I brought our hikers back to an area that we haven’t had a group hike at since I started leading our hikes. This is hike 57-13 on our list of hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-57.

Our past hikes here several years ago started elsewhere on Chafee Creek Rd that had a long, exposed road walk for the beginning and end of the hike. I pre-hiked today’s route last week to check out some alternate trailheads, but those were either very exposed to the sun or very seasonal road intersections

Today five hikers met for an out-and-back road walk on mostly shaded seasonal roads.

This hike started at the intersection of Bull Hill and Stark Roads in Newfield, and consisted of a hike down the gentle downhill seasonal portion of Stark Rd to the junction with Chaffee Creek RD.

This portion of the road passes through privately owned land until the bottom of Stark Rd, which passes through one of the county forests. Someone today mentioned that they didn’t know that the county owns forests; yes, it does! Theres a map on one of the county websites of these various county forests that I’ve downloaded in the past, but I couldn’t find the link to today. This initial downhill section takes about thirty minutes or so.

Once we reached Chaffee Creek Rd we made a right turn. The majority of this part of the hike consists of gentle rolling terrain, with Chaffee Creek Rd passing through a mix of privately owned land and portions of Newfield State Forest. We went over one small bridge that has a 1925 construction date, which sparked some interest in the group today. The route is still mostly in the shade, although the exposed sections of the road did grow more frequent in spots.

The group hiked until the usual turn-around time.

The return leg of the hike was uneventful.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, August 2

Finger Lakes Trail through Lower Treman and Post-Hike Summer Cookout

Hike report by Leigh Ann

This was as pretty a day as one could ask for in early August. Twenty hikers and three dogs on leash hiked in a big group east on the FLT from the Shady Corners parking lot. We exited the FLT at the CCC picnic ground and entered the south rim trail from there. After admiring the bottom of Lucifer Falls, we crossed Enfield Creek at the bottom of Lucifer Falls. Then returned to the cars via the (north) gorge trail and campground. At the start of the hike, the group voted to do the loop and come back in a little more than two hours rather than do an out-and-back hike that would bring us in at exactly two hours. Everyone arrived at the cars by noon.

Everyone I talked to on the hike was headed to the “after party” (hikers’ cookout) at Roger, Gunilla, and Christina’s. The turnout was big. Some hikers had been there since about 9 am to set up and get the Cornell chicken and corn going. Once things really got rolling, there were 40-50 people there at any given time, and at least 60 people came. People visited. Some were people new to the hikers and others have been with the hikers for a long time. People enjoyed the beautiful landscaping, refreshing pond, good potluck food, and pretty weather. It just felt good to be part of.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album for Saturday hike.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album for hikers’ cookout.

Sunday, August 3

Long Point State Park, Aurora

Hike report by Nina F.

Seventeen hikers and three dogs met at Long Point State Park in Aurora to hike the upper trails of the Park. This is not one of the club’s regular hikes. The weather was beautiful – mid 70s and sunny – and we wandered uphill through woods, including over small boardwalks and bridges, and back down on mowed paths through fields, crisscrossing a bit to ensure a full two hour hike. While we were too late in the summer for some of the Park’s gorgeous wildflowers, our timing was perfect for ripening blackberry bushes, and we made several stops along the way to enjoy picking and snacking on them. 

A warm welcome to one first time hiker with the club.

Two hikers hopped in kayaks after the hike to enjoy Cayuga Lake as the day got warmer.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.