Category: hike reports

Hello Hikers!

We did four hikes this week, all road walks in order to avoid the choppy snow and ice in the woods.

 

 

Monday March 23

Braley Hill Road and Chestnut Road, Caroline

This was a special hike to make up for the disappointment of not being able to hike Sunday because of bad weather.

We walked in the wide picturesque valley that slopes up into Shindagin Hollow SF from the north. There’s a wonderful feeling of openness, but it was cold (13) and we were completely exposed to a sharp north wind — this was a group of our most cold-hardy hikers, but even so, several of them got uncharacteristically chilled this time.

We’re increasingly hitting scattered patches of ice as the snow season winds down — one minute you need shoe traction, the next the traction is slowing you down — I love YakTrax and microspikes but I find them pretty much impossible to put on and pull off by myself — so I identified completely with Brenda here needing help to get hers off — we walked up a snowmobile trail for a while and that was really treacherous in a few spots — one hiker fell down three times in quick succession

The valley was dead quiet on a Monday morning — one car, one snowplow — many lovely and peaceful views — official head count: Nine hikers, two dogs

Part of the walk took us through the northern end of the state forest — it’s always gorgeous here and it was really beautiful with a dusting of fresh snow — though more treacherous ice in a few spots.

Click here to see seven more shots online.

 

 

 

Wed March 25

Station Road and Brown Road, Danby

Quite a bit milder and a lovely slight feeling of spring in the air two days later — another great mix of scenery, from masses of brooding pines to sweeping open views

Again, basically no traffic — couple of brief encounters with dogs excited by the group of strangers

Station Road begins in Danby SF near the access trail to the Pinnacles Look-out, and runs down the steep hillside to Route 34-96 in the valley below. The first part of our walk, in the state forest, was extremely picturesque, with great pine tree action.

One curiosity: We passed several large areas of rock cut that I thought were quite appealing as a backdrop for some photos — pale rocks on one side of the road ….

darker ones on the other side of the road ….

such are the low-key pleasures of walking on unfamiliar country roads. Official head count: Eight hikers, one dog.

Click here to see six more shots online

 

 

 

Saturday March 28

Comfort Road from Bald Hill Road to Gunderman Road, Danby

Back to winter! 15 and snowing at the trail head, fresh snow on the ground, a raw wind gusting from the north into our faces ….

…. notwithstanding, we had a great morning — the snow soon stopped and the sun came out a little and the wind was at our backs pushing us along on the return leg

As promised, fantastic scenery — interesting newer houses buried in the woods in the south near Danby SF, farms and fields

…. horses, chickens — delightful walk — we went by Ithaca Beer Co on the way home — first ones through the door as it opened at noon — I ate a huge amount of french fries ….

Click here to see six more photos online

 

 

 

Sunday March 29

Layen Road, Gunderman Road and Jersey Hill Road, Danby

Fast forward into spring! 24 hours after our frigid wintery hike on Saturday, we had a beautiful mild morning on the northern part of the Comfort Road corridor — spring birds singing sweetly in the scrubby fields, sun shining brightly, no wind in the face —  lambs cavorting in a pasture  —  we even saw some kind of horned steer ….

I’d never been on part of this route before and it felt a little like we were somewhere far away from Ithaca, like Iowa, which I drove across 50 years ago — huge vistas and rolling hills and flat plains — I can’t actually remember what Iowa was like so I’m just going on impressions — anyway, more fantastic scenery — and a wonderful feeling of more lovely mornings soon to come

It’s oddly fatiguing to walk on a road for two hours straight — you really start to feel it where your lower body joins your trunk, in your upper buttocks and hips and groin-thigh connectors — you might assume our woodland trails would be more challenging, but they’re actually easier to walk on.

We hit more traffic than on any other of the road walks we’ve done this year, which surprised me — but it still wasn’t much and it trickled off pretty soon — maybe people going to church ….?

Official head count: 19 hikers, four dogs.

