Hello Hikers!
Wednesday Aug 3
Black Diamond Trail south from Taughannock Creek
They’ve been working on this trail project it seems like forever — we decided to try it out last year one time when we were hiking nearby in Taughannock — horrible experience — the trail surface was unwalkable
They’ve made a lot of progress since then — the north end of the trail is actually delightful now, with a finely crushed stone surface and nice landscaping
Unfortunately, this lovely smooth surface stops quite soon and we had to spend most of the walk on small packed gravel — borderline uncomfortable after you’ve been on it for a while
We walked south for an hour — the trail takes you through some nice countryside, nothing spectacular but pleasant and generally not built up — there are several road crossings where you could probably park and do a walk (I didn’t actually verify this …. forgot to)
New bridge over Willow Creek, which is very attractive when you look over the edge at it
There are lots of fields on both sides of the trail along the way — here’s what the three hikers above were looking at
Official head count: 26H, seven D
More photos:
Saturday Aug 6
Connecticut Hill — Rowell Hill to Lloyd Stark, with Dave B
Very oppressive at 9 am in town — delightful out in the deep woods — a little breezy, still damp from the early rain, and not hot at all
You’d never be able to guess it from the photos, but we spent most of the walk in deep shade under the trees — this is one of two look-outs where we were suddenly flooded with light
These floods of sunlight can be a little intense — check out the squinty faces on Tiger and June
Dave had warned us the hike might run a bit over two hours but he got us back to the cars in 1:58:46 — one minute and 14 sec short of perfection — this guy is brilliant at hike-pacing, IMO — not the first time he’s timed one of these sprawling Conn Hill hikes so closely
Official head count: 16H, five D
Sunday Aug 7
Six Mile Creek, south side rim trail
Beautiful low-humidity morning
When we got to the home stretch, I started to think maybe I could come even closer than Dave did the day before to wrapping the hike up in two hours precisely — alas, didn’t — we finished in 1:58, two minutes early.
Official head count: 28H, six D
Check out Annie’s photos online here.