Six brave souls defied the elements to meet at the junction of South Rd and Hurd Hill Rd for a very wet out-and-back hike of the seasonal Hurd Hill Rd and Prospect Valley Rd.
The rain was not much more than a drizzle at the outset but gradually increased through the hike into a steady downpour for the latter half of the hike. Definitely a bone chilling morning for me despite the layers and rain gear, and I’m posting this more than an hour after the hike and ready to fire up my wood stove to beat back the chill!
This is one of those occasional hike locations I save for winter and hunting season. Typically, it takes us around 40 minutes to reach the bottom of Hurd Hill Rd. From the next road junction we walk Prospect Valley Rd, sometimes as far as the Shindagin FLT bridge which was repaired and moved slightly downstream this summer by a dedicated bunch of Cayuga Trails Club volunteers after summer floods pushed the bridge off its foundation. If we make it that far, we’ll sometimes hike to the Shindagin lean-to, which is my favorite lean-to in the county. Today that was not meant to be. The group hiked until the turn-around time and then simply re-traced our route back to Hurd Hill Rd and our cars.
One item of interest: the house on Prospect Valley Rd where the dogs always loudly greet our hikers seems to have acquired a couple of emus, who watched us rather stoically until the dogs charged to their property line upon our approach, at which time the emus raced around their enclosure. As with the bison along the Black Diamond Trail, the llamas in Caroline, etc, its always a little interesting to see the unusual animals we encounter on some of these hikes!
Photos by Jim
Saturday, December 14
Hill Road and Curtis Road, South Danby
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Twenty-three hikers and five dogs gathered at the corner of Curtis Road and Hill Road for a sparkling, hill-top, road hike. This was a clear day in which the temperature felt a little warmer than the actual air temperature – good thing, because the air temperature was in the teens at the start. Everything was covered with frost, which was almost entirely gone by 11:30. Our route took us east on Hill toward where the road turns seasonal, then then back to Curtis Road. Most of the group then turned north on Curtis and turned around at the big willow tree that used to be next to a barn, while some of the group headed south on Curtis. Everyone returned to the cars by 11:30. The maximum distance was about 5.5 miles with about 800 feet of elevation gain, but hikers could do as much or as little of this as they wanted.
Nineteen hikers and three dogs met on Kraft Rd for a southerly out-and-back hike of the Black Diamond Trail. This is hike # 58-1 of our regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-58.
The day was overcast and cold and never seemed to warm up or otherwise improve over the course of the hike.
The hikers quickly split up into several sub-groups based on speed, but everyone was back at the cars at the appropriate time.
South Hill Rec Way/Six Mile Creek, south side, rim trail
Hike report by Jim
Fifteen hikers and a single dog met on Crescent Place in the city of Ithaca for a hike of the South Hill Rec Way and associated trails in the area. This is hike #2-1 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-2.
Starting on the Rec Way, we soon made a turn onto the blue-blazed rim trail. I had expected that there would be more ice and snow than there was, so the foot traction I wore was unneeded. There was a decent amount of water flowing in some, not all. of the stream crossings.
The day was generally overcast, and at the higher points along our route today we encountered some brisk winds.
I stayed away from some of the lower trails in the rim trail system, as they have some steep descents that I don’t like to attempt in winter months. Still, I had us stop at the stone stairs briefly, along with a stop at the second dam overlook area.
By the time we got back to the Rec Way we were ahead of schedule by a few minutes, so the hikers did a short extra out-and -back hike towards Burns Rd to burn up the minutes.
The second half of the hike consisted of a hike back to Crescent place via the Rec Trail, which was uneventful.
Photo by Jim
Saturday, December 7
Jim Schug Trail from Lake Road, Dryden
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Eighteen hikers gathered at the meet-up spot on Lake Road, after managing the snowy and slippery roads to get there. We carefully double parked to get us all off the road in case a snow plough came by. The hike was lovely. This section of trail is a good one to stretch out and get some mileage, walk side-by-side for a social hike, and be able to see where everyone is at almost any time. Blue sky broke through just a bit once we were into the hike, and everyone made it back to the cars within two hours.
Photo by Leigh AnnPhotos by Leigh AnnPhotos by Steve
Alex & Michele Gonzalez Hiking Sanctuary & Preserve, Virgil
Hike report by Jim
Twenty-two hikers and three dogs met in Cortland County on a wintery but seasonally warm morning for a mostly out-and-back hike of the Alex and Michelle Gonzalez Hiking Sanctuary and Preserve. This is hike # 36 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-36.
