This fall we tried something new by scheduling a trail maintenance day on a Wednesday instead of a Saturday.
While we did have seven hikers meet for today’s work, we will be returning to scheduling future regular trail work for weekends in order to get a bigger turn-out.
Because of today’s smaller turn out I chose to not split the group up as I normally do and instead focus on one section of the Cayuga Trail. The hikers focused on pruning back the very overgrown part of our trail section between Route 13 and the new bridge that Ithaca Hikers assisted Cayuga Trails Club in building a couple of years ago. Because our spring work day earlier this year focused on a trail re-route, today’s trail section has not been cut back in a year, and it shows by the amount of overgrowth.
We also re-blazed today’s section of trail as there were many very faded blazes or long trail segments missing blazes. I mis-judged how many hikers are needed for that task; in the future we will have at least two people re-blazing the trail on our work days.
After the group returned to our cars we met at Shippers and Brewers for lunch.
Today’s hikers agreed that we will hold another trail workday this fall when there’s a hike that has been cancelled so that we can try to complete some of the tasks we couldn’t finish today.
Photos by Jim
Saturday, September 19
Sims-Jennings Preserve at Cayuga Cliffs, Lansing
Hike report by Nina F.
Seventeen hikers and two dogs met to hike at Sims-Jennings Preserve in Lansing. Although there was only one first-time hiker with the Ithaca Hiking Club, we had many people who don’t join us often or hadn’t hiked with the group in a while, so it was especially nice to see some less familiar faces. It was a lovely day, with mild temperatures, abundant fall colors, and plenty of sunshine.
Sims-Jennings has several interconnected trails featuring a mix of landscapes and views. We started with the relatively flat out-and-back section through the woods, which crosses a small bridge over a pretty stream. Next, we walked around the large fields, which were absolutely stunning in their fall colors. We also saw numerous monarchs and enjoyed several views of Cayuga Lake from the top of the fields.
From there, we took the small loop overlooking the gorge and lake before finishing with the larger loop, which is quite steep—first downhill and then back up! Hikers had the option to depart before the final loop, but most stayed for the longer route. We wrapped up the hike at 11:45.
4 hikers met on a muggy day for an excellent hike through the trails that weave around in the beautiful woods of Fischer Old Growth Forest- passing by big trees, across small streams, up and down medium hills, walking by a field, ….
We hiked the beginning part of the red trail to the memorial, then over to do the yellow loop, back to do the red loop (counter clockwise), then repeated the yellow trail in the other direction, finally back up and to the blue trail through the field, and to the cars. In 1 hour 50 minutes. (repeating the red loop in the other direction instead would have been right about 2 hours)
I’d recommend this for people looking to hike on their own too, or with visitors etc. (keep an eye on hunting however- it’ll be happening there next week for instance). It’s close to downtown Ithaca. The trails are well marked once you get down the field, you can make it longer or shorter by choosing your route, repeating sections if you want a longer hike.
Photos by Kathy K
Saturday, September 12
Shortened Van Lone Loop, Connecticut Hill
Hike report by Nancy Lorr
14 hikers and one dog gathered at the Van Lone Loop parking on Gulf Road on a perfect September morning with blue skies and a comfortable temperature. We started on the Finger Lakes Trail along the Cayuta Lake outlet also known as the Gulf. The creek was relatively low but not dry. After a little more than a mile, we arrived at the creek crossing. The waterfall was dry but at least the creek crossing was easy. Shortly beyond we turned up off the FLT on an old carriage trail. It took a rather steep rise and leveled off, following the side creek from above. Next we walked through a grassy meadow and arrived at the upper part of Van Lone loop. Not far from this junction we could see the foundation of an old schoolhouse serving a community of the past. From there we headed back first recrossing the side creek and then climbing further up Van Lone Hill. The trail finally fed into the upper terminus of Gulf road which descended steeply to our cars.
Eastman Hill Rd at the Tioga/ Tompkins County Line into Eberhard Nature Preserve
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Thirteen hikers and one leashed dog had a fun time on this hike, which turned out to be prettier than I expected because the top of the hill was misty. This also meant it was rather humid. Hikers joked that it felt like their skin was plumping up. Speaking of funny things, someone had put a plastic zombie hand in the hikers’ register near the western entrance to the Eberhard Preserve. May be Jim Rolfe? (grin). He had signed in earlier that morning on his way over the hill from Coddington to 96b and back. That’s a lot of real estate to travel, and our paths didn’t cross at the same time today. The 13 hikers and one dog arrived back at the cars nine minutes early after about 4.2 miles and 650 feet of elevation gain.
Our usual Wednesday hike was modified into a planned paddle. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate on Wednesday, so I rescheduled for Friday September 6.
Six paddlers met at the Watkins Glen Paddle Launch for a 10:33AM push off. I discovered that the formerly free parking was now $8 requiring lots of cell phone effort – but nobody seemed to mind.
The weather was perfect and we soon crossed the south end of Seneca Lake, and arrived at the Lucky Hare Brewery/Marina. There is a very easy take out right next to the restaurant.
