Report to Hikers November 18-November 24

Wednesday, November 20

Camp Barton, Trumansburg

Hike report by Mark Sussman

Thirty Hikers and one dog showed up for a hiking tour of Camp Barton. The group followed The steep rim trail to get a glimpse of all 3 way waterfalls. The water levels were low enough that we could carefully make our way to the base of Frontenac falls.

Saturday, November 23

Lime Hollow Nature Center, Cortland

Hike report by Jim

I’ll start by saying that I am aware that some members of our group lost power or sustained property damage in the recent storm. Some of you are still without power as of my writing this, and I want you to know that all of you were on my mind throughout today’s hike.

Nineteen bipedal hikers and a single quadrupedal hiker checked out the trails at Lime Hollow Nature Center in Cortland County, on the morning after the first real snowstorm of the season. This is hike # 37 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-37.

There were only a couple of inches of heavy wet snow on the trails this morning; away from the open areas and under the trees there was often no snow on the ground at all, and we could enjoy hiking over a carpet of fall leaves or old pine needles. The skies were a mix of clouds and sun, and temperature were what I would consider moderate and enjoyable for hiking weather.

I think that there was no point at all on this morning’s hike where we had more than one set of footprints in the snow on the trail ahead of me, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Leaving the Gracie Rd parking lot, we headed west on the Lehigh Valley Trail, using the Hawthorn Connector to complete the High Vista Loop around Baldwin Pond. Returning to the Lehigh Valley Trail, we turned onto Hermits Way, completing a loop via the Fen Way to return to the Lehigh Valley and back to Gracie Rd.

Crossing Gracie Rd, we continued on the Lehigh Valley Trail to Maple Run, which we took to Chicago Bog. One thing I noticed about both the Chicago Bog and Baldwin Pond was how totally still and becalmed the water surfaces were this morning. After a brief pause there for some photos and snowman building, we made another loop of the Phillips Memorial Trail and the Esker Connector to return to Maple Run. From there a quick return hike to the cars brought us back to the parking lot right on time.

Warm welcome to James P, who hiked with us today for the first time!