Hello Hikers!
Wednesday July 29
Mundy Wildflower Garden, Plantations botanical garden, arboretum, Beebe Lake — and ice cream at the Cornell Dairy Bar
This was a special hike for a hot morning — the forecast was for over 90 (though it actually fell short, topping out at 88 — we still haven’t broken 90 this year) — so we stayed in the flat flood plain along Fall Creek and kept in the shade as much as we could.
The plan worked out great — we had to do some time in the sun in the mid 80s, but it wasn’t humid — these Cornell horticultural areas are fabulous and it’s a delight to spend time wandering through them — I wonder how many people mean to visit them, but rarely or never get around to it
The Cornell dairy bar moved into a new building near the botanical gardens two years ago — ice cream not bad, but pricey — a pint costs the same as a hand-packed pint from Cayuga Lake Creamery — the prize for the thinnest person with the biggest ice cream item went to June — she bought an enormous ice cream sandwich — jumbo raisin oatmeal with chocolate ice cream and sprinkles — verdict: Not good, cookie much too thick, couldn’t taste the ice cream — everyone wanted to sit inside to get the a/c and it was much too dark for me to get a photo.
Official head count: 20 hikers, three dogs
You can see seven more photos by me online here.
You can see Annie’s photos online here.
Saturday August 1
South Danby Road westward on the Finger Lakes Trail
Lovely walk on one of our most beautiful pine woods trails.
This is another one of our hikes where you step into the shade as soon as you leave the cars, and don’t really emerge until you’re back. That can hold down the heat on a warm day — but this time it was quite humid and the shade didn’t help much on the outbound keg, which is definitely a bit strenuous. The humidity dropped after we turned around and we had a gorgeous walk back down the hill, absolutely delightful.
I often think I should put this hike onto my list of favorites. I never do — but the fact we have such a great trail that doesn’t quite make it into my top group really speaks to the quality and depth of our walks, I think.
Parts of this trail are amazingly dark — does weird things to the camera but I like the effect.
Official head count: 14 hikers, six dogs
You can see seven more shots by me online here.
You can see Annie’s photos online here.
Sunday August 1
Six Mile Creek, south side rim trail
Wonderful morning for a hike, mid-upper 70s with low humidity, a little breeze, very few bugs
This one turned into a big adventure hike for most of the group — they ended up doing a major bushwhack on the way back up from the reservoir, including a very steep hillside scramble — June, our number one daredevil, rated the hill as serious — she told me she thought some of the hikers wouldn’t be able to do it, but everyone did
I had to miss the excitement — as some of you know, my balance has been damaged by a rare nerve disorder I inherited from my mom, which started causing me problems last year — I have to avoid narrow spine trails and steep descents now — so I was waiting up on the bluffs while the others did their bushwhacking. I’ve done my share of hillside scrambling in the Six Mile gorge in the past — it’s really fun, and it can feel a little alarming at the moment.
Official head count: 18 hikers, one dog.
You can see seven more photos by me online here.
You can see Annie’s photos online here.
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Items left behind at our July 25 cook-out still waiting to be claimed: two black umbrellas, red jacket, brown folding chair
In the week between July 25 and Aug 1, the temperature of the pond at Roger’s climbed five degrees, thanks to a week of sunny 80+ days — plenty warm enough for swimming now