Today’s hike route included trails that are depicted on multiple trail map sheets in different levels of detail that are available from the FLTC, specifically the English Loop Trail, The Swedish Loop Trail, or map sheet M19 (M19 is primarily good for a general overview of all area trails, while the other two show the local trails in more detail). All of these map sheets are available for purchase in either paper or electronic formats from the FLTC at: https://fingerlakestrail.org/…/purchase-individual-maps/. Sale of the map sheets helps to defray costs associated with trail maintenance. On a personal note, I would not advise first time hikers to the Preserve to attempt this trail system without having some form of paper or electronic maps available, as the various blazed trails do tend to weave in and out from each other on a regular basis.
Because of the recent snow we’ve had and my memories of the first time I pre-hiked the sanctuary in deep snow with Casey C a few winters ago, I was a little leery about taking todays group on the normal looping route we do here, which involves following Cristina Creek early in the hike before jumping onto some other trails as we climb the hill. Today, instead, we initially took the Spanish Loop orange blazed trail to the five-point junction and then got onto the Irvin Trail at the trail register box, which is on a flatter section of the trail system.
Leigh Ann led the group up over the crest of the hill on a combination of sections of the Irvin, Spanish Loop and English Loop trails, until the hikers tapped on Adams Rd before turning around a few minutes earlier than we normally would time-wise. Beyond that point in the Spanish Loop is a rather boring section of road walking, so we tend to always turn around at the road.
On the return leg of the trip, we opted to skip the red-blazed section of trail that has ropes in place to assist hikers in navigating the steep descent there before the trail crosses the utility pole right-of-way back to the five point junction. Instead, we opted to take the blue blazed Irvin Trail in a downhill direction to and beyond Cristina Creek. This section of trail switchbacks across the hill, and at the upper elevations there are some nice views down the ravine into Cristina Creek. Eventually we reached the creek and found that the snow depth there wasn’t anything close to what I had feared it might be. The hikers got back to the cars a few minutes earlier than I expected, so in the future I might want to add an extra loop or two of the trail system into our route to use up that extra time. It can sometimes be difficult to judge differences in pace between the summer and winter hikes due to trail conditions. Given our experiences on today’s hike, I might use this choice of routes through the trail system in the future when we hike here!
Welcome to Beth, Margaret S and John on their first hike with the group!
Other than one pre- hike I did of this location a couple of weeks ago, I’d never personally hiked the Lansing Center Trails. Any time we go to a new location, it’s always a little bit of an experiment. Everyone in the group hikes at a little different pace, especially a location such as this one that has more of a suburban park feel to it rather than the traditional single-track hiking trails we’re normally on
Most of the trails here consist of mowed grassy loops around former fields that follow the hedgerows and low brush that divide one fields from the one next to it.
The day was cool but sunny as everyone gathered in the small parking lot; our small group of 11 hikers filled the lot entirely; I can’t imagine the parking nightmare we’d have if a larger weekend group hiked here.
We set off, initially jumping on the short line spur trail, which follows a short section of former rail bed. This is the only section that passes for a woods walk in this trail system, and we had hiked the entirety of it in about ten minutes before moving on to the first of many field loops.
We spent the first hour moving from one loop to another within the trail system, always hiking the outer perimeter portions of each trail before taking the connector trails that link one loop to the surrounding loop pathways, always hiking in roughly a counterclockwise direction within each loop and within the trail system in general.
At about the hour mark we walked over Louise Bement Lane and arrived back at our cars. A couple of hikers chose to leave early, but the majority of the group agreed to do a second loop within the trail system, so we hiked some of the portions of the various loops that cut across the middle of the trail system, until we reached the Munson Loop at the more westerly end of the fields. In order to avoid the housing development at Louise Bement Lane, we opted to jump on the Munson Loop and re-hiked the earlier trail loops, only in a clockwise direction now.
By the time we arrived back at the parking lot and our cars, we were about ten minutes earlier than we normally are on our hikes; not too bad for a first-time group hike.
The overall feedback I got from the group during and after the hike is that it’s a fairly easy location to hike. The terrain is not difficult, the wide grassy trails are easy to walk and talk while hiking, the views across Lansing towards the lake are wonderful, especially on a sunny day like today with clear skies. The skiers in the group mentioned that they would like to come back here when there’s enough snow so that they can ski the trail loops here. I think that personally I would reserve this location in the future for hunting season hikes and only on Wednesdays, due to the parking limitations I mentioned earlier.
