ithacahikers

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Jan 24

Chestnut Lean-to, Danby SF  —  preliminary hike to collect firewood for our Sat cook-out

A bit of a grim day  —  snowing, cold and slippery  —  but we had a lot of fun

Official head count:  17H, three D

More photos:

Jack V

 

Sat Jan 27

Hot dog cook-out, Chestnut Lean-to, Danby SF

For once, a forecast of nice weather made a week ahead of time actually proved correct, and we had a gorgeous morning for our event  —  it was 50 by noon.  But it was still pretty snowy, and the trail in was more slippery than on Wednesday

As promised, we had two great fires  —  Eckhart (extreme left in this shot) walked in an hour early and had everything roaring ahead of time  —  as you can see, things were a little smoky from time to time

This is the second fire  —  burning much cleaner than the one gushing smoke on the front side of the lean-to

We had a second hot dog cook this year in addition to Tiger, Annamarie, who has some commercial kitchen experience

The combination of mild temperature and snowy scenery was really pleasing, and the get-together took on a very relaxed and laid-back feeling

The smokier fire in front of the lean-to died down after a while, and more of the action shifted to the back fire

By coincidence, a group of hikers from Cayuga Trails Club had a scheduled hike right past the lean-to, and they dropped by.  The hike was being led by David P, who runs CTC’s trail maintenance operation  —  I was delighted to meet David (red jacket and backpack in the center of the shot) and to thank him publicly for all the great work he does that directly benefits our group.  I’ll take this opportunity to urge you to join CTC  —  they do great work for hiking here.

Official head count:  33H, nine D

More photos:

Jack V

 

Sunday Jan 28

Monkey Run natural area, south side of Fall Creek

It was surprisingly icy  —  the last stretch of the walk, along Fall Creek, was so bad most of the hikers bailed out a half hour early

Official head count:  23H, nine D

More photos:

Jack V

 

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Jan 17

Lower Buttermilk Falls SP  —  camping and cabins area and Larch Meadow Trail

We walked in two areas of lower Buttermilk where we haven’t come as a group in years

The cabins and camping area was surprisingly picturesque, thanks to the snow and an interesting underlying terrain

The roads up to this area are closed for the winter but they’re plowed  —  this was very helpful because the snow quality in general wasn’t great for walking

I suspect not too many hikers regularly walk in the area across lower Sand Bank Road from the main lower Buttermilk entrance  —  there’s a wooded trail that circles several ball fields.  The trail runs parallel to Route 13 for about 10-15 minutes and it’s a little noisy  —  and the woods are a bit dull  —  there was some griping from our regulars  —  but then we turned away from the highway and came out into the ball fields and it was very pretty in the pale sunlight.

Official head count:  16H, six D

 

Saturday Jan 20

Road walk  —  Fisher Settlement Road, South Danby

I tried to get the hikers to follow me into the deep snow alongside the road to demonstrate how deep it was  —  no one would budge off the plowed part

This is one of the darker pine woods we encounter  —  Scott was somehow left out of this group photo

We had a bit of pickup traffic heading south in the early part of the hike  —  couldn’t figure where they were going since this is pretty much a road to nowhere  —  after a while, the traffic really dropped off

My definition of a good country road walk is one where we can spread across the whole width without worrying we’ll be hit

We counted 16 horses living here

Official head count:  15H, four D

 

Special hiker event  —  Group trip to the Seneca Falls women’s march

March report by Mark and Ellie

On Saturday, January 20, 10 “Ithaca Hikers” met at Mark and Ellie’s house to carpool up to the Women March in Seneca Falls. There we joined other “hikers”, Ithacans, and thousands of others to protest at the site of the first women’s rights convention (held in 1948). It was a beautiful day, great location, and great camaraderie.

Photos by Mark and Lori W

 

Sunday Jan 21

Snowmobile trail from the Slaterville Springs post office north

These cows and steers seemed really energized by our group  —  when we came into view they began to run back and forth and dart around in a very lively manner  —  several hikers thought they were preparing to break through the fence and charge us, but I didn’t think so

Brian and his wife Ann used to hike with us regularly in 2008 and 2009  —  it was really fun to see them pop back up on the trail after so many years  —  they don’t look any older.  Brian was the only one willing to pose with this dead cow  —  there’s a long story attached to the carcass I won’t get into

Official head count:  25H, nine D

 

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Jan 10

So Danby Road west to Curtis Road on the FLT

Tiger and I were both sick and had to miss this hike  —  and photographer Jack V was sick and had to miss too  —  luckily, Hiker Julie C got some shots and did a hike report  —  unfortunately, I can’t get her photos to load to the hiker web site in an upright orientation  —  they keep coming out sideways  —  so you need to look at them here  —  where they display fine

Here’s Julie’s hike report:

“It was a beautiful morning, and a good blood-stirring hike, with sparkling powder about 4 or 5” deep on the trail.  Started with a long uphill climb through pines, then down into a pretty little valley full of hemlocks and a mostly-frozen creek, then more uphill to the road (Curtis?), and back again.  There were around 13 humans, and 3 dogs, although Brenda and her dogs, along with Katharine, dropped off early and we only saw Katharine again at the very end of the hike.  She said Brenda decided it was too hard on the dogs.  Definitely a good workout for the humans. “

-Julie

 

Sunday Jan 14

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

First time I was able to hike in two weeks.  I loved how the sun just coming up over the tall hedges along Forest Home Drive lit up the hikers’ breath and illuminated the lightly falling snow

Official head count:  21H, six D

More photos:

Jack V

 

Monday Jan 15

Stevens Suspension Bridge east to the Varna cliffs

Lovely morning at the trail head, cold (zero) but not windy, and there was pale sunshine at a low angle creating some cheerful illumination in the landscape

More frozen breath effects created by the sun just coming over the tall hedges ….

