Hello Hikers!
Wed Mar 23
Hike report by Jim
YMCA and EcoVillage lands, West Hill
13 hikers and 2 dogs met in the parking lot of the YMCA Outdoor Education complex on Route 79 for a hike of area trails.
I had pre-hiked the local trails the previous day to find a route that was mostly mud-free; it was impossible to hike without finding at least SOME mud along the way, but I think that the route I had planned out managed as best as conditions allowed.
The group made its way across multiple trail within the YMCA complex until finally exiting onto the Coy Glen Natural Area blazed trail system.
We made our way to the trail system for Ecovillage, which is entirely unblazed and a bit of a spiderweb of interconnecting trails. Wanting to avoid our past practice of hiking across the open areas of Ecovillage, I kept the group within their trail system, making a large loop until we returned to YMCA property.
We made our way back to the cars, arriving back at the parking lot a few minutes early because, despite having taken a lot of notes on my previous hike, we got turned around at the very end and re-entered the YMCA property closer to the parking lot that I had intended to.
Overall it was still an excellent hike, despite the periodic muddy patches we encountered.
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Special snowbird hike report from Randy and Nancy L — Joshua Tree National Monument
Report by Randy
We set off from home at 7:15 AM and headed towards Joshua tree. After an hour and a half we arrived at Hidden Valley, where we climbed around the rocks, and took a short nature walk. Nancy met a guide who was leading 4 women and it turned out he was related to one of Nancy‘s coworkers at Cornell. Small world.
We then headed to a place called Split Rock. We found a parking spot after ignoring the “Parking Lot Full” sign, and hiked to Skull Rock. This is one of my favorite hikes in the park. It’s loaded with cool stuff. We even spotted a couple of quail.
It was early afternoon, and our meager snack food was depleted. We called it quits and headed to 29 Palms where we found a family-owned Mexican drive-in restaurant.
Made it back home in time to jump in the hot tub before dinner!
Looking forward to returning to Ithaca…I think.
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Sat Mar 26
Hike report by Nancy H
FLT east from Logan Rd., Finger Lakes National Forest
Eight hikers (and no dogs) gathered on a rainy, snowy morning on Logan Rd. to hike the Finger Lakes Trail eastward toward Burnt Hill Rd. On the initial long climb, we were pelted by very wet snow for the first mile or so. Trail conditions were what you’d expect in March—wet everywhere, deep mud in places, and some slippery spots on stream crossings and wooden bridges.
Gradually the snow stopped. We passed several old stone walls and commented on some distant views that won’t be visible in a few weeks when the leaves come out. When we reached the turnaround point at the second intersection with Burnt Hill Rd., the clouds were starting to break up. At that point, one hiker decided to return to the cars via the road; the rest of us turned around and retraced our steps on the FLT. Soon we could hear birds singing and see patches of blue sky. By the time we returned to Logan Rd., the sun was shining and it was about 10 degrees warmer than at the start of the hike. In a few minutes over two hours, we’d hiked just under five miles (one hiking app measured our distance at 4.87 miles and another reported 4.99 miles).
We entered the woods in winter and emerged into spring. As one hiker put it, “a typical March hike.”
Photos by Leigh Ann
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Photos by Cian
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Photo by Casey
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Sun Mar 27
Hike report by Jim
Layen Road to Bruce Hill Road and beyond on the FLT, Danby
11 hikers met on Layen Rd in Danby for a hike of the FLT to Bruce Hill Rd and beyond.
At the beginning of the hike the wind was whipping through the treetops around our cars, so I figured that crossing the open fields would be “invigorating”, which they were.
A small amount of snow had fallen overnight, leaving a thin layer of snow on the ground that gave the hillsides a mottled appearance.
The first open fields were quite windy, but once we were in the trees the wind was barely noticed.
For the most part the treadway was fairly nice; there were some muddy parts that hadn’t had a chance to freeze in the recent short cold snap. While inconvenient these parts of the trail were short in duration and quickly traversed.
Once beyond the first water crossing the main body of hikers was off like a shot, making good time across the rolling hills that the trail passes through in this area.
The group paused briefly at Bruce Hill Rd; once across that road we stopped briefly to check out the small quarry located in that area.
Reaching the open fields South of Bruce Hill Rd, the group turned around nd re-traced its steps back to our cars. The snow picked up throughout most of the return trip, giving that portion of the hike much more of a wintery sense to it than we had for the outbound leg of the hike.
Other than a couple of CTC day hikers and a single dog walker, the group had the trail to ourselves today.
Photos by Leigh Ann
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Photos by Cian
