Wednesday, December 11
South Rd. & Hurd Hill Rd., Caroline
Hike report by Jim
Six brave souls defied the elements to meet at the junction of South Rd and Hurd Hill Rd for a very wet out-and-back hike of the seasonal Hurd Hill Rd and Prospect Valley Rd.
The rain was not much more than a drizzle at the outset but gradually increased through the hike into a steady downpour for the latter half of the hike. Definitely a bone chilling morning for me despite the layers and rain gear, and I’m posting this more than an hour after the hike and ready to fire up my wood stove to beat back the chill!
This is one of those occasional hike locations I save for winter and hunting season. Typically, it takes us around 40 minutes to reach the bottom of Hurd Hill Rd. From the next road junction we walk Prospect Valley Rd, sometimes as far as the Shindagin FLT bridge which was repaired and moved slightly downstream this summer by a dedicated bunch of Cayuga Trails Club volunteers after summer floods pushed the bridge off its foundation. If we make it that far, we’ll sometimes hike to the Shindagin lean-to, which is my favorite lean-to in the county. Today that was not meant to be. The group hiked until the turn-around time and then simply re-traced our route back to Hurd Hill Rd and our cars.
One item of interest: the house on Prospect Valley Rd where the dogs always loudly greet our hikers seems to have acquired a couple of emus, who watched us rather stoically until the dogs charged to their property line upon our approach, at which time the emus raced around their enclosure. As with the bison along the Black Diamond Trail, the llamas in Caroline, etc, its always a little interesting to see the unusual animals we encounter on some of these hikes!
Saturday, December 14
Hill Road and Curtis Road, South Danby
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Twenty-three hikers and five dogs gathered at the corner of Curtis Road and Hill Road for a sparkling, hill-top, road hike. This was a clear day in which the temperature felt a little warmer than the actual air temperature – good thing, because the air temperature was in the teens at the start. Everything was covered with frost, which was almost entirely gone by 11:30. Our route took us east on Hill toward where the road turns seasonal, then then back to Curtis Road. Most of the group then turned north on Curtis and turned around at the big willow tree that used to be next to a barn, while some of the group headed south on Curtis. Everyone returned to the cars by 11:30. The maximum distance was about 5.5 miles with about 800 feet of elevation gain, but hikers could do as much or as little of this as they wanted.
Sunday, December 15
Black Diamond Trail northbound from Kraft Road
Hike report by Jim
Nineteen hikers and three dogs met on Kraft Rd for a southerly out-and-back hike of the Black Diamond Trail. This is hike # 58-1 of our regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-58.
The day was overcast and cold and never seemed to warm up or otherwise improve over the course of the hike.
The hikers quickly split up into several sub-groups based on speed, but everyone was back at the cars at the appropriate time.
