Report to Hikers: week of Jan 23-Jan 29

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Jan 25

Road walk  —  Newtown Road and Fitzgerald Road, between Mecklenburg and Burdett

Back to the beautiful farm countryside in the gently rolling terrain west of town along Route 79

More fantastic atmospherics  —  dramatic grey sky, a little snow and sleet ….

Official head count:  12H, four D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Sat Jan 28

Rim trail along Shindagin gorge, Shindagin Hollow SF

Official head count:  20H, eight D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Sun Jan 29

Fischer Settlement Road east to Tamarack Lean-to on the FLT, South Danby

Official head count:  22H, six D.  Three other hikers traveling in one car turned around shortly before they reached South Danby Road because of concerns about the snow, which was coming down fairly hard.

Report to Hikers: week of Jan 16-Jan 22

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Jan 18

Road walk  —  Hill Road and Curtis Road, South Danby

Wonderful dark & atmospheric morning  —  drizzle and mist  —  even some thick fog on the way to and from the meet-up

Still snow and ice in the woods out here  —  we even hit some ice on these roads, which are regularly plowed and sanded quite heavily  — I wasn’t expecting it  —  almost went down once

Official head count:  14H, three D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Saturday Jan 21

Rim Trail and Bear Trail, Buttermilk Falls SP

With so many hikers off marching against DJT, I decided to take the morning off from photo-taking myself  —  I was feeling lazy, and I normally have to hustle and scramble a bit to get photos that I regard as good enough.  So I goofed off and just ambled along, enjoying the warm temps and the bright sun.

This is the upper gorge trail on the other side of the creek from where we were walking  —  Tiger got the shot  — tremendous amounts of ice on the steps

On the way back down the rim trail we came upon three rugged-looking bow hunters dragging a dead deer uphill on a rope  —  it didn’t occur to me at the moment to get a photo  —  now I really wish I had  —  they were extremely picturesque

\When we got back to the lower parking lot it was filling up with people surging in to take advantage of the beautiful day

Official head count:  NineH, four D  (one hiker arrived too late for the group photo)

 

Sunday Jan 22

Monkey Run Natural Area, north side of Fall Creek

Official head count:  27H, nine D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

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In last week’s hike report, I failed to link to Jack V’s photos of the birthday party we had on Wednesday at Steve and Diane’s house.  Here they are.

Report to Hikers: week of Jan 9-Jan 15

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Jan 11

Road walk  —  Mount Pleasant Road and Mineah Road, Freeville

This is the wide open spaces road walk we were supposed to do last Sunday that I cancelled because of cold and high winds.  I’m really glad we waited  —  the volatile weather worked out just right  —  mid 40s and dazzling sun and a picturesque coating from the ice storm overnight

We learned about a way we can extend this walk for a long distance through these high fields  —  without any cars  —  stay tuned

If you look closely at the horizon you’ll see two tiny stick figures  —  one with arms outstretched dramatically, almost like he was posing ….

We had a get-together at Steve and Diane’s house nearby in Ellis Hollow afterwards  —  it was a hiker’s birthday  —  fantastic spread  and we had a great time

Official head count, walk and party combined:  23H, four D

You can see Annie’s photos here

 

Saturday Jan 14

The Wedge, Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area  —  with Dave B

Dave drove out here Friday morning to check the snow and ice status in several spots  —  it looked good to him  —  but he didn’t walk the entire trail, and as we got to the higher elevations, up around 2000 feet, we did find considerable snow cover and hard slippery ice

The trail became a bit tricky  —  I for one really enjoyed trying to avoid falling  —  a number of hikers did fall but nothing serious

We came back downhill on the road rather than attempt to navigate on a trail that might be icy

Dave B is definitely a master of pacing and timing our hikes to more or less exactly two hours  —  he was thrown off a little by the last-second change to the road  —  but we still finished up just three minutes early

Official head count:  20H, four D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

 

Sunday Jan 15

Stevens Suspension Bridge to the Cornell horse fields and the Monkey Run bluffs, Forest Home

The snow was almost entirely gone but we still encountered patches of treacherous hard ice on the trail, often obscured by grass or leaves  —  I fell down backwards myself  —  landed on my arm and my ass  —  no damage  —  slipping and toppling backwards is generally not as dangerous as catching your foot in a snag and falling forward  —  you can really get hurt doing that

Official head count:  34H, nine D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of Jan 2-Jan 8

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Jan 4

Road walk  —  Hosenfeld Road, Carley Road and Steam Mill Road, Odessa

Back to the same place we did our Wednesday hike the week before  —  several people had said then that the views were even better higher up the hill

More fantastic wintry atmospherics  —  dramatically gloomy sky, a bit of sleet,some  mist on the distant hills.  This was the day before the cold wave arrived so we were pretty comfortable.

