Report to Hikers: week of Sept 9-Sept 15

Hello Hikers!

Thu Sept 12

Potato Hill SF, Caroline

First real fall-like hike of the season — raining a bit off and on, cool, dark — fabulous

The woods were so dark when we first stepped off the road, I wondered if I would be able to see my way to walk — but it soon lightened up a little — then we were attacked by ground bees in two spots a short distance apart — four hikers got stung, one six times, one five times

We decided to abandon the woods hike at once — we made our way back to the road and headed up Level Green Road.
With the bees and the deep gloom and the dripping foliage, the forest trail seemed a bit depressing — but the open road was really satisfying

We came to a lovely stretch of open fields blooming with goldenrod

Level Green Road runs through some deep countryside, and there’s really nothing around for quite a distance; I wouldn’t expect to see upscale houses dotted around, but they are

So it turned out to be an interesting morning

Official head count: 7H, one D

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Sat Sept 14

Finger Lakes National Forest: Gorge Trail

Official head count: 16H, six D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Sept 15

Eastman Hill Road on the Tioga County line in East Danby

This was a brand-new hike for us and there was a little more sense of excitement and curiosity than usual among the group

Very pleasant country setting at the meet-up — this house is right where the road turns into a dirt track

Jim discovered this walk by accident one day when he was exploring another trail and he missed a turn and ended up here.

We started off down a one-lane old dirt road — it was easy waking at first, but then the surface became badly eroded, and it had been covered with small flat rocks — I began to slip and slide and lose my balance, so Tiger and I turned around. I don’t have any more photos from the hike too post, but you can see scenes from the trail in Jack V’s photo album from the walk.

Tiger and I happened to see three of the hikers plus Jim later in the day — the hikers said the hike was excellent, and Jim said a number of people complimented him on it. I’m thinking maybe I could handle the rough trail when it’s covered with enough snow to cover over all the slippery little rocks.

I asked Jim to write up a hike report — here it is:

Sundays hike covered a looping figure 8 portion of the FLT running between Eastman Hill Rd and Heisey Rd in the Town of Danby that we haven’t previously had a chance to hike in my short time with the group.

With the morning fog just burning off, hikers left the trailhead at the end of the maintained portion of Eastman Hill Rd just inside the Tompkins County line.

The hike route followed the seasonal one lane road through forested state DEC land as it heads North towards Coddington Rd. As the road approaches the FLT it passes through private land where the road is now abandoned, and as a result the deteriorated walking surface was a bit of a challenge to traverse for some hikers. I think that if we do this hike in the future, I will offer those hikers who found the road surface today to be difficult a slightly different hike option that will still allow them the opportunity to enjoy the majority of the area we walked through.

Once on the FLT, the hikers climbed through a series of steep uphill portions interspersed with a few older and flatter logging roads that gave us a chance to catch our breath. By this time the sun was out, temperatures were pleasant, and the hikers were passing through a varied terrain as we headed towards Heisey Rd.

Once at Heisey Rd, the group turned around and re-traced our steps to the nearest logging road that offered us a direct route back to Eastman Hill Rd and our vehicles.

Official head count: 21H, eight D