hike reports – Page 70

Report to Hikers: week of Dec 17-Dec 23

Hello Hikers!

Wed Dec 19

Diane’s Crossing to Hill Road and beyond on the FLT, Danby SF

We finally had a sunny morning for a change, and Norm, who’s concerned about sun exposure, decided to try out a nose protector he created from cardboard. His verdict: It worked well

Official head count: 13H, one D

More photos:

Jack V

Sat Dec 22

Danby SF: Loop trail from Bald Hill Road to Diane’s Crossing and back

We’ve been very lucky this fall and gotten an unusually large number of mornings with fresh snow draped beautifully over the woods — this one was the best so far — in fact, it was probably the best winter-wonderland scenery we’ve had in some years

Normally I load the hike photos onto the web site in the sequence they were taken, so the hike report becomes a chronological narrative of the walk — this time I’m just putting the most dramatic scenes first, so you can get a quick idea how apectacular it was

This is Michigan Creek looking south from the little footbridge at Diane’s Crossing ….

…. everyone was bowled over by the spectacular scene

This part of Danby SF is a perfect setting for a very clingy snow because of the mix of evergreens, mature deciduous trees with lots of small branches, and thick-growing bushes. The situation was even more special because the snow wasn’t deep, so it wasn’t a struggle to walk, just a little bit slippery

Even the half-mile stretch of road walk looked great — as promised, no traffic ….

Bald Hill Road as we headed south toward the entrance to Dove’s Trail

I got this shot from the rear — that’s the official hike photographer Tiger out front — great forest scenery

At the end of the hike, a few hundred feet from the cars …. typically the draped snow would have started to fall off the branches by this point but it really lasted this time.

Official head count: 17H, two D

Sun Dec 23

Lindsay Parsons Preserve, West Danby

Official head count: 22H, nine D

Report to Hikers: week of Dec 10-Dec 16

Hello Hikers!

I’m happy to report that we fixed the way the photos display — you can now click on any photo and see a large high-resolution version. I also went back and repaired the links in last week’s hike report so all those photos are now clickable.

Wed Dec 12

New trail from lower Buttermilk Falls SP to the cemetery on Stone Quarry Road

The temperature was just above freezing — the condition when microspikes are likely to clump up and make it almost impossible to walk smoothly. Photo by Jack V

Official head count: 14H, four D

More photos:

Jack V

Sat Dec 15

Stevens Suspension Bridge, Forest Home, to the Varna Cliffs in Monkey Run

Official head count: 18H, four D

Sat Dec 15

Special out-of-town hike — Steege Hill, Corning

Photos and hike report by Jack V

Jack’s report: 4 of us did the first of the longer hikes at SteegeHill. We hiked 7 miles in 3 1/2 hours. Steege Hill earned its name ‘hill’, most of the hike was either going up or down. All of the hike was in the woods so there were limited views.

You can see Jack’s full set of photos here

Sun Dec 16

Rained out

Report to Hikers: week of Dec 3-Dec 9

Hello Hikers!

Wed Dec 5

Ellis Hollow Nature Preserve

Shortly after we set off, we came to a stream that’s normally slightly tricky to cross, but by no means impossible — this time it was so full we couldn’t see a way across — one hiker tried but had to turn back half way — then he fell in trying to get back to shore — fell sideways, landed on his hip, and wet half his body. He had to head right back to the car. This is the site of the accident — we swung by later in the walk so I could get a shot

Gopi is demonstrating exactly how the hiker was standing when he toppled in

After the falling hiker went back, the rest of us pushed on.

Official head count: 13H

More photos:

Annie

Sat Dec 8

Jim Schug Trail, Dryden

Official head count: 19H, three D

More photos:

Annie

Sun Dec 9

Monkey Run Natural Area, north side of Fall Creek — Hanshaw Road

Official head count: 30H, seven D

More photos:

Jack V

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Report to Hikers: week of Nov 26-Dec 2

Hello Hikers!

Wed Nov 28

A walk through Cornell’s natural areas along Fall Creek — the arboretum, Mundy Wildflower Garden, botanical garden and Beebe Lake

Another raw morning, but this time we had an exceptionally beautiful snowfall to divert us

These winter wonderland-type scenes usually don’t last very long — the snow starts to fall off the trees and bushes of its own weight, or the wind comes up and blows it off

We finished up by going into the Cornell Dairy Bar for ice cream — by the time we came out, the beautiful draping of snow was already disappearing from the landscape.

Official head count: 11H

Sat Dec 1

Taughannock Falls SP — Gorge Trail and North Rim Trail

Official head count: 25H, six D

Sun Dec 2

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

A couple of hours before hike time, Tiger and I were trying to get a handle on how likely it was to rain — one weather service said it was almost guaranteed, another said it was probable, and a third said it would not rain.

After 45 minutes on the trail, it did start to rain — a little hard at a few points but overall it was tolerable, and somewhat mild out — I thought it was nice. After a while, the rain stopped.

The trail was very wet in the first half of the hike — in the second half, the trail was actually flooded in spots and we had to inch our way along past the bushes growing at the edge of the path

It got wetter and wetter as we progressed — finally we hit a swollen stream we couldn’t find a way across, and we had to bushwhack our way up the hill

We came back on the old railroad right of way up the hill that parallels Fall Creek — that was pretty much flooded too

I got my shoes soaked but somehow I didn’t get my socks wet — overall, I had a great time

Official head count: 19H, four D

Report to Hikers: week of Nov 19-Nov 25

Hello Hikers!

Thanksgiving Day

Road walk from Ithaca HS into Cayuga Heights, followed by our Thanksgiving get-together in Fall Creek

We all knew it would be cold, obviously, but it was actually horrible at the meet-up because of a fierce wind probably caused by the nearness of the lake

We headed up through Lake View Cemetery into Cayuga Heights, and I was really hoping the wind would diminish a bit as we got away from the lake floodplain

When you leave the cemetery at the top and head up into the residential area, you immediately come to this mansion — estimated value just under $1 million — I’d love to live here

Sunset Park — great views — this is the whole group minus Jack V, who was standing beside me taking his own photos — 13H total

This is the view to the west

I love the way so many of the roads curve, and the way so much of the landscape was left in the natural state

Almost no cars and we saw I think just one person, a runner

This is the view to the south-southwest from Sunset Park

If you like cemeteries, Lake View is a great one — there’s a deep gorge on two sides and this adds a nice air of menace if you want to walk over and imagine falling off

Visually it was a beautiful day when we got back to the cars, but the wind was still blowing much too hard and it was raw and nasty back down on the flood plain — so it was extremely fun to have the get-together waiting for us just a few blocks away

Big turnout — loads of food — what a delightful way to pass a frigid afternoon

More photos:

Jack V

Sat Nov 24

Stevens Suspension Bridge to the Cornell golf course, horse barns and arboretum, Forest Home

Official head count: 21H, four D

Sun Nov 25

Woodard Road east into upper Treman SP, Enfield

We hit a problem trying to start the hike — the short final stretch of road up to the trail head was a treacherous sheet of ice — so we parked below in the regular Treman parking lot and walked up — those with good foot traction were able to waltz right up the hill on top of the ice