Hello Hikers!
Wed March 10
This report was written by Jim
Lindsay Parsons Nature Preserve, West Danby
On Wednesday March 10th 7 hikers and three dogs met at the Lindsay Parsons Preserve in West Danby.
The temperatures were warm, an omen of the approaching spring.
The warm temperatures were having an effect on the remaining several inches of snowpack on the ground; for the most part the footpaths throughout the preserve were a sloppy wet mass of snow, making hiking a miserable slog akin to walking through wet sand on the beach.
The group quickly split up into about three distinct groups based on walking speed, with the route travelled more or less starting from the cars on the red trails, transitioning to the orange trails, and after crossing the railroad tracks doing the purple loop that brought hikers back towards the final push to our cars.
Progress was so slow that eventually I opted to more or less abandon the marked trails in favor of pushing up over the final hills and cross the open fields back to the parking area. This shaved some time off and got us back to the cars at the end of two hours.
**********************
Sat March 13
This report was written by Nancy L. Photos by Cian. Photos by Nancy/Randy at the link.
Robert Treman SP — from the lower parking lot to Lucifer Falls
11 hikers and two dogs met at Lower Treman Saturday morning, March 13. We walked past the cabins and started up the rim trail for a short ways before cutting up the hill to the picnic pavilion. The Fingerlakes trail passes right by so we headed up hill on it. Almost all the snow was gone so the walking was easygoing but a bit steep. Before too long the trail leveled off. The temperature was comfortable compared to winter but not unseasonably hot. The snow remained at the creek crossings for a little excitement. We were able to take a look at the raging Lucifer falls before returning to the parking loathe way we came.
Here’s a link to some pics From my phone and Randy’s
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ovBjwgg8gh9TLVLcA
You can see Cian’s complete photo album here
*******************
Sun March 14
Report by Jim. Photos by Cian
Fischer Old Growth Forest, Newfield
Fifteen hikers and two dogs met on Rte 13 in Newfield at the parking area for Fischer old growth forest
The weather at the beginning of the hike was clear and definitely on the cooler side.
From the parking lot I could see a few bits of snow on the ground towards the bottom of the hill, but beyond that the trail conditions were a mystery to me.
Some people in the group opted for foot traction, giving the trail conditions the benefit of the doubt.
The group set off and soon encountered signs advising hikers that the yellow blazed trails were closed for the next month due to hunting in that area, but that the red blazed trails remained open. The group decided to make two loops of the red blazed sections to make up for any lost time on the off-limits yellow trails.
Trail conditions were surprisingly excellent; there was no real mud to contend with, and the footpaths were void of any snow. We were a couple weeks too early to see the new growth of forest cover that makes this particular hike appealing to me. The amount of water in the streambeds wasn’t too much to make the stream crossing too risky, and made for some nice cascades and waterfalls for viewing and auditory pleasure at various points around the loop.
Soon enough the group was churning its way up the last few up-hill stretches that mark the completion of the red blazed circuit; once at the top of the loop the group opted to split into two groups, one continuing in the original direction, and the second group turning around and re-tracing their steps in the direction they had come from.
I opted to stay behind with Cian as he completed the second loop, exploring the various cascades and hollows in the mini-gorges of the streambeds. Eventually we met up with the group that had turned around, and we continued together back towards the parking area. Reaching the blue blazed trail we saw that we had some time remaining, and so opted to take the blue loop around the field and back to our cars.
We arrived at the cars only a few minutes short of our regular hike time, and with the first few flakes of snow beginning to fall from the sky.
All in all it was a good hike, the group having missed the combined hazards of snowpack, muddy trails and fresh snowfall.
You can see Cian’s complete photo album here