Wednesday, May 29
Hosenfeld Road and Carley Road, Schuyler County
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Fifteen hikers met at the eastern end of Hosenfeld Road south of Mecklenburg for a 5.5-mile hike. This road hike is magnificent at this time of year. The foliage is lush, the views are expansive, and the weather tends not to be hot. Elevation gain (appx. 700 feet) is front-loaded on the hike up Hosenfeld Road to where it dead ends at Carley Road. We followed Carley Road north to the tree line, then went south on Carley Road to where the FLT turns west up the hill, did a little lollipop shaped hike past the FLT shelter and returned to Hosenfeld. Then we went down Hosenfeld to Lisk Road, which we took north about 15 minutes and then returned to the cars. This is a hike worth putting back on the normal rotation, and it would be great in the fall to see foliage. It also would be a good mid-winter hike because the footing is easy.
Saturday, Jun 1
Hanshaw Rd. and Lower Creek Rd
Hike report by Jim
Twelve hikers met at the junction of Hanshaw and Lower Creek Rds for National Trail Days to do some maintenance on our adopted section of the Cayuga Trail between Route 13 and Freese Rd. https://ithacatrails.org/site/Cayuga%20Trail. There is no listing on our hikes page for this detail.
After a quick group photo we broke down into three sub-groups, each group starting on the trail from a different location on our adopted section. Casey C started his group at Route 13; Jack V walked his group in from the parking lot, and I started another group of volunteers from Freese Rd.
The day was warm and sunny, so being under the green canopy was particularly welcome today
Several blow down trees were encountered along the way; those will be referred to the CTC sawyer for clearing.
Between the three groups we covered the entirety of our trail section before ending the work detail.
Afterwards the group relocated to Hopshire brewery for a send off of hikers Gerald, Leah and Sydney, who will soon be returning to Canada after spending a year here in Ithaca with us.
Sunday, Jun 2
Jenksville State Forest, Newark Valley
Hike report by Jim
Fifteen hikers and one dog met on Allison Hill RD in Tioga county for a hike of the yellow and blue trails in Jenksville State Forest . This is hike #60-4 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.
The day was warm and dry, with no prospect of rain during our hike time. Lots of bugs though, as the day progressed. A head net would have been nice by the end of the morning.
The trails were dry; what little mud we encountered was more of a semi-solid doughy consistency than mud. A very few sections of footpath were weedy and overgrown, but the vast majority of trail was unobstructed and clear of any overgrowth.
The group shared the trails with a couple of bicyclists we encountered repeatedly as we all circled around the various loop trails within the forest, but for the most part we had the forest to ourselves.
Thanks to everyone who came out today for a great hike!
Warm welcome to Todd on his first hike with the group!
