Category: hike reports

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed April 29

Virgil Creek flood control earthworks, Dryden

I’ve been out to this giant engineering project in southeast Dryden four times now — the first trip here (May 1 2013), I was utterly bowled over by the size and weirdness of the landscape — I’m happy to say it was just as fascinating this time around.

The big attraction is the series of deep flood-water catchment basins and high berms jutting up between them — but it’s been a little tough to stretch the walk out for a full two hours unless you backtrack and dawdle around — this time, we turned up a side path and found ourselves in a whole new set of fields stretching off in a new direction, and there was plenty to see for the full two hours.

I have a real weakness for photos of people spread out against the horizon — I think it’s left over from having seen The Seventh Seal in NYC in 1959 when I was 15 — the famous dance of death just stuck in my mind, never been able to get it out.

After the hike we headed over to Norm’s house nearby for a hot dog cook-out — it was a gorgeous morning and we had a delightful time — Norm didn’t have any charcoal or hot-dog skewers so we made do with twigs — a little primitive, but fun.

Official head count: 16 hikers, five dogs …. this gate crossing is our version of the start of the Kentucky Derby, by the way ….

You can see 10 more photos by me online here.

New hiker Annie clearly loved this place as much as me — you can see her photos at our group photo-sharing web site here.

 

 

Saturday May 2

Lloyd Stark Loop, Connecticut Hill

If you’ve been waiting for nice spring weather to come out onto the trail with us, you better get cracking

The woods at the higher elevations haven’t even started to turn green yet, and already it  was feeling like summer. We started this hike out in jackets, but they came off almost right away — by the time we were wrapping up, it seemed completely like a summer day

Dave, who led this hike, carefully warned everyone beforehand not to fall behind and risk getting lost on the confusing and poorly marked trails here ….

…. so what do you think  —  did someone do exactly what Dave said not to?

…. well, looking on the bright side, our lost hiker had cell phone reception and we were almost back to the cars and she emerged onto a road, so it could have been a lot worse.

We hit our first bugs of the season, a milestone I always can do without — but they weren’t biting — not me, anyway

Another limbo contest — apparently tougher than last week’s, because only two people, Mary W and Katharine, made it under the bar without touching the ground.

Official head count: 22 hikers, six dogs

You can see 10 more shots by me online here.

Our new hiker-photographer Annie has six photos up at our online photo-sharing site here.

 

 

Sunday May 3

Lick Brook

We hadn’t done this fabulous trail since before the horrible winter set in, and it felt wonderful to be back here on a balmy morning, with a handful of midges in the air and the woods at lower elevation finally starting to turn green

I won’t bother to try and describe how beautiful this walk is — if you’ve been here, you already know — if not, you really ought to check it out

The creek was surprisingly dry for so early in the season, and it was warm verging on hot from the get-go ….

…. I’m just mentioning this, not complaining …. this hike’s much too much fun to ever complain about

Official head count: 22 hikers, seven dogs

You can see 10 more shots by me online here.

Hello Hikers!

I hope you marked down the date of our summer cook-out like I urged you to the other day.  It really is the best and biggest event of our year  —  I’m not exaggerating  —  we had more than 80 people last summer, and it was definitely a blast  —  see for yourself.  The date is Saturday July 25.  You don’t want to miss it.

Now here’s our regular report on the week’s hikes:

 

Wednesday April 22

Shindagin Hollow State Forest, blue and yellow mountain bike trails

Dilemma: It’s supposed to rain, but not until hours later — then, just as you leave for the hike, it starts to come down unpleasantly hard — what should you do?

Answer: Drive on — meet all your hiking pals at the trail head as scheduled — have a great hike!

I think maybe we’ve all been toughened up by the constant bad weather we had all winter — as we drove to this hike with the rain spattering on the windshield, Tiger and I figured no one else would ever show ….

…. but all the regulars drove up like it was nothing, and we had a wonderful time. It rained the whole time  —  quite muddy  —   but on the plus side, this was the first time we didn’t get lost doing this hike,

Official head count: 16 hikers, two dogs.

 

Saturday April 25

Six Mile Creek, south side, rim trail

Gorgeous cool morning along the creek, mid 30s with a light breeze  —  the woods were bathed in a most beautiful light

There’s lots of great pine-tree action along this trail and I managed to work the pines into a few shots, providing some green color

…. otherwise it’s still all brown in the woods and no signs of spring yet  —  I really like the muted look myself but it probably seems just drab to some people

This trail provides just the right amount of exercise, in my opinion  —  a few lively ups and downs, a couple of stream crossings, a good knife-edge ridge with views of the reservoir  —  but in general it’s not that hard.

Official head count:  24 hikers, eight dogs

Click here to see nine more shots online.

 

Sunday April 26

Jim Schug Trail east into Cortland County on the FLT

Make that two great mornings in a row for hiking  —  pretty much the same lovely weather and beautiful light in the woods we had the day before.

