ithacahikers

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Feb 1

Abandoned road bed and adjacent fields, Mineah Road between Mount Pleasant Road and Route 13, Freeville

Official head count:  13H, three D

Impromptu roadside hair trim  —  Tiger worked for a while as a licensed hair cutter about 40 years ago  —  still remembers the basics

 

Sat Feb 4

Jim Schug Trail east into Cortland County on the FLT, Dryden

It’s 400′ from the base of this hill (where the open field ends) up to the top, as measured by Scott with a phone app.  As you can see just by looking, the distance in which you have to make this climb is pretty short, though there are switchbacks.  This is what gives rise to the grumbling.  The snow was a bit slippery this time, so it was actually a little tougher than usual.  A few of the hikers got part way up and then decided to turn back  —  they walked on the perfectly flat Jim Schug Trail instead.

The people on the left are a small group of local hikers we ran into in the home stretch  —  seems like they’d fit right in with us

Official head count:  18H, five D

 

Sunday Feb 5

Layen Road to Bruce Hill Road and beyond on the FLT, Danby

This is one of the hikes where I always like to stage a group lineup photo   —  I can’t resist the way the huge field curves away as a backdrop  —  a number of stragglers didn’t make it into the shot

Definitely one of our better scenic backgrounds ….

This is the infamous short killer uphill  —  the photo doesn’t do it justice  —  quite slippery so it was a real workout

Bruce Hill Road

Old quarry  —  interesting spot to stand around for about two minutes

Official head count:  23H, seven D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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