ithacahikers

Wednesday, July 23

Sims-Jennings Preserve at Cayuga Cliffs, Lansing

Hike report by Margaret F

12 hikers but no dogs met at Sims-Jennings Preserve at Cayuga Cliffs | Finger Lakes Land Trust, for a hike on the trails within the preserve and the neighboring meadow loop. This is hike # 54 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-54.

The weather was perfect with clear blue skies and slightly cooler (though heating up rapidly) than recent weather. Several hikers had not been to this location previously. The group left promptly at 9:30 after taking a group photo (thank you Leigh Ann).

We took the white blazed entrance to the yellow trail then turned left onto the red trail/field loop. The field loop was the least popular section of the trail, but improved by some blackberries and wild flowers along the route. After the field loop we continued to the end of the yellow trail and then retraced the yellow trail back to the white blazes. The overlook near the entrance to the blue blazed trail offered a moment of rest with spectacular views over Cayuga Lake. We finished with the blue blazed Danny’s loop trail then back across the meadow to the parking area. Our hike totaled 4.8 miles and ended just after 11:30 (thank you Casey for keeping time and distance).

The trail conditions were excellent. Everything was dry and well marked. The two sections across meadows were very recently mown. The water levels in streams and the water fall were very low and most of the mosquitoes had taken the day off.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 26

Black Diamond Trail from Houghton Road

Hike report by Jim

Twenty-two hikers and two dogs met on Houghton Rd in the Town of Ulysses for a northbound out-and-back hike of the Black Diamond Trail. This is hike #58-4 on our list of regular hikes: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-58.

This morning started out a little cooler, but as the morning progressed it got hotter and muggier. The group broke down into individual hiker pace, with the fastest hikers making it as far as the new bridge and parking lot at upper Taughannock Falls State Park before turning around.

The group shared the trail with many runners and bicyclists today
Warm welcome to Ken B and his unnamed canine hiking partner on their first hike with the group!

Sunday, July 27

Bock Harvey Forest Preserve and Riemen Woods, Enfield

Hike report by Dave Bock

Ignoring the threat of significant storms, 13 hikers and a dog met at the Finger Lakes Land Trust’s Bock-Harvey Preserve for what turned out to be a rain-free morning outing. Leader Dave Bock provided some background history of the Revolutionary War tracts that became his family farm, the wooded portion of which now comprises this Preserve.

The group first walked the access trail across some onetime hayfields now well-populated with goldenrod and turned uphill. The view at the top looks across the valley where Enfield Creek flows into Treman Park. Now entering the woods and after passing the Locust Lean-to, the group turned west on the Finger Lakes Trail to pass through a forest populated largely by 2nd-growth beech trees. Crossing Porter Hill Road, the FLT loops through Rieman Woods before descending what the locals call “Mummy Hill” (no idea why…) back to the road. A short-but-steep walk up the road put the hikers back on the trail thru the beeches. There, a brief side trip offered the opportunity to gawk at a huge 400-yr-old maple, now hollow and likely home to numerous creatures. Beyond the beeches, the FLT enters a special conservation area, 12 acres of what foresters say is one of the finest stands of old-growth maples in the state. Not your backyard shade trees that have room to spread out, in their natural habitat these maples, 200-400 years old, grow straight trunks for nearly 100’ before the first branches appear, filling the forest canopy at a height of 130-140’. After circumnavigating a loop through these woods, we emerged to the east for a short out-and-back across a couple of horse pastures. Then it was back into the woods for a final pass through the old maples on our way to the trailhead and cars.

We covered about 3.5 miles in the 2 hours, with the only raindrops of the day wetting down the hike leader on his short walk home! 

Wednesday, July 16

Deputron Hollow, Danby

Hike report by Jim

Thirteen hikers and one dog met at the junction of East Miller and Marsh Rds for an out-and -back road walk of Marsh and Deputron Hollow Roads on a very sunny, very warm and very humid morning. This is hike number 25 on our list of regular hikes: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-25.

The hike starts with a downhill section of the paved portion of Marsh Rd, which soon transitions to a dirt surface seasonal road before meeting Deputron Hollow RD.

Turning onto Deputron Hollow Rd it’s a steady downhill stretch of seasonal road under the forest canopy for about a mile until the roadway transitions back to a paved section of road that terminates at Coddington Rd.

Everyone hiked at their own pace, with the lead hikers led by Leigh Ann reaching Coddington Rd by the turn-around time.