Official head count:  19H, seven D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

 

Saturday Jan 7

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

Official head count:  27H, four D

You can see Annie’s photos here

 

Sunday Jan 8

Six Mile Creek, Mulholland Wildflower Preserve

Something different  —  we started by walking up the driveway, crossing over the creek on the Giles Street bridge, and going down to the creek edge downstream from where we always hike.  This is a dramatic spot with towering cliffs on the north side of the creek and an abandoned factory.  A number of the hikers had never been here before, though it’s only two minutes walk from the parking lot.

Very cold and gusty winds as predicted but we were shielded by the woods most of the time and it wasn’t uncomfortable being out.  It was snowing at first  —  then the sun came out and it was lovely.

Official head count:  16H, four D

You can see Annie’s photos here

Report to Hikers: week of Dec 26-Jan 1

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Dec 28

Road walk  —  Hosenfeld Road, LIsk Road and Cayuta Lake, Odessa

Another new road walk for our group  —  in an area southwest of town where a number of us had never been

First time seeing Caytuta Lake for quite a few of the group  —  it was frozen solid and several ice fishermen were scattered around (the lake has an average depth of just 14 feet)

We walked on two dirt roads that run along the side of Rogers Hill, just west of Route 228

This was a corral with llamas inside  —  they wouldn’t come over to us

This was a fantastic walk, and everyone said they want to do it again

Official head count:  15H, three D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

 

Saturday Jan 31

Bald Hill Road to The Pinnacles look-out, Danby SF

Official head count:  21H, six D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

 

Sunday Jan 1

Stewart Park, Fuertes Bird Sanctuary, Newman Golf Course, lighthouse and farmers’ market

The jetty and the lighthouse

A handful of us stayed behind on dry land while the main group went out to the lighthouse  —  as I’ve mentioned before, my balance is shot  —  so I’m completely afraid to walk out on the broken, narrow jetty  —  though it’s really fun once you get to the end ….

In any case, our two photographers Annie and Jack each got a shot of the group out at the lighthouse  —  you can see their shots lower down in this report

Tiger and I were concerned that walking in the floodplain areas along the lake might be boring to some of the hikers, but everyone seemed like they were having a great time  —  it was certainly easier than slipping and sliding on an icy trail along Six Mile Creek.

Tailgate party

Big success  —  a wonderful array of delicious things to eat and drink  —  we had the party inside the pavilion, which is filled with tables and seems a little like a restaurant  —  unfortunately, it was too dark for me to get any shots  —  I handed the camera to our nature photographer Hobit (who has much steadier hands than I do) and she managed to get a few shots, though she wasn’t pleased with them at all

Jack V has a flash on his camera and he got some clear photos of the food you can see at his link below.

There was a bit of a cold breeze off the lake while we were standing around in the gazebo; otherwise it was a gorgeous morning

Group photos at the lighthouse

The first is by Annie, then Jack V

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Official head count, hike and tailgate party combined:  44H, six D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

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Newspaper story about the hiking group

There was a piece in the Ithaca Times earlier this month about Tiger and me and the hiking group.  It was written by Marjorie Olds, who’s been having stories about people she finds interesting published in the Times and the Ithaca Journal for years.

Here’s the article

Marjorie neglects to mention that she’s the person who introduced us to the hiking group in 2004  —  it was a very small group then and hiked only on Sundays.  Marjorie was responsible for the steady growth of the group in the early years  —  she knows a huge number of people and she recruited many of them to at least give the group a try.

You’ll see an old photo of Tiger and me in the newspaper story  —  it’s from 1967.

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First recipe in the Ithaca Hikers Cookbook?

Annie brought a spinach quiche to the tailgate party and she said everyone wanted the recipe:

Mini-spinach quiche

20 oz chopped, frozen spinach thawed (do not drain!)

1 small onion chopped

4 eggs beaten

1 cup Bisquick

½ cup canola oil

8 oz shredded mozzarella

½ cup shredded parmesan

1 teaspoon each oregano, parsley, basil, garlic, salt, some pepper

Mix together. Bake in 13×9 pan at 350 for 25 minutes until puffed and lightly browned.

Serve warm or room temperature.

 

You can easily split the ingredients in half and use a smaller pan, like an 8×8.

If it’s cold, I like to heat it up first and then it can sit for a while if people don’t eat right away, it’s still tasty at room temperature.  (It usually doesn’t sit around very long though!)