The food, drinks and view were all very enjoyable. After lunch we took off and paddled down the Watkins Marina channel where we were hoping to spot an eagles nest, but we didn’t locate one before we decided to turn around. We paddled back to our put-in, loaded the boats on the cars, and all agreed that it was a fun outing.
Photos by Mark Sussman
Saturday, September 5
Logan Hill Nature Preserve, Candor
Hike report by Nina F.
Nine hikers and three dogs met in the parking lot of the Candor, NY junior-senior high school to hike the Logan Hill Nature Preserve on a really gorgeous September day. The hike is beautiful, crossing the 348 acre nature preserve through fields (filled with stunning golden rod), forests and wetland. This hike has it all! Fun wildlife sighting: Towards the end of the hike we flushed a woodcock (which was especially exciting to the two bird dogs on our hike).
History of Logan Hill follows. One of the hikers personally knows the Darlingtons, who donated the land.
Betsy and Dick Darlington bought 300 acres of land atop Logan Hill in 1972, and in 1990, donated the first ever conservation easement held by the Land Trust. Betsy, Dick, and their daughters, Lois and Jean, wanted to ensure the permanent protection of their family’s property and generously donated 285 acres to the Land Trust in February of 2015, creating the Logan Hill Nature Preserve. The remaining 15 acres are still owned by the Darlingtons and are protected through a conservation easement. The Land Trust added an additional 63-acre parcel in 2020 which includes hilltop forest and steep north- and east-facing slopes above the village of Candor.
Thirteen hikers met at the corner of Curtis and Hill Roads for this 4.2-mile road and woods hike. After the week of often heavy rain we’ve had, no walk through the woods was mud-free this weekend, but the weather was very nice for today’s hike. We headed south on Curtis to the FLT, headed west on the FLT to Hill Rd., and took hill Rd. south to the Abbott Loop. Then we headed east on the Abbott Loop until we returned to the FLT, and then retraced our steps back to the cars.
Fourteen hikers and one dog met in the parking lot of Roy Park Preserve South for a hike of the various blue, white and orange blazed trails there. This is hike # 67-5 on our list of regular hike locations: Hike #67 – ithacahikers.
Weather for the hike was very good; as I drove to the trailhead the morning temps were cool and a mist hung over the small ponds I passed on Irish Settlement Rd. By the time we were done with the hike the skies were a sunny clear blue with large white clouds and temps had warmed up considerably.
Roy Park South trails have a different feel to me than Roy Park North, which is a steady uphill climb once you’re past the boardwalk. Roy Park South is a mix of open fields and woods, with a couple of trails that lead down to the creek, a feature that is entirely missing from Roy Park North. We don’t hike Roy Park South often because the trail system doesn’t offer a full two-hour hike duration and the smaller parking area can be an issue for group hikes.
The hikers set off from the parking lot, stopping at the kiosk to review our route and take a group picture. Continuing onwards we turned onto the blue blazed trail that leads to the heart wall and our first visit with the creek. Water in the streams was flowing well today. Recent blowdowns across the footpath have been cleared from the trail. Overall, hiking conditions were generally good, with mowed paths and very little mud along our route.
The group returned to the loop, soon taking the second trail to the creekbed.
We continued on our way to the orange blazed open field loop, which ends back at the blue blazed trail. Some hikers chose to end their hike early at this time and return to their cars, while the remainder of the group chose to re-trace our route on the orange and blue loop to extend the hike duration.
Hikers arrived back at our cars about 20 minutes earlier than on most hikes.
We saw a couple of other hikers and dog walkers on the trail but otherwise had the trails to ourselves.
A warm welcome to Liz on her first hike with the group!
Photo by Jim
Saturday, August 29
Jenksville State Forest, Newark Valley
Hike report by Nina F.
Eleven hikers, including one first time Ithaca Hikers Club participant, and four dogs met in the Allison Hill Road parking lot to hike Jenksville State Forest on a lovely Saturday morning. As was suggested in the hike description, the drive to the hike, though longer than to many of our meeting spots, was as pretty as the hike itself. Jenksville State Forest has an extensive trail system where the trails are well maintained and there is little elevation gain, so it was a relatively easy hike with lovely scenery. The remnants of old stone walls and long abandoned building foundations made for some additional interesting features. We were also rewarded a few times with lovely views of fields and farmhouses. We passed two cyclists (twice) but otherwise had the trails to ourselves. We kept up a solid pace, with the entire group ending the hike together after approximately 5 miles and exactly two hours. Everyone seemed quite enthusiastic about this hike location. Six hikers opted to go to lunch afterwards at the award winning Richford diner, which won the 2026 Finger Lakes Favorites Gold Award during their first year in business. The lunch was delicious. History of Jenksville State Forest from DEC website: The forest was established between 1940 and 1945 in an effort to reduce soil erosion problems, produce forest products and provide future recreational opportunities. Most of the property was former pasture or tilled acreage that was suffering from poor agricultural practices. DEC planted this land with 837,000 pines, spruce, fir, cedar, larch and oak seedlings. The planting was accomplished in 1940 and 1941 using Civilian Conservation Corps labor. Today, Jenksville State Forest is fulfilling the vision which started in 1940. Almost 99% of the area is forested, the soils have improved, and harvesting of forest products supports all management activities, including recreation.
