Report to Hikers: week of Feb 4-Feb 10

Hello Hikers!

Wed Feb 6

Two farm roads south of Mecklenburg — N Shuler Road and Morris Road

This is a very bucolic part of a beautiful valley that stretches from Mecklenburg south to Cayuta Lake and beyond. We were on the eastern flank of the valley, which was formed by the upper stretch of Taughannock Creek. There’s also a neighborhood on the other side of the valley that’s equally lovely where we hike.
The forecast wasn’t great — there was a good possibility of rain or freezing rain during the walk — and it was quite gloomy. But it didn’t rain after all until we got back home.
This is Morris Road looking east from N Shuler Road. I find this scene to be perfectly satisfying, and I feel like I could happily live out the rest of my days here, swimming in the ponds in the background, walking on the dirt roads, tramping through the fields and watching the seasons come and go. Of course I do realize it might actually be boring.
I love the way the evergreen windbreaks and field separations create a semi-abstract dark pattern against the fields — very nice pictorial composition
The southern end of N Shuler changes character from a dirt farm road to a paved casual semi-suburban road — interesting to look at the scattered houses but it doesn’t compare to the rolling fields.
We ran out of time and so we weren’t able to walk the full length of Morris Road, which disappointed me
This was maybe the most quiet road walk we’re ever done — there was either one or two cars that passed us, not sure which, but no more

Official head count: 13H and one D

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Sat Feb 9

Bock Harvey Forest Preserve and Riemen Woods, Enfield

I love this view of the start of the walk, and I’d hoped I could get a photo like this of the whole line of hikers in miniature, but I couldn’t get out ahead of everyone and make it up to the top of the hill far enough in front. The people in the photo are four hikers who arrived late.
I thought there might be some ice but I was surprised at how much we encountered. Luckily it was covered by a light coat of snow and it was navigable without foot traction, which I left behind in the car.
I’m very glad we were able to squeeze our cookout in last weekend — it was 20 degrees colder this time and there was a strong wind — no one would ever want to hang around here for more than a few minutes in those conditions
We’ve reconfigured this walk so we now cross Porter Hill Road and walk through a relatively new preserve, the Riemen Woods
I don’t know the background of these woods but they have a different character than the other woods that make up this walk — I really like the feeling of this preserve
My only complaint is that the time in this woods doesn’t last long enough
We also hit mud and water as well as ice, but it was manageable

Official head count: 24H, three D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Feb 10

Willseyville Creek, Caroline

The hiker in the scarf waiting to climb down the side of the ditch is regular hiker Vicki, who was making her first serious hike since last June, when she suffered a major spinal problem. It was great to have her back on the trail with us.
This is the abandoned railroad right of way — there’s swamp on both sides but the scrubby growth obscures the view. The swamp was pretty much frozen solid.
We hit a fair amount of ice but almost no mud and very little water.
For the second time in a row, the huge pond on the other side of Ridgeway Road was flooded (this time it was also frozen) so we couldn’t get near it. From now on we’ll check the water level before we start the hike so we don’t waste time walking there only to be disappointed.
The flooded pond is just to the left where the car is stopped. The photo was taken about half way up to the cars.

Official head count: 26H, four D

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of Jan 28-Feb 3

Hello Hikers!

Wed Jan 30

Cornell arboretum and adjacent natural areas

We hoped to go across the Stevens suspension bridge into the woods — but the trail was so rough we had to fall back to Plan B and head into the arboretu
It was quite cold — 9 at the meet-up — but it didn’t feel cold and it actually seemed very nice out
Like so many other places we hike, the arboretum’s at its best on a snowy morning, IMO
Half way through the hike, Dave announced it was his 70th birthday
Started to snow — we headed east into the natural areas maintained by money left by the late media mogul Roy H Park — here’s the commemorative photo for Dave’s birthday
Another morning of great winter atmospherics

Official head count: eightH

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Sat Feb 2

Road walk in Danby: Comfort Road from Bald Hill Road to Gunderman Road

Not our most appealing morning for a walk — at 8 am it was still just 4 degrees, and I suspect some hikers decided to skip this one — though it did warm up to 13 by 9 a
The real action was with the work crew that walked in to the Chestnut Lean-to to get ready for Sunday’s cook-out — Tiger worked on packing down the access trail with snowshoes; Gopi brought her splitting maul. Jack V was part of this group — you can see his photos by following the link below
There’s a lot of nice scenery along Comfort Road but it’s a bit subtle, and I didn’t feel like trying to make the effort to capture it in photos. I especially like the open areas
Our hiking group is often weighted toward people with higher education, but I think this hike may have taken the prize — there were six of us …. one MD, three PhDs and two masters degrees — but you shouldn’t assume we talk about egg-head topics as a result
I love this bleak look. It hit 20 degrees as we wrapped up, but the wind was blowing a little briskly right in our faces.

Official head count for the road walk: 6H

Official head count for the work group: 8H, three D

Jack V’s work group photos are here

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Sun Feb 3

Cookout at Chestnut Lean-to, Danby SF

The weather forecast got it exactly right this time — the long cold wave ended abruptly Saturday and we had a lovely mild morning for our cookout
We didn’t have a whole lot of time to get this ready, since no one was willing to walk in and handle all the prep even as late as Friday, because of the horrible cold. But everything worked out great despite the last-minute rush
We were able to collect enough wood in a rush for probably three cookouts
The people in the work crew felt the wood looked decent when they gathered it in freezing weather the day before, but it had thawed by the time they started to light the fires, and they realized the wood was actually very wet
It was such a pleasure to stand around in 40-degree temperature
This was our sixth winter cookout. For the last few times, we had a very successful second fire going in the rear of the lean-to, and a number of people sat around on the log benches and sipped drinks. This time the fire wouldn’t really get going, apparently because of the wet wood, and the hikers stayed up in the front area. I helped smash the iron-like ice coating off the benches, and I was a little disappointed no one sat on them
The sun came out after a while and it was really lovely — 45 when Tiger and I got back to the car
One of the hikers arrived late and tried to save time by parking right at the trail head, but she didn’t realize there was a very deep ditch and her car slid into it
We tried repeatedly pushing from the front and the back — no luck — AAA came out and pulled the car right out in less than a minute

I was happy to see we were able to have such a good time even with such a short lead time. For the last four years attendance has been steady in the low 30s, which I think is pretty decent given the somewhat rugged setting. This time it was 32H and seven D

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of Jan 21-Jan 27

Hello Hikers!