Click here to see seven more shots online

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed March 18

Hill Road and Curtis Road, South Danby – road walk

More unfamiliar country roads — great rural scenery — delightful morning except for a raw wind blowing in our faces on much of the outbound leg

There was a NWS warning in effect for snow squalls and possible white-outs, but before the storm arrived it was gorgeous out, sunny with huge dramatic clouds and beautiful slanting light

The snow began on our way back to the cars, and the walk immediately turned moody and atmospheric — by the time we were in the home stretch, it felt like the dead of winter ….

and we actually did hit a white-out for a few minutes driving up 96B on the way back to town

This is the first winter we’ve done more than 1-2 road walks, and I’ve really enjoyed it — I love the rolling terrain and the feeling of openness and depth you can get, and the wonderful old farms, both the thriving ones and the decaying ones.

We passed two places with horses — in one, the horses came to the fence to watch us pass by — I hoped to get a cute shot of our guys interacting with them, but when Gary and Eckhart walked over the horses darted away (photo) and couldn’t be coaxed back.

Official head count: 12 hikers, two dogs

You can see nine online photos here.

 

 

Sat March 21

Yellow Barn SF, Dryden — snowmobile trail

Snowing hard on the drive out to the trail head …. Route 13 only partially cleared, and there were several cars resting in the ditch — Tehan Road so slippery three hikers’ cars couldn’t make it up the hill, and Wan had to go fetch them — one of our more exciting hike shape-ups ever.

As promised, we took the snowmobile trail north into unfamiliar territory, leaving the edge of Yellow Barn SF and dropping down into a huge open area with fantastic views into the rolling hills beyond Route 13

The snow stopped fairly soon but it was gusty and cold out in the fields, so we headed back up into the shelter of the forest — quite a tough climb back up — the snowmobile trail wasn’t groomed after all, it was a bit bumpy and there was 3-4 inches of fresh snow on top — a little grueling

We had a great time anyway — official head count: 12 hikers, one dog  —  no snowmobilers, no skiers

Click here to see nine more shots online.

 

 

Sunday Mar 22

Hike cancelled because of snow and bad driving conditions  —  but then not too long after I sent out the cancellation notice, the snow stopped and the sun came out ….

Hello Hikers!

Wed March 11

Road walk, Hillview Road from Route 34-96 to Michigan Hollow Road, South Danby

Fabulous spring-like morning along the Tioga County line — mid 40s, sunshine, birds singing in the bushes — there was a dense fog warning in effect, though we didn’t see much ourselves, and it was beautifully damp.

Hillview’s an odd little road (2 miles long) that doesn’t seem to connect anywhere important — in great condition for an obscure country road — just a scattering of houses — but two commercial operations that probably explain the quality of the road — a garbage dump, now abandoned and reclaimed, and a big sand and gravel operation that produced the only traffic we saw.

I know that lots of people, if given the choice, would rather hike in the mountains — I prefer the rolling countryside we get around here, with the patchworks of fields and hills and the distant views — and this walk had some really good examples. The scene above is where Hillview dead ends into lower Michigan Hollow Road — it has a wonderfully bucolic feeling.

Official head count: 13 hikers, three dogs

I always like to know how deep the snow is on our walks — it looked extremely deep in spots this time — Wan volunteered to check it out, but then he backed out after climbing up to the edge of the snow field and deciding he didn’t want to get wet up to his mid-thighs.

You can see nine more shots from the hike here.

 

Sat March 14

Pi Day celebration and road walk on Peter Road, Danby

Bit of a grim morning in Danby, dark, wet and raw — but despite the gloomy atmospherics, we had a great time

The Pi Day ceremony in Danby Town Hall was fun in a low-key way — seemed like the hikers made up almost half the crowd at 9:26:53 when the official once-in-a-century pi moment arrived — Tiger and I never have pie at home, for reasons I won’t touch on, so I was very happy to have two kinds at the ceremony, both probably store-bought, quite tasty

We’ve had extremely good luck finding picturesque country roads to walk on while we wait for the snow to melt, and Peter Road was very satisfying — the only problem was that it was treacherously icy in a few spots

Not many houses at all, so it was noteworthy that we met people from three different homes — one woman and her dog walked with us for almost an hour — the dog with the fellow in shirtsleeves loved our dogs so much she wouldn’t go home until her owner snagged her — and we met another woman further down the road — normally we never meet anyone, so it was fun

Just one real curiosity, an old cemetery you can see behind the hikes waiting to step off — Dave climbed up the wall of ice to look at the dates (photo here), but I forgot what he said.