Thanks to everyone in the group today who were tolerant of my desire to try out a new place!
There were several dog walkers who were leaving as I arrived earlier in the morning. During the hike we encountered a couple of runners and a dog walker; other than that, we had the place to ourselves. I might attribute that to a lot of people travelling on the day before the long holiday weekend, but the day I pre-hiked here I was literally the only person on the trail that day.
The Lansing Center Trail is maintained mostly by volunteers, with some help from the Township. They clearly are putting a lot of effort into maintaining the trail system, and since the Trails first opened in 2011, they’ve continued to expand the number of loop trails and improve infrastructure such as benches, drainage and footbridges. The location in south Lansing is convenient for many people, so I would encourage those who weren’t able to join us today to make a trip to this location at your convenience and look it over!
Photo by Jim
Saturday, November 30
Ekroos Rd. Ekroos Road & Honeypot Road
Hike report by Jim
Eight hikers and one dog met on Ekroos Rd in Tioga County, for a wintery out-and back road walk of that dirt road. This is hike # 54-1 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-54.
Ekroos Rd still had a significant amount of snowpack on the land surrounding the parking area when I arrived. There are only a couple of homes on the road, so it does get plowed in the winter. The lane of travel had a thin layer of ice cover, so most of the group opted to wear some form of foot traction during the hike.
The morning was grey and overcast as the hikers set out. The road is mostly a gentle downward grade on the outbound leg of the hike. The road passes through a mixture of state and private land and based on a few shots we heard early in the hike, the hunters were out today.
About halfway through the outbound leg of the hike it began to snow. We came upon a break in the trees that normally offers a good view of distant hills across the old fields; today with the low clouds, hazy hills in the distance and the heavy snow, it gave me the sensation of being inside a snow globe for a while. The snow didn’t last for very long, and within twenty minutes or so we were back to the grey monochrome conditions we had at the beginning of the hike.
Normally on this hike the faster hikers in the group make it to 76 Road inside Tompkins County. The last section of Ekroos Road changes to ” Wheeling Rd” once it crosses into Tompkins County, much of which is seasonal and unmaintained during the winter. The seasonal road is a sharp downhill descent for the last quarter mile, and today the hikers opted to turn around earlier than normal due to road conditions and begin the return trek back to our cars.
The second half of the hike was notable only because we were now hiking into a chilling wind. The return part of the hike was otherwise uneventful.
Photo by Jim
Sunday, December 1
Mundy Wildflower Gardens (Forest Home) to Beebe Lake Loop
Hike report by Jim
Twenty-three hikers and four dogs met in the parking lot of Mundy Wildflower Gardens in the Town of Ithaca, for a hike of the area. This was a modified version of hike 4B on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-04.
The morning was cool and overcast. Trail surfaces were clear of snow, although we did encounter some icy surfaces along the way. There were many other trail users throughout our route; not unexpected, given the public nature of today’s hike.
The hikers set off from the parking area and did a quick loop through the now-dormant wildflower gardens, stopping briefly for a group photo. Crossing Judd Falls Rd we entered the grounds of the Nevin Welcome Center. Looping through the Welcome Center grounds on Comstock Knoll Drive, the hikers reached and crossed Forest Home Drive, where we crossed Sackett Bridge . We found the trail to Hemlock Gorge closed. I always enjoyed that short segment of this hike in the past and was disappointed to find it closed today. The hikers were able to view the lower portion of that gorge from another vantage point along our route today, but its still not the same as being closer to the falls. We continued around Beebe Lake, crossing the Triphammer footbridge at the Tang Welcome Center. Completing the lap around the southerly end of Beebe Lake we returned to Forest Home Drive and crossed over the southerly one lane bridge into the hamlet of Forest Home.
Walking through the hamlet, we exited via the northerly bridge, arriving at the junction of Caldwell Road and Forest Home Drive (the parking area for Mundy Wildflower Gardens). We lost a few members of the group here who opted to leave early. The remainder of the group continued onto the grounds of the F.R Newman Arboretum. Once in the arboretum we took a series of blazed and signed woodland hiking trails (the Johnston, Woodland, Allen and Morgan-Smith Trails) until we reached a scenic overlook within Park Park that gave the group a good view of Varna and Fall Creek below us.
Leigh Ann led the group back to our cars. The hikers arrived back at the parking area a few minutes later than expected, but everyone seemed to be happy with the hike overall.
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.
Photo by Mark Sussman
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!
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!
Photo by Jim
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……
Photo by Jim
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.
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.
