Wednesday, December 4
South Hill Rec Way/Six Mile Creek, south side, rim trail
Hike report by Jim
Fifteen hikers and a single dog met on Crescent Place in the city of Ithaca for a hike of the South Hill Rec Way and associated trails in the area. This is hike #2-1 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-2.
Starting on the Rec Way, we soon made a turn onto the blue-blazed rim trail. I had expected that there would be more ice and snow than there was, so the foot traction I wore was unneeded. There was a decent amount of water flowing in some, not all. of the stream crossings.
The day was generally overcast, and at the higher points along our route today we encountered some brisk winds.
I stayed away from some of the lower trails in the rim trail system, as they have some steep descents that I don’t like to attempt in winter months. Still, I had us stop at the stone stairs briefly, along with a stop at the second dam overlook area.
By the time we got back to the Rec Way we were ahead of schedule by a few minutes, so the hikers did a short extra out-and -back hike towards Burns Rd to burn up the minutes.
The second half of the hike consisted of a hike back to Crescent place via the Rec Trail, which was uneventful.
Saturday, December 7
Jim Schug Trail from Lake Road, Dryden
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Eighteen hikers gathered at the meet-up spot on Lake Road, after managing the snowy and slippery roads to get there. We carefully double parked to get us all off the road in case a snow plough came by. The hike was lovely. This section of trail is a good one to stretch out and get some mileage, walk side-by-side for a social hike, and be able to see where everyone is at almost any time. Blue sky broke through just a bit once we were into the hike, and everyone made it back to the cars within two hours.
Sunday, December 8
Alex & Michele Gonzalez Hiking Sanctuary & Preserve, Virgil
Hike report by Jim
Twenty-two hikers and three dogs met in Cortland County on a wintery but seasonally warm morning for a mostly out-and-back hike of the Alex and Michelle Gonzalez Hiking Sanctuary and Preserve. This is hike # 36 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-36.
Today’s hike route included trails that are depicted on multiple trail map sheets in different levels of detail that are available from the FLTC, specifically the English Loop Trail, The Swedish Loop Trail, or map sheet M19 (M19 is primarily good for a general overview of all area trails, while the other two show the local trails in more detail). All of these map sheets are available for purchase in either paper or electronic formats from the FLTC at: https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/. Sale of the map sheets helps to defray costs associated with trail maintenance. On a personal note, I would not advise first time hikers to the Preserve to attempt this trail system without having some form of paper or electronic maps available, as the various blazed trails do tend to weave in and out from each other on a regular basis.
Because of the recent snow we’ve had and my memories of the first time I pre-hiked the sanctuary in deep snow with Casey C a few winters ago, I was a little leery about taking todays group on the normal looping route we do here, which involves following Cristina Creek early in the hike before jumping onto some other trails as we climb the hill. Today, instead, we initially took the Spanish Loop orange blazed trail to the five-point junction and then got onto the Irvin Trail at the trail register box, which is on a flatter section of the trail system.
Leigh Ann led the group up over the crest of the hill on a combination of sections of the Irvin, Spanish Loop and English Loop trails, until the hikers tapped on Adams Rd before turning around a few minutes earlier than we normally would time-wise. Beyond that point in the Spanish Loop is a rather boring section of road walking, so we tend to always turn around at the road.
On the return leg of the trip, we opted to skip the red-blazed section of trail that has ropes in place to assist hikers in navigating the steep descent there before the trail crosses the utility pole right-of-way back to the five point junction. Instead, we opted to take the blue blazed Irvin Trail in a downhill direction to and beyond Cristina Creek. This section of trail switchbacks across the hill, and at the upper elevations there are some nice views down the ravine into Cristina Creek. Eventually we reached the creek and found that the snow depth there wasn’t anything close to what I had feared it might be. The hikers got back to the cars a few minutes earlier than I expected, so in the future I might want to add an extra loop or two of the trail system into our route to use up that extra time. It can sometimes be difficult to judge differences in pace between the summer and winter hikes due to trail conditions. Given our experiences on today’s hike, I might use this choice of routes through the trail system in the future when we hike here!
Welcome to Beth, Margaret S and John on their first hike with the group!