Official head counts: 14 hikers, five hiker dogs, two non-hiker dogs and three cars.

You can see seven more photos here.

 

 

Sun March 15

Snowmobile trail, Shindagin Hollow SF

Great stormy morning on the trail …. snow, sleet and gusty winds — the roads were snowy as we drove to the trail head; the plows and salt trucks were just coming out — Braley Hill Road is often slippery and it was really jivey this time and our cars were sliding around — Tiger and I got there first by quite a few minutes; we wondered if anyone else was going to show ….

…. no need for concern — the usual hard-core group who’ve come out all winter — official head count: 14 hikers, four dogs — no snowmobilers, one lone skier

The snowmobile trail was in very good shape for walking despite last week’s mild weather — just a few minor dents and depressions and ripples — we took it down to the beautiful swamp near where Gulf Creek Road comes in — fantastic gloomy brooding scenery everywhere

Recently Diego Beck has taken to disappearing and causing us some anxiety — Brenda decided to bring a bag of treats for him and Ruby to see if that would keep him near us — worked very well, at least this time

Speaking of Brenda, I want to mention an innovation she brought to us this winter, the face mask — she gave me one that I’ve worn off and on; I wore it for the first part of this hike until I heated up — it can be a little steamy, but what a godsend on some of these windy mornings

You can see seven more photos online here

Hello Hikers!

Wed Mar 4

Fisher Settlement Road, Danby, road walk to the south

Wonderful mild morning in Danby SF — the wintery-mix storm that hit us overnight had slid just to our south, and we had mid 30s, calm, and a gorgeous variegated grey sky.

We made it as far as the Tioga County line — nice mix of forest and an occasional house along the way, with a couple of great distant views — I’m a big fan of rural roads and this was an excellent one.

One stretch had some of the densest, darkest pine growth I’ve seen, so thickly grown it seemed impenetrable — irresistable to me as a photo backdrop, even though photographing pale-faced people against such a dark screen is technically a bit beyond my current ability — you can see a more formal group line-up shot against the pines here

Official head count: 12 hikers, three dogs

Walking on these country roads is a little like going back in time — there was almost no traffic, and when a car did appear it was a big deal, we all shouted out warnings and directed each other to stand on one side of the road or the other — one driver actually stopped to wait for a long time while I was standing on one side of the road photographing the group on the other.

You’ll see two hikers carring big backpacks — they’re in training for a planned summer hike in Montana.

You can see five online photos here.

 

Sat March 7

Snowmobile trail, Fisher Settlement Road to Hill Road, Danby

I sometimes wonder, what impression do these hike reports give you of our hikes? Do we come across as quiet? attentive? organized? serious?

I was prompted to this line of thought when Mary B, who likes to make snow angels, abruptly plopped down Saturday just as we were laughing at another hiker who’d just stumbled into extremely deep snow. So if it’s not clear from these reports, let the record show: we’re not quiet, not very attentive, sometimes not organized at all, and not very serious.

If that sounds good, you should check us out. Otherwise ….
We had a beautiful hike up into Danby SF Saturday — the first half of the walk was sunny and lovely — then a weather front bringing snow suddenly arrived and it turned grey and damp and a little raw — we didn’t see a single snowmobile — the walk was a bit strenuous but this is a stretch with such great pine tree action that it’s more than worth the effort to hike in.

Official head count: 13 hikers, three dogs

Click here to see five more photos online

 

 

Sunday March 8

Snowmobile trail, Canaan Road, Hammond Hill SF

Delightful hike on another unfamiliar snowmobile trail — until it took a very alarming turn just as we got back to the cars.

We never hike in HHSF during ski season — I pictured the place swarming with skiers and snowmobilers on a nice Sunday morning, and us having to dodge and weave to stay out of the way. Actual count: two snowmobilers, 5-6 skiers. We were warned sternly by Jack V (an active XC skier) never to walk in any ski tracks — but the walking was easiest there and I did see some hikers disobeying his stricture.

The scenery along Canaan Road is very beautiful, but the road runs steadily downhill from where we shaped up, and the walk back up in the soft snow, even though it wasn’t deep, verged on grueling, and I was dragging my ass.

Even so, it definitely beat trying to walk in the woods. The snow’s still exhaustingly deep where it’s not packed down.

Official head count: 15 hikers, five dogs.

