Wednesday, November 6
Finger Lakes Trail from White Church Rd., Brooktondale
Hike report by Jim
Sixteen hikers met on White Church Rd in the Town of Caroline for a hike of the FLT and the future South Hill Rec Way extension (the former FLT footpath southeast of Ridgeway Rd along Wilseyville Creek). This is hike # 24 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-24.
The day was overcast as hikers gathered in the parking lot. A small amount of rain had fallen while I was en route to the hike, but the start of the hike was a temporary reprieve from further rain.
Hikers left the parking lot and walked a short way down White Church Rd before the group turned and entered the open fields. Once in the woodline we stopped for a quick group picture before continuing to the next trail intersection.
The trail intersection here was a recent re-route of the FLT, the new section heading to the southeast near the intersection of White Church and Coddington Rds. The group headed in this direction, the freshly fallen leaves thick underfoot and the conversational buzz of hikers in the line behind me carrying into the distance as the line of hikers inevitably stretched out on the flat trail. Bare fields lay alongside the trail on one side or the other, intermingled with deeper woods visible through the now-barren tree branches we passed.
Reaching White Church Rd we paused briefly before setting out towards Ridgeway Rd. Passing the turn we had made from the open fields, we continued on what was the former footpath of the FLT before the re-route, a footpath that will in the future become part of the extension for the South Hill Rec Way. Willseyville Creek lay alongside the footpath. This part of the former FLT has not become overgrown in the short time since the re-route, and I suspect that landowners are maintaining it as an ATV path until the towns are able to put in the Rec Way extension. A couple of areas along this section of footpath that are normally pools of standing water were nothing more than muddy holes today.
The group reached Ridgeway Rd without incident, taking a minute to check out the water levels in the field on the opposite side of Ridgeway Rd. When I first started hiking with the group the water levels there were much lower than they currently are.
After a short stop on Ridgeway Rd the group returned to the trail and re-traced our route, turning back onto the FLT and crossing back over the open fields to the parking lot and our cars. Right about this time the rain began again, and while we ended the hike a few minutes sooner than I had planned, no one was complaining.
Saturday, November 9
Loop Hike: Lower Treman Park
Hike report by Jim
Twenty-nine hikers and two dogs met in the Tapan Mitra Preserve parking lot at Shady Corners, the junction of state routes 13 and 34-96, for an out and back hike on the Finger Lakes Trail through Robert Treman State Park led by Mary W. This is hike # 8-1 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/208-2. This section of the FLT is on map sheet M16, which can be purchased in electronic or paper formats here: https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/. Sale of the map sheets helps to defray the expenses associated with maintenance of the FLT.
The group posed for a photo and then headed west on the Finger Lakes Trail, initially through the lower park camp area in Treman before entering the woods and beginning an uphill climb that persisted for the majority of the hike for most of the group.
The hikers quickly broke down into subgroups, consisting of a fast group, a medium speed group and some casual strollers at the back of the line.
The day was cool at the beginning, but with the climb underway most people forgot about the chill. The fallen leaves were thick underfoot, the sound of rustling leaves under so many feet drowning out the sounds of conversation that normally accompany our hikers.
The sub-group I was with encountered no other hikers at all, although there were several cars in the parking lot at both the beginning and end of our hike that belonged to other people.
At the turn-around time a few of the faster hikers chose to break away from the main group and continue on with their own hike. The rest of the hikers scooped up the slower hikers as the faster groups absorbed the slower hikers as they passed them on the way back to the trailhead.
The group arrived back at the cars at our normal time.
Warm welcome to Michelle and Margaret on their first hike with the group!
Sunday, November 10
Roy H Park Preserve to Hammond Hill State Forest, Dryden
Hike report by Jim
Thirty hikers met at the north side of the Roy Park Preserve for a hike of its trails towards Hammond Hill Rd. This is hike #32 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-32.
The morning was sunny but cool with a persistent wind blowing across the parking lot as other hikers were arriving for today’s hike. Looking across the boardwalk at the hill we would soon be climbing, I observed that the fall colors were mostly gone, with some isolated and rare examples still remaining. The hillside was now mostly a dull earth tone of muted greens and browns.
The last hikers were still pulling up as the group prepared to set off on the hike…a reminder to all to arrive early, as we do try to start at the listed start time for each hike. Crossing the boardwalk, we plunged into the woods and were passing through a section of trail that on one of our more recent hikes here was literally a flowing stream. On todays hike the footpath towards Hammond Hill Rd was dry, with even those few areas that are sometimes muddy quagmires during the summer months being mercifully bone-dry today. Theres also been some sawyer work done along the trail, so we were spared having to do any step-overs at all. I’m not complaining at all about today’s trail conditions!
As the red blazed trail begins to climb the hill it begins a series of modest switchbacks that make the uphill climb more enjoyable. The fresh leaf cover was deep enough and past foot traffic here so infrequent that I lost sight of the route a time or two. If we hadn’t come here so often in the past, that feature might have confused a newer hiker here. So, a few more blazes along the route, particularly at turns, might be called for.
Soon we reached the flat stretch of trail that occurs just before Hammond Hill Rd. By now the group was spread out over a wide section of trail, so we waited a minute on Hammond Hill Rd for the stragglers to arrive so we could take a group picture.
In the past we’ve continued the hike onto the Hammond Hill trail system, but the group had an incident here a couple of years ago during hunting season when someone discharged a firearm very close to the group, and so I avoid the Hammond Hill trails during hunting season now. Instead, the group walked up and down the seasonal portion of Hammond Hill Rd until we reached the gate that blocks off the abandoned part of the road from through traffic. Most of this last section of seasonal road is a fairly sustained uphill slog on the outbound part of the hike, so if uphill climbs are not your thing, you might find that last bit of seasonal road to be a challenge
Turning around at the metal gate we re-traced our previous route back to our parking area, the last of the hikers arriving back at our cars at exactly the two-hour mark. We encountered two other couples hiking the trail section between Hammond Hill Rd and the Park Preserve. The only other people we saw today were some bicyclists in the large Hammond Hill Rd parking area.