Once we got across Freese Road it clouded up and took on a great somber look

Very gloomy at the end

Official head count:  12H, two D

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Got a comment sent to the web site by Hiker Deb E, about two photos in this album:

“My highest compliments to Jack V for the 2 beautiful images he captured of T’ Falls!!! Among the absolute best I’ve seen in the past 10 years of much beloved and photographed place.

Molly and I had originally planned to join you all, but I was hunkered down nursing a sore throat. Hope to rejoin the group soon. – DE”

 

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Jan 3

Taughannock Falls SP, north area sledding hill

All photos by Jack V

Official head count:  NineH, two D

You can see Jack’s full set of photos here

 

Sat Jan 6

Kingsbury Woods, Danby

Six photos by Hobit

Five photos by Scott

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Hike report by Scott:

“Temp​eratures​ ​were around zero ​and the​ ​winds were less than expected.

About halfway through the hike, the sun ​came out ​for awhile.

Casey found it so balmy in fact, that he went hatless for the second half of the hike.    So, all-in-all, it was a ​nice winter hike, with good conversation and camaraderie.

One of the interesting things about Kingsbury woods is that this spot was hit by a bonafide tornado ​( 2011) ​some years back.   Walking in, one could view across a gully and see​ trees strewn every which-way.   There were many interesting twisted and bent trees that we walked by.

The count was twelve intrepid hikers, three dogs.

​Katharine has wanted to do this hike for some time and this was a great opportunity.”

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Brenda sent the following brief report on the hike to a friend from out of town who asked her, “Did you go? Who else went? Did you survive???”

“Great hike. Twelve people showed up. I guess they read Stephen’s post and they were sold . Stephen is a great salesman.  Below zero at the trailhead but 5 degrees when we got back 11/2 hours later.  I warmed up right away because I wore my Magic Gloves. Casey wore his Magic Gloves as well. We both opened our jackets – complaining that we were hot about 15 minutes into the hike. “

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I’ll just mention that the official wind speed for 9:56 am Saturday morning, as recorded at the Ithaca Airport, was winds blowing at 24 mph and gusting to 33, with the official wind chill -25.

 

 

Sunday Jan 7

Woodard Road NW to Hines Road and beyond, Enfield

Photos by Jack V

Official head count:  14H

You can see Jack V’s full set of photos here

 

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Dec 27

Michigan Hollow Road up toward the Pinnacles look-out on the southern leg of the Abbott Loop

One car thermometer said it was 1, another said 3  —  but it actually was not bad at all

It takes the sun two hours from official sunrise to emerge over the hill right here  —  a nice gloomy touch

There were lots of stream crossings and they were all tricky for those of us not wearing foot traction

It was quite beautiful with the pale sun lighting up the woods

Official head count:  12H, three D

 

Sat Dec 30

Lindsay Parsons Biodiversity Preserve, W Danby

More great wintry weather  —  the roads were a bit slippery on the way, but once we got to the parking lot it wasn’t too cold and it wasn’t that windy
As soon as we dipped down the hill into the preserve, the atmospherics became fabulous  —  light snow, fog, mist, gloomy light

If you like stark and bleak winter scenery and you didn’t shape up with us, you missed a great one

Official head count:  13H, five D

 

Sunday Dec 31

Shindagin Hollow rim trail along Shindagin gorge

Much colder, snowier and windier than Saturday  —  we were in a long line of cars crawling down Route 79 at a very slow speed on the way ….

But as usual, once we got going it was great

The really spectacular scenery on this walk is along the rim of the gorge  —  unfortunately, this is the only shot I got  —  the trail is narrow and bumpy  —  we were whizzing along so it was too hard for me to spin around to take any photos  —  also, my hands were still freezing and I can’t work the camera buttons unless I take my bulky mittens off

My hands finally warmed up just as we finished the gorge trail (I had unopened Hot Hands in my pocket but I didn’t use them …  maybe I should have)

I broke through the ice right here  —  you can just see my footprint in the frozen stream to the right of Dave  —  luckily I have new waterproof shoes and the waterproofing really worked

It was still just 1 degree when we got back to the cars and a good bit of snow had accumulated while we were walking

Official head count:  17H, three D

Get-together at Mary’s

It was so much fun to pile into her house after such a raw morning  —  here’s a fire right outside her dining room window she set up for us to look at

a large number of people showed up who didn’t hike and it got quite crowded  —  great variety of food and snacks  —  under the circumstances, this was infinitely better than trying to have a tailgate party outside