We’d just gotten back to the cars when regular hiker Roger pulled up — he’d arrived a little late and gone to the wrong parking lot, so he’d set out with his dogs Diego and Ruby on a ski trail to try and intercept us. But then Ruby got spooked by a passing skier — with no place to step aside on the narrow ski trail, and deep snow on all sides, she kept running ahead of the skier, ignoring Roger’s calls to come back, until she disappeared in the distance still followed by the skier.

Roger searched for her by himself for an hour before he drove over to meet us. Six of us joined him in the hunt and we split up into three groups and went into the forest in different spots. I was with Tiger and Katharine and we walked for almost an hour up a main ski trail calling for the dog. We passed a group of skiers who said they’d seen the dog some distance away, so we were heartened. But as we kept walking we began to feel it was hopeless, and to get very concerned. Ruby is a small-medium very slender short-haired dog and we worried she might not be able to survive overnight in this isolated place. Finally we turned back — we’d gone back a ways, still calling — Tiger just happened to turn around for some reason — and there she was, trailing nervously behind us. She’d been missing and on the run for 2 1/2 hours.

Click here to see seven more photos online.

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed Feb 25

Snowmobile trail behind Dandy Mini Mart, Slaterville Springs

Fantastic morning on an unfamiliar snowmobile trail up into the huge fields north of Slaterville Springs — the setting was truly spectacular, and we had dazzling sunny weather with puffy clouds — result ….

…. one of the best walks we’ve had in a number of years.

We ended up on this trail by sheer luck — we’d shaped up a few miles away at what I thought was the start of a snowmobile trail into Hammond Hill SF — but then a passing farmer told us that trail wasn’t used any more; instead, he directed us to a trail behind the market in Slaterville Springs

What a total delight it turned out to be! We kept hitting one beautiful field after another — much of the outbound leg was uphill and the broad valley behind us kept getting more and more dramatic

Maybe it was the effect of all the sparkling snow, but it seemed like we were in some wonderful space midway between the land and the sky a lot of the time — just one downside — the wind was gusting up to 30 mph straight in our faces on the outbound — but it wasn’t fully awful — the temp was in the low 20s, so the net effect wasn’t that bad.

It’s not very often that everything comspires to produce such a great hike,

Official head count: 15 hikers, three dogs.

Click here to see seven more photos online

 

Sat Feb 28

Snowmobile trails, Yellow Barn State Forest, Dryden

It was 23 below at the Cornell weather station in Harford just two hours before we had to leave for this hike, and I seriously wondered if it would come off — but we lucked out once again, to wrap up a frigid month of many lucky breaks for us — by a little after nine, it was 2 above, the sun was shining brightly, the wind was calm, and we had a lovely hike.

This was the first time ever I’d been to Yellow Barn in winter — not as many pine trees as I generally like to see in a state forest — on the other hand, the quality of the snowmobile trails was superb, smooth hard surfaces, crisp edges, the main ones almost as wide as a small road

There was quite a bit of snowmobile traffic but I thought that was fun, not an annoyance, and most of the time we had the still woods to ourselves

Official head count: 11 hikers, two dogs.

By the time we got back to the cars it was 15 and everyone was toasty — so ended the coldest February on record for us, comfortably enough, and with another delightful walk under our belts.

Click here to see seven more photos online.

 

Sun Mar 1

Snowmobile trail, Fisher Settlement Road to Travor Road, Danby SF

Classic winter morning — gloomy grey light, snowy drive out to the trail, fresh powder, brooding snow-covered pines everywhere — fabulous!

Saturday’s snowmobile trail was jumping with action — Sunday’s was dead — the snow was packed down enough for us to walk pretty easily, but clearly this stretch through the eastern part of Danby SF doesn’t get much use, and there was a wonderful sense of stillness and peacefulness in the falling snow

It didn’t warm up as much as it was supposed to, and there was a little nagging breeze, but we had a great time

One notable thing about this trail is that we get to see two kinds of pines almost side by side, tall straight ones with very little greenery up at the top, and more squatty ones with heavy thick boughs that catch the snow — I’m sure they’re not really pines but I don’t care what the correct names are, I just love the way they look.

Official head count: 14 hikers, three dogs

You can see six more photos by me here.

You can see photos by Iris here.