Report to Hikers — week of Jan 17 — Jan 23

Hello Hikers!

Wed Jan 19

Hike report by Jim

Braley Hill Road, Shindagin Hollow SF

Ten hikers and 1 dog met on Braley Hill Rd for a hike of the FLT from Braley Hill Rd to Shindagin Hollow.

The Trail from Braley Hill Rd had been snowshoed on, and my initial belief was that the surface was packed down enough to make the footpath hike-able.

This assessment proved to be incorrect once the group left the road and entered the woods. The previous snowshoers had not compacted the footpath nearly enough, and so it was slow going for the group as we hiked through the woods at an extremely slow pace.

Reaching the Jeep trail that intersects the FLT prior to Shindagin Hollow RD, we found that the earlier snowshoers had deviated form the FLT to follow the Jeep trail. Unwilling to have the group break trail through a foot of fresh snow on the FLT I initially entertained the idea of hiking the Jeep trail to Shindagin Hollow Rd to finish the hike as a road walk; a few minutes of walking on the fresh snow of the Jeep trail convinced me that the easier option would be to turn around and return to Braley Hill Rd to do any road walking on that road.

The group returned to our cars early, but the consensus was that the hike had been sufficient and no road walk was desired.

Photos by Leigh Ann

You can see Leigh Ann’s complete photo album here

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Sat Jan 22

Hike cancelled because of cold

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Sun Jan 23

Hike report by Jim

Treman SP on the FLT from Route 13

15 hikers and 3 dogs met at the FLLT parking lot of State Route 13 at Shady Corners, for a hike of the FLT through Lower Robert Treman State Park

It was a cool morning, with occasional sun coming through the clouds and no sign of the snow that was forecast for later that afternoon.

The group set off on the FLT from the parking lot, {which was a challenge in and of itself as only about half of the lot has been plowed or even driven on since our recent snowfall )

The FLT footpath has seen some regular use since the snow fell, but the snow itself was not packed down and was of a consistency similar to running on a sandy beach. Ultimately this slowed down the group enough that we only covered about half of our normal distance for this hike.

The group very quickly broke into about three distinct sub-groups that were hiking at very different speeds Some of these hikers we were able to reconnect with the main body of hikers on the return leg of this out-and-back hike, but some had already returned to the parking lot by the time the main group got back to our cars.

The main sub-group of hikers still covered a decent amount of ground, getting well into the hills above the YMCA pavilion before turning around at the hour mark.

A quick stop at the pavilion for some photos, and we set off again on our return trip to the parking lot.

We encountered a few other hikers on the trail, but for the most part our group had the trail to ourselves

Welcome to new hikers Rick, Hailey, Kris and their dog Pippa o their first hike with the group!