Report to Hikers — week of Dec 14 – Dec 20

Hello Hikers!

Wed Oct 16

This report was written by Jim

Cayuga Lake waterfront trail — Stewart Park to the Farmers’ Market

Ten hikers met in the parking area of Stewart Park near the old swan viewing area/ boathouse building.

Another hiker met us on the hike.

The hike location had been changed from an outlying hike to this more central location due to the snow-filled weather forecast, and some hikers took advantage of the change in location to walk or bike to the hike.

Temps were cool but there was no wind, and the view down the lake as far as could be observed was about the best that I’ve ever seen it this time of year.

The group started by doing a short loop around the former boathouse building – yellow B diamond near the “31” in the Northwesterly corner of the park, depicted here: Cayuga+waterfront+trail+CWT+map+no+yah.jpg (1296×2240) (squarespace-cdn.com)

; this loop gave us a good view of the lake and a kinder gentler walking surface than the asphalt alternatives.

We crossed over the suspension bridge and quickly completed a loop of the Fuertes natural area without incident.

The group crossed over Fall Creek, then proceeded through the northerly edge of the golf course, through the lighthouse woods and out to lighthouse point.

A slight bit of wind was felt here, and the small amount of ice on the water surface and along the shoreline had some unusual qualities to it that reminded me of piles of discarded vanilla frosting. We were not the only ones out enjoying the day, as we’d been passed by several runners along the way. At the lighthouse we observed near-by hunters trying their luck with the waterfowl. The birds seen in the area didn’t seem particularly concerned, so I can’t speak to the hunters success…..

The group completed a circuit of the golf course, then walked to the Farmers Market.

From there the group turned around and made a fast return to our cars or the longer walk to near-by residences.

The east side of the jetty looking up the lake

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Sat Dec 19

Report and photos by Jim

Road walk — Hill Road and Curtis Road, South Danby

Ten hikers and two dogs met at the junction of Curtis and Hill RDs in the Town of Danby

At 930 the group set off southwesterly on that rolling stretch of Hill Rd.

The sun above shone down on the freshly fallen snow laying on the fields and limbs of the trees the group passed.

The fields were full of trees and plants encased in a sheath of ice.

Winds on the initial leg of the hike were not a problem.

The group passed over South Danby RD and continued on Hill RD until reaching the end of the plowed portion of the road.

Turning around and heading back towards Curtis RD, the group was soon met by another hiker and dog who had arrived at the parking area a few minutes late and who had guessed wrongly twice as to the groups direction of travel before eventually finding us.

The group returned to the junction of Curtis and Hill Rds and opted to continue Northerly on Curtis RD to the end of that roads plowed surface. It was here that the wind finally caught us in the open, and any exposed skin was soon chilled. More than once I heard members of the group appreciating the extra protection the face masks gave today.

The group returned to the junction of Hill and Curtis Rds. With a few minutes left to use up, the group opted to strike out in two directions; one group returned Southwesterly on Hill RD, while the other group sought the portion of Hill RD to the Northeast that had more shelter from winds due to the trees closely lining both sides of the road.

At the end of the two hours the entire group again reconvened at our vehicles before leaving the area.

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Sun Dec 20

Cornell arboretum road walk and Mundy Wildflower Garden, Forest Home

Bit of a raw morning in Forest Home, even though it was just a few degrees below freezing. Very dark and gloomy, unpleasantly breezy in spots, snowing lightly much of the time — definitely a chill in the air

We’re going to try something different this time. Tiger and I were both taking photos. The first 11 shots will be by one of us, the second 10 by the other. It was a friendly camera shoot-out. See what you think. Did I get my ass smoked by my artistic wife?

Now here’s photographer No. 2:

OK, already you know who took this set of shots — that’s recognizably Tiger in the second position

There was a fair number of other people walking around the arboretum, and kids sledding

The main roads weere plowed, but very slippery in spots even if you were wearing foot traction

This is the look-out with the huge bell. Of course one of our hikers felt compelled to smash the bell — extremely irritating sound

There were some narrow side trails that had been trampled down — generally OK for walking on

In addition to touring the arboretum, we walked up to the Mundy Wildflower Garden and walked through the woods there a little. I fell down sort of hard when I came to a step down in the path that was obscured by the snow

We walked around the arboretum once, walked up to the Mundy, then went around the arboretum again — here we are in the final stretch — very misty and atmospheric — got back to the cars precisely 2 hours after we set off

Official head count: 16H, three D