Wed Jan 23

Midweek hike cancelled — freezing rain and ice

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Sat Jan 26

Fisher Settlement Road west toward Curtis Road on the FLT, Danby SF

The snow on the FLT was a bit rough and choppy, but we decided to try it out, rather than just walk on the road
This trail is at its best in winter, when you can clearly appreciate the rolling terrain and the interesting plantings
After a while, I decided the trail surface was actually not that much fun — it was very slow going, and for those of us with hip or knee or ankle problems, a challenge. It took us a long time to reach this stream — we didn’t want to attempt a crossing, so we turned back even though it was early
Got back to the cars 20 minutes early, decided to walk down Fisher Settlement Road a bit
A great classic country-road look — rolling terrain, the road meandering a little, dark brooding woods along the edge — love it
There are almost no buildings along the length of Fisher Settlement Road as it passes through Danby SF, but those few that have been built have a surprisingly upscale feellng — this is not some backwoods country area

Official head count: 15H, one D. One additional hiker drove out but went to the wrong spot and so missed the hike.

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Jan 27

Upper Treman SP trails and adjacent country roads

It was in the low 30s and it snowed vigorously a few times, but it felt surprisingly mild anyway — you can see that Casey (shirt and suspenders) shed his bright yellow coat

Official head count: 20H, one D. We saw one bow hunter, at the meet-up, who promised not to shoot at any of us

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of Jan 7-Jan 13

Hello Hikers!

Wed Jan 9

Shindagin Hollow SF, bike trails in the northern sector

I don’t like to be too cautious about scheduling hikes just because the weather might be messy — so we headed up into Shindagin Hollow SF while a weather advisory for snow and ice was in effect — it was smooth sailing until we reached the edge of the forest — the access road, Braley Hill Road, hadn’t been sanded yet and it was a sheet of ice — the car was sliding around as we crept up the hill, and Tiger, who was driving, was afraid it would slide into the huge ditch along the edge. I thought it was great fun

The trail was a mixture of snow, ice and standing water — the footing was a bit tricky but some people managed to proceed without foot traction
The early part of the trail has some fabulous pine forest action
We were almost back to the cars when we realized two hikers weren’t with us any more. Turned out they missed a turn and kept going in the wrong direction. Luckily they both had smart phones with Verizon service so we were able to speak to them (there was no AT&T reception). But they didn’t have a map and they couldn’t figure out the extremely confusing trail situation without one, despite our coaching. They finally emerged from the woods 90 minutes late, after one of the hikers went home and then e-mailed them a map.

Official head count: 11H, one D

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Sat Jan 12

Buttermilk Falls SP, rim trail and Bear Trail

You get a great view of Buttermilk Creek from this lookout when the leaves are down
We saw only a few other hikers — and this hunter — it was the first day of the special Tompkins County hunting season, and bow hunting is always permitted in season in the state parks — we don’t usually get such a vivid reminder
Just enough snow to illuminate the terrain, but thin enough that walking was really easy — except where it was icy
We came upon two deer while we were walking down this stretch — they raced away — wonder if they knew who was looking for them ….?

Official head count: 24H, three D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Jan 13

Two hikes SE of Dryden — FLT east into Cortland County (hilly) and the Jim Schug Trail (flat) — followed by a stop at Hopshire Brewery

It was 6 degrees at the meet-up but there was no wind and the sun was lovely — so it was actually wasn’t bad at all standing around
You have to walk steadily uphill more or less steeply for the first one-third of the hike — great way to warm up
The snow was powdery but slippery — your foot slid backwards a little on every step — quite tiring
This is the start of the steep climb over the hill — always strenuous but it was much harder with the slippery footing
Even our most rugged hikers found the going tough this time
The trail ascends the front side of the hill on a series of switchbacks that seem to go on and on, though the straight-line distance from the bottom to the top isn’t all that great
We’re now on the other side of the hill, looking into Cortland County — I find this such a serene and beautiful spot
We weren’t able to proceed much beyond this point because the slow going ate up the time
Coming back down the switchbacks was extremely challenging in its own way — your feet skidded uncontrollably as you made the switches
Back down at the start of the hill — good chance to appreciate the terrain and contours of the Dryden Lake valley
This marked the return to the trail of one of our most active and energetic hikers, Vicki, right front, who’s been out on disability since June — she suffered a sudden spinal problem that left her unable to sit or drive or walk more than a short while — surgery in the fall, finally recovering — she said she spent much of the time lying in bed — we were very happy to see her back — she could only handle the flat walk, though

Stop at Hopshire on the way home

A lot of hikers stopped off. The big room where we like to congregate was reserved for a brunch operation, so we had to squeeze into a small room next door — it’s a tight fit but it works and the small size of the room cuts down on the noise. It was a very cheerful mood — word leaked out that it was the birthday of one of the hikers, and that made it even more festive.

Total head count for both hikes: 29H, seven D

More photos:

Jack V