Photos by Nina F.
Sunday, August 30
Braley Hill trails south of FLT, Brooktondale
Hike report by Leigh Ann
This is a good new hike to add to our regular rotation, and this can be called the South Braley Hill Hike. Twenty-three hikers and four dogs on leashes met up at the trailhead, which is the parking pull-out about 0.1 mile north of where the FLT crosses Braley Hill Rd. Here’s the description of the hike route, which is about the same as before. Lots of people on the hike said they’d like to do this on a regular basis.
This is a new, shady hike on bike trails southeast of the FLT parking area on Braley Hill Road. It is about 4.2 miles long and has about 500 feet of elevation gain. The return leg on Blue 6 goes along a lovely stream valley. For a map showing the trail labels and distances, see here: https://www.shindagin.com/.
From the parking area, we head east on the FLT appx. 0.7 miles to Blue 3.
Then we turn right on Blue 3 and head south (it turns into Blue 4) about 1.7 miles to where it ends at a southern point on Braley Hill Rd.
Once we tap the road, we head back into the woods and go north on Blue 6 about 1.6 miles until we return to the FLT.
We turn left on the FLT to go about 0.2 mile to the cars.
Six hikers and one dog met on Porter Hill Rd for an out-and back hike on the FLT. This particular hike isn’t listed on our hikes list but instead stitches together parts of some of our other regular hikes such as the Bock Harvey Preserve and the Woodard Rd FLT hikes into its own hike.
Today’s hike took place entirely on FLT map sheet M16. Map sheets in either paper or electronic formats may be purchased from the Finger Lakes Trail Conference at: Purchase Individual Maps – Finger Lakes Trail Conference . Sale of the map sheets help to offset the ongoing costs associated with trail maintenance.
Weather conditions during the hike were good; temperatures were warm and we had a regular breeze through the trees and sunny conditions while we were crossing the open fields.
After a quick group photo, the hikers set off into the woods, soon reaching the border of the Bock Harvey Preserve. We bypassed the blue blazed trail to the lean-to and the yellow blazed side trails, continuing on the FLT until we exited the Preserve and entered the first of several open fields that alternate with smaller wooded sections before the Trail reaches Rockwell RD. The Trail was somewhat overgrown in places and the lower portions of the open fields (which have been mowed about a month ago, so they were easy hiking) were water-logged and a little muddy. The mud is a normal state of affairs in those places, so it was no surprise.
After reaching Rockwell Rd we did a short roadwalk until we re-entered the woods opposite the campground. A little mud in the lower parts of the trail again here, but nothing too bad. This section of Trail is one we normally hike as part of the Woodard Rd hike, and we don’t always get close to Rockwell Rd on those hikes. The Trail snakes along a nice creek for a long while during this part of the hike before it gradually turns in the direction of Hines Rd. When I solo hike this section I often find deer and other wildlife here, but we weren’t that lucky today.
We set a good pace during the first part of the hike and as a result we arrived at Hines Road about ten minutes earlier than I expected. At Hines Rd two of the hikers and the dog chose to roadwalk back to their cars, while the remainder of the group crossed Hines Rd and continued on the FLT, hiking the portion of the Trail that was a recent re-routed section last summer.
At the hour mark we turned around and re-traced our route, in the process running into another Ithaca Hiker who had arrived at the trailhead late and had unsuccessfully tried to catch up with the group. The group arrived back at our cars at the normal time.
For those hikers who are tracking their FLT miles towards an FLT50 or FLT100 patch, todays hike included 3.7 FLT miles.
Photo by Jim
Saturday, August 22
Lick Brook from Townline Road
Hike report by Nina F.
Thirteen hikers and one dog met along Townline Road to hike Lick Brook Natural Area, a gorgeous hike that overlooks the gorge on the outbound part of the hike and follows the gorge on the way back up. After descending to the bottom we stopped at the waterfall, which was pretty much a trickle at this time of year but very pretty nonetheless. We continued walking to the train tracks through a grassy field before turning around and backtracking to the waterfall and ascending the many stairs (a more than 500 foot climb) back to the cars. Some hikers continued the short loop on the other side of the road for a full two hour hike on a pretty day.
Fabulous hike in Kennedy State forest was enjoyed by 12 hikers and 1 dog. Welcome to new hiker Emily!
Ferns, trees, small stream crossings, gentle ups and downs, big trees, mossy logs, soft dirt/pine needle trails to walk on, bit of drizzle and some sunshine,.. Perfect except for “ground bees” that several encountered.
Thanks to Jim who created this route (hike #40-5) with part of the Spanish Loop starting near Adams/Owego Hill Road going north to the FLT, northwest on FLT to the start of the Ukraine Loop, then 3/4 of the Ukraine loop heading south until Owego Hill Road, ending with a short road walk back to the cars.
And many thanks to Alex and Michelle Gonzalez who maintain and create trails in this forest; the trails are well marked!!