The thing that makes this hike stand out is the sheer number of sweeping long views we get.  This shot shows you the one hill on this trail segment, which we go up and over

There was a bit of grumbling on the uphill that the climb was a lot steeper than I described in the notice of the hike  —  so keep that in mind the next time we come out here  —  not that I’m going to change the strenuousness rating just for a few complainers ….

For the second weekend in a row, we had a limbo contest under a big fallen tree  —  a lot more people were able to get under the log this time without bracing themselves on the ground  —  that’s new hiker Annie  —  even someone exactly my age managed it  —  but I realized afterwards people were bracing themselves against the log over them, so maybe it wasn’t as hard as I first thought.

What I really love about this hike are the long and picturesque views everywhere, from start to finish  —  this is just after we stepped off from the cars  —  and here’s a delightful farm we pass coming and going,

Official head count:  28 hikers, seven dogs

You can see 11 more photos online here.

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Here are some photos from our beautiful hike along the east shore of the lake in King Ferry on April 18  —  taken by Scott, who organized the event so masterfully  —  click here.

Hello Hikers!

Wed April 15

Ellis Hollow Nature Preserve

April 15 in Ithaca is just about my favorite day of the year — to my mind, it’s the start of six straight months of weather that’s pretty much guaranteed to be good — and we got off to a really auspicious start this year, with a perfect morning for hiking in Ellis Hollow

…. upper 40s, a little breezy, beautiful light in the woods, just a bit of mud ….

This is an amazingly nice place to hike considering it’s in the middle of a basically residential neighborhood — it feels completely wild and there’s a wonderful variety of terrain and scenery — including some very lively stream crossings where it’s often touch and go whether you’ll get your shoes wet

For the first time ever, we walked across Ellis Hollow Creek Road and then up a right-of-way that runs underneath some big Nyseg power lines — we didn’t get very far but it seems worth exploring in the future

Official head count: 23 hikers, three dogs

Click here to see seven more shots online

 

 

Saturday April 18

King Ferry: Informal lakefront trail

This was a new hike for us in an area where we never go — fantastic in every way, and well worth the extra drive time for those of us who don’t live north of town

Gorgeous morning, mid 60s with a little breeze — we hit a number of small highly picturesque gorges pretty much the equal of the ones we normally see on our regular trails — lots of off-trail walking but almost no underbrush …. the only problem was small branches lurking in the leaf litter to trip you up

Our walk had a festive quality — maybe it was the unfamiliar surroundings plus the spectacular weather — I watched everyone scoot under this downed tree — was anyone able to do it without propping themself on the ground?

___!

We had two mishaps, one generally worrying and one worrying to me — but they both worked out — a hiker recovering from a bad cold came out a day too early and got heat exhaustion — cold and clammy, sweating heavily, a little vomiting — it passed in a few minutes but we were all concerned — a little later I realized my new $580 camera was missing — I was wearing it clipped to my belt in a brand new holster-pouch — search party activated — Katharine found it within two minutes — she seems to have a knack because she’s found other things in the woods before.

The get-together at Scott’s was great fun — minestrone.

We didn’t have enough time to see the high point of the walk, a fantastic lake view — next time — this hike is definitely worth redoing — the ride’s slightly long but if you take a secondary road for the last leg you see some fantastic huge flat farm fields

Official head countL 21 hikers, three dogs

Click here to see nine more shots online

 

 

Sunday April 19

Bald Hill Road to The Pinnacles, Danby SF

(there’s more)

(Want to see the the group lined up in one single shot?  Click here)

This is the best of the various look-outs we encounter on our hikes, in my opinion — and early spring is the perfect time to check it out — mild but not so warm you get sweated up climbing the hill, no bugs, no leaves to block the view — a sense there’s many more beautiful days soon to come ….

…. just a little mud in a few scattered spots

There’s really something to be said for starting the walk to The Pinnacles at Bald Hill Road the way we did this time — you don’t arrive at the top with your ass totally dragging, and you feel fresher walking up and down through the gorgeous pine groves

Even so, a number of hikers chose the short cut back to the cars on the road instead of going the long way back up the hill on the trail to The Pinnacles — here’s more or less everyone before we split up

Official head count: 25 hikers, six dogs

Click here to see eight more shots online

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Hikers!

Thursday April 8

Buttermilk Falls SP, lower parking lot to Lake Treman

First hike since Sun Jan 4 with no snow on the ground …. three full months! — we had to postpone this hike for a day because of heavy rain on Wednesday — Buttermilk Creek was really roaring 12 hours after the rain stopped — lovely dark damp morning, beautiful under the evergreens that flourish all along this trail

One excitement — a mysterious large animal pelt was lying along the path at the start of the Bear Trail — several of the hikers were willing to pick it up ….

…. Steve even put his mouth down next to it when I asked him to pretend to bite it

We also had a brief moment of false excitement —

Vicki, an avid birder, thought she saw a loon on Lake Treman …. but not so

Otherwise, uneventful, and a real pleasure to be back in the woods.

