Wednesday, November 13
Connecticut Hill “South Loop,” Newfield
Hike report by Dave Bock
On a gorgeous Wednesday morning, 21 hikers (and 2 dogs) braved some of the back-est of back roads to reach a remote Connecticut Hill trailhead. The air was crisp and the skies a spectacular blue as the group first headed west and uphill, passing through a mid-19th Century graveyard to reach a series of old logging roads. The trail wandered gradually downhill and then leveled out, becoming more obscure upon turning southward. After crossing the FLT, the group hiked through a beautiful section of forest where an open understory revealed the majesty of large old hemlocks. After a turn to east and a short climb, the hike emerged briefly onto a road before re-entering woods to the east for a nice walk through a stand of red pines to reach a short walk on FLT for the return to the cars. The group moved quickly, finishing the hike about 15 minutes ahead of plan. The rustle of deep leaves provided the soundtrack for a morning of lovely weather, pretty scenery, and friendly conversations, and no complaints were heard!
Friday, November 15
FLT from Schuyler County Veterans Memorial Park, Alpine
Hike report by Jim
Twelve hikers met at the Schuyler Veterans Memorial Park for what was supposed to be our inaugural group night hike, a moonlit evening out-and-back hike on the Finger Lakes Trail. This section of the Finger Lakes Trail is on map sheet M15 and is available for purchase in either paper or electronic formats at: https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/. Sale of the maps helps to defray costs related to maintaining the FLT. This particular hike is hike # 66 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-66.
Today’s forecast predicted that the cloud cover would dissipate by evening. This proved to not be the case; while the day prior to and the day after this hike are both predicted to be cloudless, we never saw the moon at all during this hike. Very frustrating, to say the least.
Much of the outbound leg of the hike was done in the last dwindling twilight. I didn’t want the entire hike to be in darkness, and I thought that by hiking part of the route in daylight it would make the nighttime portion of the hike more familiar to those who aren’t so used to hiking at night.
Temperatures while cool were not unbearable. There was no wind at all, and the amount of mud we encountered along the way was minimal at best.
Hikers left the Veterans Park and proceeded southeasterly, crossing over a dry creek bed and through some nice wooded sections of trail before reaching route 6. Crossing the bridge there we turned into Gulf Rd and then followed the FLT along Cayuta Creek. By now it was truly dark, and people were navigating by headlamp or handheld flashlights. We continued along the creek until reaching our normal turn-around point where the old wooden bridge used to be until just a couple of years ago. I’ve described this section of trail many times when we’ve previously hiked here on our normal daytime hikes.
We paused at the turn-around point for about ten minutes before turning around and re-tracing our route back to the cars. When we got back to the Vets Park some of the hikers reported that we’d done 4.5 FLT miles (for those of you who might be going for your FT 50 or FLT 100 patch for 2024 ).
I have been trying to get one of these night hikes on the schedule since literally before covid came along, and I appreciate everyone who took time out of their Friday evening for my first attempt at leading a night hike for the group. I can only hope that if we attempt this again in the future that we can do it when the moon is actually visible in the sky……
Saturday, November 16
Cayuga Nature Center Trails, Ulysses
Hike report by Jim
Thirteen hikers met on Houghton Rd in the Town of Ulysses for a hike of Cayuga Nature Center Trails. This is hike #45 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-45.
The morning was cold, and the winds brisk, as hikers arrived at the parking lot. By the end of the hike the temperatures had warmed, the sky was an amazing blue with large clouds, and it was overall a very beautiful day compared to the start of the hike.
After a group photo we set off across the open fields via the Meadows Trail. After arriving at the main lodge building, we circled that structure via the Sugarbush Trail, quickly arriving at the main entrance road. From there we crossed to the various trails on the west side of the property. Things went well until we got to the Wilderness Loop, which I know from past hikes here that it has some issues with its blazing. This portion of the hike became a group exercise as we spread out through the woods looking for the next blaze on the trees ahead of us.
Completing that loop we next circled the Habitat Trail and the Stream Trail to get back to the main entrance road.
Returning to the back of the Lodge we stopped at the Treehouse for a few minutes, allowing many of our hikers to climb through that structure.
On the trail back to the parking lot, many of the hikers opted to call it a day and went directly back to the cars. A few of us used the last twenty minutes to do a short out-and-back on the Black Diamond Trail.
Sunday, November 17
Deputron Hollow, Danby
Hike report by Jim
Twenty-two hikers and six dogs met at the junction of East Miller and Marsh Roads in the Town of Danby, for a road walk hike. This is hike # 25 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-25. Now that we are officially in firearm hunting season, we’ll be doing more of these sorts of hikes until the end of the year.
Today proved to be a pleasant hiking day, with cool temperatures and clear skies with a good amount of sunshine to make the hike that much more enjoyable.
After the group photo we set off down Marsh Rd, everyone taking advantage of the surroundings to hike at a variety of speeds and sometimes two or three abreast for ease of conversation, something we don’t often get to do on more traditional hiking trails.
Passing Hornbrook Rd, Marsh Rd becomes an unpaved dirt road, and it appeared today that they’ve done some culvert repairs along this section this summer, so the somewhat uneven of the road here from past years has now been addressed and the road surface is in fine shape until the turn onto Deputron Hollow Rd.
Deputron Hollow Rd for most of its length, until you get closer to Coddington Rd, is likewise a dirt country road, with some access to summer camps or fields in the first tenth of a mile or so. The road makes a gentle short incline after the turn from Marsh Rd before beginning the continuous downhill stretch to Coddington Rd. This section of the road seems to be recovering well from the logging of recent years that gave it the appearance of a warzone at the time.
Roger and I had discussed prior to the hike about modifying our straight out-and-back route here of recent years to include a side hike down the seasonal Olsefski Rd that the group used to do when Steve and Susan were the group leaders. With Leigh Ann leading the fast element of the main group today, I opted to veer off onto Olsefski Rd and check it out for myself, since we haven’t hiked it recently. Theres more development on the road and a lot more posted signs than I recall in the past, but its still a do-able route for the group the next time we come this way on a hike.
Leigh Ann advised me that the main group tapped Coddington Rd before turning around and re-tracing their route. I fell back in with the group as they hiked past Olsefski Rd and we returned to our cars without incident.
Other than a couple of passing hunters on ATVs, we had todays route all to ourselves.
