Hello Hikers!
Wed June 23
Hike report by Jim. Photo by Tiger
Shindagin Hollow SF — FLT from Braley Hill Road to Shindagin Hollow Road
Eight hikers met on Braley Hill Rd for a hike of the FLT to Shindagin Hollow Rd and back
It was a sunny day, and once into the trees there was a dappled effect of light on the forest floor which the Hesse’s feared would play havoc with their ability to properly photograph the hike. I wont know until I read the weekly report whether they were able to get any decent pictures of this hike.
This area is one of my favorites to hike in, as are many of the other trails we walk on in the Shindagin area
The downhill portion of the hike was uneventful, with perhaps a few extra tree blow downs since the last time I hiked this trail being the only exceptional thing we encountered on the trail.
After reaching Shindagin Hollow Rd the group paused for few minutes to examine some work that has been done to the streambed in that area in recent years before turning around and climbing the hill back to our cars.
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Sat June 26
Hike report by Jim. Photos by Tiger and Cian
Hammond Hill SF — Canaan Road and eastern trails
Sixteen hikers and one dog gathered at the end of the maintained portion of Canaan Rd just inside the Tompkins County line, for a circuitous hike of the red and yellow trails on Hammond Hill East of Canaan Rd. As I described it to Katharine later, the planned hike route was similar in shape to a large tooth….
A second set of four hikers and five dogs arrived late and met up with the tail end of the first group much later
Temperatures were tolerable; a slight flying insect problem manifested itself during calm windless moments on the hike, but a slight breeze was adequate to the dual purpose of sending the bugs away and making the hike more enjoyable to people. The sun was hiding behind clouds and so the hike was spent almost entirely in over cast conditions.
My intention in coming up with this newer loop hike was to serve as an alternative to the normal Hammond Hill hikes the group does starting from Hammond Hill Rd; the red trails almost always fall outside the scope of the groups two hour hike time limit.
The main group of hikers set off down the seasonal portion on Canaan Rd, then took a right onto Red Man Rd We followed this until coming to a snowmobile trail, which we took up the hill to the red disc marked trail system The bottom of the snowmobile trail had its usual mud problem, but this was the worst of any mud I saw during the hike.
Once on the red trail system we working our way around several red and yellow marked trails in a counter clockwise direction; Once into the yellow trails the main body of the group surged forward, missing a turn on the trail and ending up coming out directly onto the seasonal portion of Canaan Rd. From there I am told that they returned to the cars on their own accord.
The rear element of the group took a couple of planned route turns on yellow trails 8 and 7, which offered a more gradual downhill hike while avoiding much of the rocky scree -filled road surface of the upper portion of Canaan Rd. The first time we had tried this hike we had used the yellow 5 trail; I prefer the FLT-section of yellow 4 and so planned that part for this hike. I especially enjoy the sweeping nature of yellow trail 7, as the hiker gets to look over the edge of the trail and down the slope through the trees while hiking.
Other than a small group of bicyclists and a couple of day hikers we encountered, we had the route to ourselves, something I didn’t expect on a weekend hike.
The rear element of the main group , soon after coming out onto Canaan Rd, were met the late arrivals who had made their own hike route around the trail system and had arrived back onto Canaan Rd only slightly later than we had.
Overall I am happy with this hike; I would prefer less of a road walk in the beginning so that we can meet our two hour hike time limit while spending more time on the trails. I have been told that some members LIKE the road walk portion as it gives them an opportunity to walk together and talk.
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You can see Cian’s complete photo album here
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Sun June 27
Hike report by Nancy L. Photos by Cian — link to photo album by Nancy
Connecticut Hill — Boylan Road — West Branch of Carter Creek
6 hikers and 2 dogs met west of Hulford Hill Road on Boylan Rd at a parking lot with a Connecticut Hill Information kiosk. The hikers headed south into the woods on a whisp of a trail that quickly intersected the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT). Instead of following the FLT we headed off-trail down the hill to a newly-created trail that followed the contour of the hill on the West side of the West Branch of Carter Creek. Much evidence of the Gypsy Moths could be seen since many pieces of leaves littered the ground, though the sounds of the caterpillars chewing was no longer so prevalent. A medium-sized Garter Snake was seen along the trail. After a trek, we reached the “scream trail” (we made a slight overshoot which intersected with the FLT again and retraced our steps to find this trail). The scream trail is a pleasant wide trail that goes gently downhill to the creek. The dogs ran merrily ahead during this period. After crossing the creek, we headed on down the east side of the creek. This low-lying trail was rather soggy, so we chose at the next opportunity to find our way to a trail higher up on the East side of the creek heading on down Hulford Hill and still following the creek though it was not visible. This trail is well marked with blue blazes and easy to follow. After a rather long hike downhill we finally arrived at a series of cascades where we all enjoyed a rest before the impending slog uphill. We already had realized that this hike would be a little longer than normal, so began the return on the blue marked trail all the way back to Boylan Road. A short hike west on Boylan Road brought us back to the cars, just short of 3 hours, 5.25 miles after we started.
You can see Cian’s complete photo album here
You can see Nancy L’s photo album here