Everyone made it back to the cars at the usual time.

In talking over the hike, I think that I’ll be adding some alternate meeting locations for this hike that we can change up based on the season.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 19

Bob Cameron Loop, Connecticut Hill

Hike report by Dave Bock

On a comfortably warm morning with blue skies and puffy clouds 19 hikers met at the radio/cell towers atop Connecticut Hill for our scheduled hike of the Bob Cameron Loop. The trailhead, at an altitude of 2101’, is the highest point in Tompkins County (and in several contiguous counties). The BCL, named for a former manger of the Wildlife Management Area, is one of only 3 officially recognized trails there; the other 2 are the Van Lone Loop and the FLT. Two additonal hikers and a dog, late arrivals, stated their intent to catch up with the group, but were never seen again!

Walking the loop counterclockwise, we started with a long downhill trek, reaching the BCL’s low point at a stream crossing in well under an hour. Experienced hikers are well aware of what a long opening downhill trail portends, and they were not disappointed. About halfway up the climb on southern half of the loop and well ahead of schedule, we used the extra time to branch off the BCL onto some of the lesser trails in the WMA. These traversed an area of mixed forests and offered some obligatory mud before reuniting with the BCL about 1/2 hour later. 

Even with the extra distance added, the group arrived back at the cars over 20 minutes early. At that point most of the hikers opted to head for home, but a hardy few continued along the FLT for a short out-and-back to fulfill the 2-hour goal. This full version of the hike covered just over 4 miles. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, July 20

Virgil Mountain, Cortland County

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Twelve hikers and one hiker dog met at the junction of Baldwin and O’Dell seasonal roads for this pleasant hike up the south side of Virgil Mountain on the FLT. The most exciting part of the hike for many people was, as usual, either disagreeing with Google about the right way to the trailhead or – at least as exciting – following what Google said. We lucked out this time: the weather has been dry enough that no one got stuck in mud coming up to the intersection/meet-up spot the way Google insists you go, which is from the south rather than the north. Google was really insistent this time, even to the point of telling people to go fifteen minutes out of their way to come up from the south if they were coming down from the north. Any other time of year, this could get a person stuck.

The route follows the FLT up the mountain at a gentle incline through shady fern glades and across a few stream crossings that are mellow at this time of year. It swings easterly near the top of the Greek Peak chair lift. It is a fun 5-minute detour from the FLT to get a top-down view of the ski slopes and valley to the north. From there, following the FLT gets you to the highest point in Cortland County, marked by a plaque. Some of the group got to the plaque before turning around. Everyone returned to the cars within two hours of when we began hiking.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, July 9

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

Hike report by Jim

Nine hikers and one dog met at the dead end of Monkey Run Rd for a looping hike of the red blazed trails on the Cayuga Trail on the south side of Fall Creek. This is hike #6-1 on our list of regular hikes:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-6.

The area of this hike is included in the FLTC trail map ” The Cayuga Trail”, available in paper or electronic formats at:  https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/

The day was sunny and increasingly warmer as the hike went on. The group hiked in a westerly direction from Monkey Run Rd, stopping at the first trail intersection for a group photo. This section of the hike had the only real mud that I saw on the hike.

Leaving the woods the group crossed the Taiby Flats fields before returning to the forested footpath to hike along the southerly side of Fall Creek. We stopped at one or two spots along the route to walk to the shoreline, or to observe the creek from elevated bluffs.

This route took us back to lower elevations that again followed the creek shoreline. After a few minutes on this section of trail I modified our route and left the creek to take another elevated trail that passed a trail register box where we stopped while I made a short logbook entry.

The group arrived at the Dryden Rail Trail, which we walked back to the vehicles, arriving at the parking area about ten minutes sooner than I had originally planned

A warm welcome to Susan on her first hike with the group!

Our group encountered no other hikers during this hike

Thanks to everyone who came out on a warm day for this hike!

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 12

Finger Lakes Trail from Comfort Road through Danby State Forest

Hike report by Jim

Fifteen hikers met at the junction of Comfort and Bald Hill Rds in the Town of Danby for an out and back hike on the FLT. This hike took place entirely on FLT map sheet M17; map sheets may be purchased in paper or electronic formats at: https://fingerlakestrail.org/store/maps-and-gps/purchase-individual-maps/. Same of the map sheets helps to defray on-going trail maintenance costs.

This is hike # 18 on our list of regular hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-18.