Official head count: 11 hikers, two dogs

Click here to see six more photos online

 

 

Saturday April 11

Lindsay Parsons Nature Preserve, West Danby

Wonderful morning on one of our most varied and picturesque trails — raw and blustery in the parking lot, but lovely once we dropped down into the preserve — upper 30s, dark and snowing lightly part of the time

The huge rolling fields got a boot-camp style buzz cut since we were here last, in September — in some spots, the effect was really extreme — no matter, it still looks great, and Elizabeth assured us the goldenrod, an annual, will all grow back, and we can expect the usual spectacular display when it’s in full bloom later in the year.

We had one of our best adventure hikes ever when we did this hike a year ago — then, we walked up un unfamiliar trail ad ended up in a huge bushwhack — this time we played it safe and stayed on the marked trails — the one excitement came from a bit of water crossing — Katharine’s feet are both in the air, if you look closely at the shot above — our hikers are all getting older and a little battered, but they can still jump ….

and balance ….

Official head count: 13 hikers, three dogs

The transition from snow and ice to puddles and mud seemed to happen almost overnight this year — that’s fine with me, I love puddles and mud — I sometimes wish I was a dog at this time of year, they have much more fun on the trail than I do (that’s Arlo, normally gold in color).

Click here to see nine more shots online.

 

 

Sunday April 12

Robert Treman SP on the Finger Lakes Trail

A fast-moving warm front arrived just before hike time — temps shot up more than 25 degrees from 8 am to noon, below-freezing to nearing 60 — we set off in hats and scarves and finished in shirtsleeves —

Gorgeous morning, of course — who would complain? — but I’d rather move a little more gradually from early spring to early summer than in the short span of two hours

This trail has dramatic dark masses of beautiful pines all along the way — but almost always off to the side — I’m always trying to work them into a photo, but failing — somehow I managed this time — though you’ll probably need to look twice to discern the hikers

Lots of fantastic sun-and-shade scenery and long shadows, very moody and satisfying to walk through — but a bit of a challenge for my new camera, which is exceptionally small and light but doesn’t do that well in bright glare and high-contrast settings because of the compromises needed to stay so small

Official head count: 23 hikers, nine dogs

The parking lot off Route 13 was unusually full when we stepped off, and when we got back to the cars, we found a strange sight — drivers from a college in Pennsylvania sitting idling their motors and waiting for parking spaces to open up — just like at a bustling mall — some kind of special outing for them

Hiker Virginia left a hiking pole by a tree and failed to retrieve it — if you saw it and picked it up, contact me.

Click here to see seven more shots online.

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed April 1

Mount Pleasant Road from Baker Hill Road to Midline Road, Dryden

We got an unexpected benefit from all the snow and ice in the woods this winter — forcing us to seek out unfamiliar places to walk — we ended up discovering some really fantastic scenery — and the sights along this latest country road were the best of all, in my opinion.

It was a lucky combination — a dramatically grey sky that turned sunny with beautiful puffy clouds all of a sudden — huge expanses of snow with a fringe of trees in the distance — rolling terrain that created wonderful perspectives — it added up to a bit of a surreal look that I just loved.

Mount Pleasant Road goes past the Cornell Observatory, and the view from the road right at the observatory is amazingly far-reaching, of course — but I thought some of the other scenes along this road were more interesting —

This stretch has a reputation for being windy, and evidently there’s lots of blowing snow that has to be plowed often, because there were enormous walls of frozen mounded-up snow along the edge of the road in some spots …. created a really odd effect — I got Vicki and Jack to climb up to the top — Vicki did a little dancing and Jack did some posing — I also got atmospheric mug shots of Rich, Vito and Norm that reflect some of true feeling along the road – click here to see the photos online.

Official head count: 24 hikers, three dogs

Click here to see seven more photos of the walk online.

 

Saturday April 4

Hunt Hill Road, Irish Settlement Road and Hurd Road , Dryden

Classic early-spring morning, blustery, the sky bouncing back and forth from clouds to gorgeous sun, a couple of super-brief snow squalls …. birds singing, the streams and ditches brimming with snow-melt ….

These are quiet country roads with some rural touches – but this is Cornell-professor, well-to-do territory too ….

lots of big houses and fancy houses all along the way — great fun to gawk at

Official head count: 12 hikers, three dogs

Click here to see six more photos online.

 

 

Sunday April 5

Fisher Settlement Road, Danby, east to Travor Road

Beautiful mild dark snowy morning in Danby SF

We finally got back into the woods — still too messy for walking on the Finger Lakes Trail but the snowmobile trail that runs through the state forest was decent — just a little bumpy — but a number of us broke through the top crust at times — no serious damage reported but if you’re unlucky this can really mess up your ankle or knee

I’ve enjoyed all the road walks we’ve done while the snow in the woods was so deep, but not everyone shares my enthusiasm for walking on roads — and everyone was happy to be out in the pine woods on such a gorgeous atmospheric morning

Official head count: 18 hikers, one dog

Surprisingly big turnout for Hobit’s Easter lunch got-together after the hike, considering it was one of the major family holidays of the year — we had a great time — that’s Emmie, age six —

Click here to see seven more shots online