Wednesday, February 28
Deputron Hollow, Danby
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Nine hikers met near the corner of Marsh Road and Nelson Road for a nearly 6-mile hike down Deputron Hollow Road to Coddington Road. Two hikers arrived shortly after I took this photo, by which point the sky had opened up into a heavy, warm-for-February rain. It wasn’t good for more photos, but it was motivating for speed. We arrived at our turn-around spot at or within sight of Coddington in 50 minutes and took 55 minutes to return to the cars. Fortunately, the rain let up about half an hour into our hike. By the time we had climbed the almost 700-foot hill back to the cars, we were pretty dry.
Saturday, March 2
FLT east from Logan Rd. toward Burnt Hill Rd., Finger Lakes National Forest, Burdett
Hike report by Casey
Ten hikers who were not worried about a little rain started on Logan Road in Burdett and headed east on the FLT.
This part of the trail does a gradual climb for a full mile and then crosses Burnt Hill Road for the first time. It then continues, and without being obvious, it gradually makes a sweeping 180 degree turn to the right so that it eventually intersects Burnt Hill Road again only this time from the east, heading westerly.
We were at the one hour mark at this point. We could have turned around and gone back the way we came or turn north on Burnt Hill Road to head back to where the trail first intersected the road. Instead we chose to follow the FLT as it turns south onto Burnt Hill Road and goes downhill as it heads into Bennettsburg. After maybe ten minutes or so, just before the bottom of the hill, we turned around and climbed back up Burnt Hill Road and headed to the first intersection where we then got back onto the FLT heading west towards our cars with a gradual one mile downhill.
The end result was 5.14 miles, 1,010 feet of elevation gain, in 2 hours 5 minutes.
Sunday, March 3
Shindagin Hollow State Forest
Hike report by Leigh Ann
On the first non-rainy hike day in a week, 24 hikers and one dog met at the second parking area down Braley Hill Rd. for an out-and-back east on the FLT. This hike has two stream crossings within the first half mile. While these are easy to navigate on the way out, they are a Bermuda Triangle for hikers on the way back.
This is because as you’re heading west back to the cars, there a blue-marked trails that parallel the west sides of the streams that look much more like trails than the FLT does from that direction. So, the following helps: as you’re coming up to the first stream crossing, turn around. Look at your feet (where you’ll be looking right after the stream crossing heading west), then look just past your feet to see what the FLT looks like from there. You can repeat this at the second stream crossing. Unlike every other time we’ve done this hike recently, no one went the wrong way on the way back to the cars.
Fourteen hikers went past Shindagin Hollow Road on the FLT and continued up a steep hill that heads toward a lean-to, until the 1-hour mark, then returned in exactly an hour. This hike has a good amount of up and down on the out and back, and we got almost 1000 feet of elevation gain altogether.
