Report to Hikers — week of Dec 16-Dec 22

Hello Hikers!

Wed Dec 18

Upper Buttermilk Falls SP to upper Lick Brook, spur trail

Official head count: 17H

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat Dec 21

Finger Lakes National Forest — Potomac Road and Chicken Coop Road

Official head count: 15H, two D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Dec 22

Lindsay Parsons Preserve, West Danby

There was a wonderful mistiness hanging over everything when we arrived — it lingered the whole time — combined with the beautiful sunshine and the warming temperature, it made for some fabulous atmospherics

Official head count: 26H, five D

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers — week of Dec 9-Dec 15

Hello Hikers!

Wed Dec 11

Ellis Hollow Nature Preserve

Official head count: 17H

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Sat Dec 14

Treman SP on the FLT west from Route 13

All four weather predicting services were saying it would rain while we were hiking — but it didn’t actually start until it began to sprinkle a little just as we got back to the cars. With all the stormy weather so close, we had fabulous atmospherics — fog, mist, beautiful dark light and a lovely dampness. Great walk

Official head count: 16H, one D

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Sun Dec 15

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

Two of our regular hikers turned 80 over the weekend. Saturday it was Linc, who’s wintering in Tucson. Sunday it was Good Dennis — sorry there’s a dried weed obscuring his face. That brings our over-80 group of regulars to five.
Hank — made it across without having to jump off — in rushing to get the shot, I failed to frame the photo so you could see the full length of the log, and the height above the ground

Official head count: 27H, four D

Report to Hikers — week of Dec 2-Dec 8

Hello Hikers!

Mon Dec 2

Aftermath of the big Dec 1 snow and ice storm

First thing Monday morning, our nature photographer Jack V headed over to Taughannock Falls SP to get this shot of the falls before the snow and ice started falling off the trees and shrubs

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Wed Dec 4

Road walk — Curtis Road, South Danby

Official head count: 16H

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat Dec 7

Stevens Suspension Bridge, Forest Home — Cornell golf course and horse barns

Official head count: 15H

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Dec 8

Stevens Suspension Bridge, Forest Home — Cornell big fields and across Freese Road into Monkey Run

Eight of the people who hiked with us on Saturday came out for the Sunday hike as well — no point to photograph them again — so I just got shots of those who only did the Sunday walk — two of them arrived too late for their mug shot
Every time we come here, it seems like the cliffs along the north side of Fall Creek in Monkey Run have eroded further. I’m too afraid to get near the edge and check it out — Jack V got this shot, and it clearly gives you an idea of what’s going on

Official head count: 20H

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of Nov 25-Dec 1

Hello Hikers!

Wed Nov 27

In-town walk — Cayuga Heights and Cornell Heights — look-outs and grand houses

Lake View Cemetery — West Hill and the lake (as advertised) in the background
Mausoleum — this is a nice building to look at, but I’d much rather be buried than stuck in one of these
Sunset Park — the Cayuga Heights DPW does a great job of keeping the view open and unobstructed
Cayuga Heights Road approaching Carl Sagan’s former house — fantastic views straight down into Fall Creek gorge
More fantastic views — Sagan’s house in the background — crossing this bridge in a car doesn’t give you anything like the same experience as walking across it
Pedestrian bridge over Fall Creek gorge
In the sprawling fraternity neighborhood — definitely the least impressive frat house we saw
The hikers were captivated by some sculptures of storks — and a large blue heron that flew up onto the roof of the big house
Heading down to gawk at the beautiful mansion of the late Roy Park

Official head count: 17H

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

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Thanksgiving Day

Get-together

I got a new camera earlier this year that has a flash, so now for the first time I can get a few shots inside at out get-togethers — this is Iris, our hostess — she’s a long-time art teacher, and her top and her house both reflect a classic artist’s taste, IMO, a liking for decoration and ornamentation, patterns and bold strong colors. My own taste is dull, and I enjoy the vivacity of hers.
Maybe you can see from the photos some of the food we had — though I’m not sure it’s recognizable — in any case, there was a good deal of it
I brought six cans of beer — once again, no one but me drank any so I brought it back home — our hikers just don’t drink beer — but they do love wine, as maybe you can tell from noticing the cluster of bottles here

And here’s something a bit different — Randy borrowed my camera for a few minutes and came back with some Andy Warhol-style flashbulb-type party shots — I didn’t crop any of the shots because I like the details in the backgrounds

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Sat Nov 30

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

We had a special first-time hiker with us, Ellie (right front) — it turned out that some years ago she was in Puerto Rico and she brought a number of starving and homeless dogs back to Ithaca, and managed to find them homes — among the dogs she rescued were our regular weekend hiking companions Ruby and Diego

Official head count: 27H, three D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Dec 1

Hike cancelled — icy roads

Report to Hikers: week of Nov 18-Nov 24

Hello Hikers!

Wed Nov 20

Road walk — Fisher Settlement Road, South Danby

Did you notice the guy on the right with a gun slung on his shoulder? I really enjoy it when a hunter appears while we’re at the trail head waiting to start — reminds me that I need to pay extra-close attention
Our regular hiker Katharine has been laid up for more than a month recovering from surgery on a severely torn shoulder. She must keep her arm completely immobile, but she’s managed to learn, for instance, how to put on her yellow slicker with one hand. She can now accompany us on road walks, but it’ll be quite a while before she can get back into the woods
The atmospherics were fantastic — misty, drizzling, very dark, a little raw but not excessively so

Official head count: 14H, one D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat Nov 23

Upper Treman SP — park trails and nearby country rpads

Official head count: 30H, four D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Nov 24

Taughannock Falls SP — gorge trail and rim trail

The steep stairs at each end of the rim trail are closed for winter — using the road isn’t as picturesque, but it’s actually easier, and a little quicker too

Official head count: 16H, three D

More photos:

Jack V