Category: hike reports

Wednesday, July 9

Monkey Run Natural Area, south side of Fall Creek, Varna

Hike report by Jim

Nine hikers and one dog met at the dead end of Monkey Run Rd for a looping hike of the red blazed trails on the Cayuga Trail on the south side of Fall Creek. This is hike #6-1 on our list of regular hikes:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-6.

The area of this hike is included in the FLTC trail map ” The Cayuga Trail”, available in paper or electronic formats at:  https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/

The day was sunny and increasingly warmer as the hike went on. The group hiked in a westerly direction from Monkey Run Rd, stopping at the first trail intersection for a group photo. This section of the hike had the only real mud that I saw on the hike.

Leaving the woods the group crossed the Taiby Flats fields before returning to the forested footpath to hike along the southerly side of Fall Creek. We stopped at one or two spots along the route to walk to the shoreline, or to observe the creek from elevated bluffs.

This route took us back to lower elevations that again followed the creek shoreline. After a few minutes on this section of trail I modified our route and left the creek to take another elevated trail that passed a trail register box where we stopped while I made a short logbook entry.

The group arrived at the Dryden Rail Trail, which we walked back to the vehicles, arriving at the parking area about ten minutes sooner than I had originally planned

A warm welcome to Susan on her first hike with the group!

Our group encountered no other hikers during this hike

Thanks to everyone who came out on a warm day for this hike!

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 12

Finger Lakes Trail from Comfort Road through Danby State Forest

Hike report by Jim

Fifteen hikers met at the junction of Comfort and Bald Hill Rds in the Town of Danby for an out and back hike on the FLT. This hike took place entirely on FLT map sheet M17; map sheets may be purchased in paper or electronic formats at: https://fingerlakestrail.org/store/maps-and-gps/purchase-individual-maps/. Same of the map sheets helps to defray on-going trail maintenance costs.

This is hike # 18 on our list of regular hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-18.

The hikers left the parking lot and made a short road walk down Bald Hill Rd to the FLT road crossing there.

The day was warm and humid, and everything along the trail was in full bloom, with the undergrowth along the trail crowding into the footpath. Despite recent rains the trail was in generally good shape, the group encountering little in the way of mud. Lots of slick rocks and roots due to recent rains, so we were picking our way along the trail on the downhill first portion of the hike. We encountered two blow-down trees that weren’t there when I recently pre-hiked this route. One sizeable tree was lengthwise on the footpath and required a bushwhack to get around; the other was only a large step-over. Trail conditions report made to the FLTC.

We encountered one couple on the trail, and the Chestnut Lean-to was occupied so we didn’t make a stop there. Otherwise, we had the trail to ourselves.

The group made it to Michigan Hollow Rd and Dianes Crossing before turning around. Leigh Ann led the group on the return leg of the hike, with the group crossing Blad Hill Rd and continuing on the FLT to Comfort Rd with a short road walk back to the cars at the end of the hike.

For those hikers tracking their FLT miles for a 2025 FLT 50 or FLT100 patch, today’s mileage per the map sheet was 3.4 miles.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, July 13

Hammond Hill State Forest from Route 38 south of Dryden

Hike report by Nina

Eight hikers and two dogs gathered on a muggy morning at Hammond Hill State Forest to walk a stretch of the FLT. This is hike #31-3 on the Ithaca Hikers website. Although the sky was dark and there was thunder in the distance, we did not encounter rain on our two hour out and back hike. 

The dirt road leaving the parking lot has a steep hill, but once we were on the FLT the hike had only gentle changes in elevation. There are no significant landmarks or vistas on the trail, but there is a lovely hemlock forest that provided cooler temperatures, and the trail is well marked and reasonably maintained.

At the start of the hike,  we passed a horse-back rider, who said she’s never seen another person on that stretch of trail, and later a few mountain bikers rode by. Otherwise our only other company was a small toad along the pathway.

Wednesday, July 2

Fischer Old Growth Natural Area, Newfield

Hike report by Jim

Ten hikers met in the Town of Newfield for a hike of the various loop trails within the Fischer Old Growth Forest led by Leigh Ann.

This is hike #15 on our list of hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-15.

The day was very sunny and muggy throughout the hike. The group took a quick photo by the cars and then set off across the blue blazed trail that loops around the open field before finally entering the forest on the red blazed trail. Trail conditions were generally good, with minimal water at stream crossings and very little mud. We had the trails to ourselves with the exception of one other hiker.

We made a brief stop at the dead-end trail by the plaque before continuing on the red trail to the yellow blazed loop. Completing the yellow blazed loop the group then did two complete circuits of the red loop before returning to the cars.

Welcome to new hiker Caroline on her first hike with the group.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 5

Bahar Nature Preserve and Carpenters Falls, Cayuga County

Hike report by Jim

Twenty hikers and three dogs met in Cayuga County for an out-and -back hike of the connected trails of the Carpenter Falls Unique Area and Bahar Nature Preserve trails. This is hike # 60-9 on our list of hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.

The day was warm and sunny with very clear skies as the group gathered. Initially we walked from the parking lot to the Carpenter Falls overlook on the fairly new boardwalk. Nobody opted to take the stairs to the lower viewing area, so we returned to the parking area and headed down the trail towards the Bahar Nature Preserve and Skaneateles Lake.

The trail was in mostly good condition; a couple of blow-down trees were easily navigated, and a handful of usually muddy sections on this trail were mostly dried up today. The numerous roots on the footpath were the main hazard, sometimes difficult to navigate through simply due to the sheer number of them preset.

We stopped along the way to look at the lower falls from the edge of the ravine. Unfortunately, some of the other observation points along our route have been rendered inaccessible by DEC closing one of the unofficial trails.

The group reached the lake frontage and hung out there for a few minutes before turning around to retrace our route. A couple of hikers opted to take the road directly back to the cars, but the rest of the group returning to the parking area via the trails.

We encountered a few individuals or couples hiking the trail this morning, but for the most part had the trail to ourselves.

Sunday, July 6

Shindagin Hollow State Forest, Brooktondale

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Fourteen hikers met at the northernmost parking lots on Braley Hill Road for this hike. The heat index was expected to get to near 90 degrees by the end of the hike, so I had prehiked a route the previous day that maximized shade and minimized elevation change. We headed out through the magnificent pine plantation on B1, took B1 down to B3, and took B3 down to B4. We stayed on B4 to where it does a big, mountain-bike-friendly switchback down to the northern junction with G1, where we turned around and headed back the same way. This five-mile round-trip hike had only 476 feet of elevation gain. Even though the route was on lovingly constructed bike trails, with lots of banks and log-balance challenges, we only saw two bikers the whole time. I guess it was too hot that day for many bikers to want to be out there.

This is a tunnel-of-trees hike that is ideal for a hot summer day, and it begins and ends in the best part: the magnificent pine plantation near the parking lot for B1. With that said, about 1.25 miles in, we got to another interesting part. This part of the hill is being devestated by spongy moths. There weren’t any moths or catepillars to be seen, but for about ½ mile, the forest floor was covered with a thick, still-green carpet of leaf confetti that looked like it had blown down in the storm three days earlier. The forest there didn’t even smell like regular forest: it smelled like cut leaves. Everything green had holes in it, even may apples. Later this season and into the fall, there might be a lot less shade than there was on Sunday, once the stressed trees drop their leaves early, though I expect this also would be interesting to see. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

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.