The hikers left the parking lot and made a short road walk down Bald Hill Rd to the FLT road crossing there.

The day was warm and humid, and everything along the trail was in full bloom, with the undergrowth along the trail crowding into the footpath. Despite recent rains the trail was in generally good shape, the group encountering little in the way of mud. Lots of slick rocks and roots due to recent rains, so we were picking our way along the trail on the downhill first portion of the hike. We encountered two blow-down trees that weren’t there when I recently pre-hiked this route. One sizeable tree was lengthwise on the footpath and required a bushwhack to get around; the other was only a large step-over. Trail conditions report made to the FLTC.

We encountered one couple on the trail, and the Chestnut Lean-to was occupied so we didn’t make a stop there. Otherwise, we had the trail to ourselves.

The group made it to Michigan Hollow Rd and Dianes Crossing before turning around. Leigh Ann led the group on the return leg of the hike, with the group crossing Blad Hill Rd and continuing on the FLT to Comfort Rd with a short road walk back to the cars at the end of the hike.

For those hikers tracking their FLT miles for a 2025 FLT 50 or FLT100 patch, today’s mileage per the map sheet was 3.4 miles.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, July 13

Hammond Hill State Forest from Route 38 south of Dryden

Hike report by Nina

Eight hikers and two dogs gathered on a muggy morning at Hammond Hill State Forest to walk a stretch of the FLT. This is hike #31-3 on the Ithaca Hikers website. Although the sky was dark and there was thunder in the distance, we did not encounter rain on our two hour out and back hike. 

The dirt road leaving the parking lot has a steep hill, but once we were on the FLT the hike had only gentle changes in elevation. There are no significant landmarks or vistas on the trail, but there is a lovely hemlock forest that provided cooler temperatures, and the trail is well marked and reasonably maintained.

At the start of the hike,  we passed a horse-back rider, who said she’s never seen another person on that stretch of trail, and later a few mountain bikers rode by. Otherwise our only other company was a small toad along the pathway.

Wednesday, July 2

Fischer Old Growth Natural Area, Newfield

Hike report by Jim

Ten hikers met in the Town of Newfield for a hike of the various loop trails within the Fischer Old Growth Forest led by Leigh Ann.

This is hike #15 on our list of hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-15.

The day was very sunny and muggy throughout the hike. The group took a quick photo by the cars and then set off across the blue blazed trail that loops around the open field before finally entering the forest on the red blazed trail. Trail conditions were generally good, with minimal water at stream crossings and very little mud. We had the trails to ourselves with the exception of one other hiker.

We made a brief stop at the dead-end trail by the plaque before continuing on the red trail to the yellow blazed loop. Completing the yellow blazed loop the group then did two complete circuits of the red loop before returning to the cars.

Welcome to new hiker Caroline on her first hike with the group.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 5

Bahar Nature Preserve and Carpenters Falls, Cayuga County

Hike report by Jim

Twenty hikers and three dogs met in Cayuga County for an out-and -back hike of the connected trails of the Carpenter Falls Unique Area and Bahar Nature Preserve trails. This is hike # 60-9 on our list of hike locations:  https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.

The day was warm and sunny with very clear skies as the group gathered. Initially we walked from the parking lot to the Carpenter Falls overlook on the fairly new boardwalk. Nobody opted to take the stairs to the lower viewing area, so we returned to the parking area and headed down the trail towards the Bahar Nature Preserve and Skaneateles Lake.

The trail was in mostly good condition; a couple of blow-down trees were easily navigated, and a handful of usually muddy sections on this trail were mostly dried up today. The numerous roots on the footpath were the main hazard, sometimes difficult to navigate through simply due to the sheer number of them preset.

We stopped along the way to look at the lower falls from the edge of the ravine. Unfortunately, some of the other observation points along our route have been rendered inaccessible by DEC closing one of the unofficial trails.

The group reached the lake frontage and hung out there for a few minutes before turning around to retrace our route. A couple of hikers opted to take the road directly back to the cars, but the rest of the group returning to the parking area via the trails.

We encountered a few individuals or couples hiking the trail this morning, but for the most part had the trail to ourselves.

