Wednesday, August 28
Black Diamond Trail from Houghton Road
Hike report by Jim
Fifteen hikers and one dog met at the Cayuga Nature Center parking lot on Houghton Rd in the Town of Ulysses for a very loosely coordinated northerly group hike on the Black Diamond Trail, led by Tom B. This is not one of the regular trailheads we start our Black Diamond Trail hikes from, so there is no current listing for it on our hikes list. I suppose that’s something I’ll have to change….
edit: I’ve added this meeting location to our Black Diamond trail listing, so its now Hike #58-4: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-58
The day was somewhat overcast as the group posed for a quick photo and set off on the trail. Being a weekday there were relatively few other walkers or bike riders along that section of the Trail. The day did seem to grow brighter and more humid as the morning wore on, but not oppressively so. The leaves on the trees along the Trail are starting to change colors, so I suppose that summer is truly behind us…
Each hiker soon settled into their own pace, and the lead hikers quickly outpaced the slower members of the group. The fast hikers made it to Taughannock Falls State Park before turning around to re-trace their route.
Warm welcome to Melissa, Tom D and Tom D’s canine hiking partner George on their first hike with the group.
Saturday, August 31
Upper Buttermilk Falls State Park from Yaple Road
Hike report by Jim
Twenty hikers and seven dogs met on Yaple Rd in the Town of Danby for a hike of the trail system within upper Buttermilk Falls State Park. This is hike# 10-2 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-10.
The morning started out a little overcast, and by the time we began the hike into the park from Yaple Rd the raindrops had started. For the most part the rain wasn’t a problem in the early part of the hike thanks to being under the trees. By the time the group stopped by the dam at Treman Lake the volume of rain was picking up, but shortly thereafter it dwindled and stopped entirely before the sun came out and the remainder of the hike was entirely enjoyable.
After the group photos the hikers crossed over the top of the dam and hiked the La Tourelle trail, before turning around and walking back to Treman Lake. We hiked up the opposite side of the lake, stopping at a vantage point or two along the way to enjoy the views of the natural surroundings.
Coming down the last flight of wooden steps we arrived at the area of the demolished stone arch bridge. Finding the water level of the stream to be very low, we rock-hopped across the water and walked back to the FLT spur trail that led back to Yaple Rd (the way we had entered into the park).
Arriving back at the cars a few minutes early, a good percentage of the group opted to continue on the FLT spur trail towards West King Rd, to use up the remaining hike time.
Completing an out-and-back on the spur trail (or in some cases a full loop hike to West King Rd and back around the block to the cars) the group arrived back at the cars again right on time.
We encountered a lot of day hikers on the route today.
Welcome to Margaret and Craig and their canine hiking partners Scooby and Chenille, on their first hike with the group!
Sunday, September 1
Hoxie Gorge, Cortland County
Hike report by Jim
Nineteen hikers and four dogs met on Hoxie Gorge Rd in Cortland County for an out-and back hike combining parts of the white blazed Finger Lakes Trail in Hoxie Gorge State Forest, the blue blazed access trail from Hoxie Gorge Rd and the yellow blazed McDermott Nature Trail, which is owned and maintained by SUNY Cortland. This is hike # 60-2 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.
This hike includes parts of the Finger Lakes Trail found on FLT map sheet M20, which may be purchased in paper or electronic formats here: https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/. Sale of the map sheets defrays trail maintenance costs incurred by the Finger Lakes Trail Conference.
The morning was sunny and warm as hikers arrived on Hoxie Gorge Rd for the hike. After a quick group photo, the group set off down the blue blazed access trail that links the parking area to the Finger Lakes Trail. This blue blazed trail was the actual FLT a number of years ago until the footpath in this section was re-routed.
For the past couple of years I have noticed a slow degradation of the footpath in the blue blazed trail section. I am not sure if this is due to that section being abandoned, a lack of assigned trail maintainers, etc. Which is a shame, as this trail makes a nice little walk above and along the creek bed Today the group was slowed down considerably by a number of serious trail issues such as blow downs that had carried away the entire footpath with the root ball, etc. Trail condition reports have been submitted and hopefully some of these issues will be addressed. To be clear, these issues pre-date this summers windstorms, but the damage persists and is getting worse with time. Even the growth of low-lying vegetation was causing me to lose track of the blazed footpath, and we’ve hiked this trail a number of times in recent years.
Under the forest canopy it was sunny and humid.
We encountered one or two dog walkers, but for the most part had the trails to ourselves today.
Reaching the actual FLT, the group turned to the northeast, hiking towards the Hoxie Gorge lean-to. We ran into more blow-downs of recent vintage, but working our way around these was manageable. There were a couple of creek crossings, but water levels were lower than in the past when we’ve done this hike, so we had no issues.
The group reached the lean-to before turning around to return to the cars. The McDermott nature Trail meets the blue blazed access trail and provides a shorter, more direct route to the trailhead than the blue blazed trail does,
Welcome to new hikers Alessia and Becky, who joined the group for their first hike today!