Sunday, July 6

Shindagin Hollow State Forest, Brooktondale

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Fourteen hikers met at the northernmost parking lots on Braley Hill Road for this hike. The heat index was expected to get to near 90 degrees by the end of the hike, so I had prehiked a route the previous day that maximized shade and minimized elevation change. We headed out through the magnificent pine plantation on B1, took B1 down to B3, and took B3 down to B4. We stayed on B4 to where it does a big, mountain-bike-friendly switchback down to the northern junction with G1, where we turned around and headed back the same way. This five-mile round-trip hike had only 476 feet of elevation gain. Even though the route was on lovingly constructed bike trails, with lots of banks and log-balance challenges, we only saw two bikers the whole time. I guess it was too hot that day for many bikers to want to be out there.

This is a tunnel-of-trees hike that is ideal for a hot summer day, and it begins and ends in the best part: the magnificent pine plantation near the parking lot for B1. With that said, about 1.25 miles in, we got to another interesting part. This part of the hill is being devestated by spongy moths. There weren’t any moths or catepillars to be seen, but for about ½ mile, the forest floor was covered with a thick, still-green carpet of leaf confetti that looked like it had blown down in the storm three days earlier. The forest there didn’t even smell like regular forest: it smelled like cut leaves. Everything green had holes in it, even may apples. Later this season and into the fall, there might be a lot less shade than there was on Sunday, once the stressed trees drop their leaves early, though I expect this also would be interesting to see. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, June 25

Oakley Corners State Forest, Tioga County

Hike report by Jim

Four hikers met in Tioga County for a loop hike of the yellow blazed trail system in Oakley Corners State Forest. This is hike # 60-3 on our list of hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.

This was the first time the group has hiked at Oakley Corners in about three years. Since the last time we hiked here the state had opened some new red-blazed trails, which I hiked on Tuesday before deciding to not include those trails in today’s route.

The day was sunny, although the hikers stayed under the forest canopy for most of the route, except for a quick stop or two at one of the two ponds our route today had us passing. Because of this we seemed to escape the worst of any heat we might have otherwise experienced.

Other than a group of juvenile campers with their adult group leaders that we ran into along the way, we had the trail system to ourselves during the hike.

Welcome to Ann H and Ralph H on their first hike with the group!

Saturday, June 28

Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area, Newfield

Hike report by Dave Bock

Three Hills Loop: A group of 18 hikers set out from the cemetery in the Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area for a 4.25-mile loop hike. The morning was cool, a welcome change after a week of hot, steamy weather. After a brief walk south along the road, we turned west through a short stretch of tall grass to enter the woods for the rest of the hike. We passed a vernal pool, strangely dry despite recent rains, before stopping to look at a tree that’s home to a porcupine. There was no sign of the critter, just a pile of droppings at the foot of the tree. For quite a while the terrain was varied, generally flat with several short uphills and a few gullies. It led us into a fairly remote area of the WMA. where a visiting hiker from Georgia remarked that she thought she heard banjo music. (Younger hikers not familiar with the reference might want to stream the movie Deliverance.) Soon thereafter and well past the halfway mark the trail descended steeply to a stream crossing where, despite very slippery stepping stones, only a few feet got wet. After crossing back a few hundred yards later, the trail paralleled the stream before heading uphill, a mile long steady climb that brought us back to the cars in 2h 10m. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

View Randy Olson and Nancy Lorr’s photo album.

Sunday, June 29

Upper Buttermilk Falls State Park from Yaple Road

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Twenty-one hikers and one hiker dog on leash met where the FLT Buttermilk Spur crosses Yaple Road for a loop-and-spokes hike into upper Buttermilk. When approaching the meet-up spot on Yaple or Comfort Road, we saw signs for a race, which we hadn’t anticipated: the Tortoise and Hare Trail Run. So, we knew we would share the trail with runners. For about the first half hour of our hike, we stayed on the left-hand side of the trail and pulled off to applaud whenever a runner passed.

The weather couldn’t have been better for late June. Humidity was low and there hadn’t been much rain over the past week, which made it fun to cross Buttermilk Creek on rocks or through water. Air quality was excellent, so there was no orange glow in the sunlight and the sky was hard-candy blue. All colors and shadows were saturated. 

Our route took us around the eastern side of Treman Lake/marsh and up to La Tourelle. We remarked at the lovely Firelight glamping area, which has a nice coffee/bar/check-in area that’s open to the public until 11:00 pm and live music on Tuesday nights in the summer. Then we headed across the Treman Lake dam, up the Bear Trail to King Road, and back around the western side of Treman Lake. We arrived back at the cars 10 minutes later than expected, after about 4.75 miles and 725 feet of elevation gain.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

View Randy Olson and Nancy Lorr’s photo album.