Category: hike reports

Hello Hikers!

Wed Mar 23

Hike report by Jim

YMCA and EcoVillage lands, West Hill

13 hikers and 2 dogs met in the parking lot of the YMCA Outdoor Education complex on Route 79 for a hike of area trails.

I had pre-hiked the local trails the previous day to find a route that was mostly mud-free; it was impossible to hike without finding at least SOME mud along the way, but I think that the route I had planned out managed as best as conditions allowed.

The group made its way across multiple trail within the YMCA complex until finally exiting onto the Coy Glen Natural Area blazed trail system.

We made our way to the trail system for Ecovillage, which is entirely unblazed and a bit of  a spiderweb of interconnecting trails. Wanting to avoid our past practice of hiking across the open areas of Ecovillage, I kept the group within their trail system, making a large loop until we returned to YMCA property.

We made our way back to the cars, arriving back at the parking lot a few minutes early because, despite having taken a lot of notes on my previous hike, we got turned around at the very end and re-entered the YMCA property closer to the parking lot that I had intended to.

Overall it was still an excellent hike,  despite the periodic muddy patches we encountered.

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Special snowbird hike report from Randy and Nancy L — Joshua Tree National Monument

Report by Randy

We set off from home at 7:15 AM and headed towards Joshua tree. After an hour and a half we arrived at Hidden Valley, where we climbed around the rocks,  and took a short nature walk.  Nancy met a guide who was leading 4 women and it turned out he was related to one of Nancy‘s coworkers at Cornell.  Small world. 
We then headed to a place called Split Rock. We found a parking spot after ignoring the “Parking Lot Full” sign, and hiked to Skull Rock.  This is one of my favorite hikes in the park.  It’s loaded with cool stuff. We even spotted a couple of quail.
It was early afternoon, and our meager snack food was depleted.  We called it quits and headed to 29 Palms where we found a family-owned Mexican drive-in restaurant.
Made it back home in time to jump in the hot tub before dinner!
Looking forward to returning to Ithaca…I think.

Complete photo album

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Sat Mar 26

Hike report by Nancy H

FLT east from Logan Rd., Finger Lakes National Forest

Eight hikers (and no dogs) gathered on a rainy, snowy morning on Logan Rd. to hike the Finger Lakes Trail eastward toward Burnt Hill Rd. On the initial long climb, we were pelted by very wet snow for the first mile or so. Trail conditions were what you’d expect in March—wet everywhere, deep mud in places, and some slippery spots on stream crossings and wooden bridges.

Gradually the snow stopped. We passed several old stone walls and commented on some distant views that won’t be visible in a few weeks when the leaves come out. When we reached the turnaround point at the second intersection with Burnt Hill Rd., the clouds were starting to break up. At that point, one hiker decided to return to the cars via the road; the rest of us turned around and retraced our steps on the FLT. Soon we could hear birds singing and see patches of blue sky. By the time we returned to Logan Rd., the sun was shining and it was about 10 degrees warmer than at the start of the hike. In a few minutes over two hours, we’d hiked just under five miles (one hiking app measured our distance at 4.87 miles and another reported 4.99 miles).

We entered the woods in winter and emerged into spring. As one hiker put it, “a typical March hike.”

Photos by Leigh Ann

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Photos by Cian

Complete album

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Photo by Casey

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Sun Mar 27

Hike report by Jim

Layen Road to Bruce Hill Road and beyond on the FLT, Danby

11 hikers met on Layen Rd in Danby for a hike of the FLT to Bruce Hill Rd and beyond.

At the beginning of the hike the wind was whipping through the treetops around our cars, so I figured that crossing the open fields would be “invigorating”, which they were.

A small amount of snow had fallen overnight, leaving a thin layer of snow on the ground that gave the hillsides a mottled appearance.

The first open fields were quite windy, but once we were in the trees the wind was barely noticed.

For the most part the treadway was fairly nice; there were some muddy parts that hadn’t had a chance to freeze in the recent short cold snap. While inconvenient these parts of the trail were short in duration and quickly traversed.

Once beyond the first water crossing the main body of hikers was off like a shot, making good time across the rolling hills that the trail passes through in this area.

The group paused briefly at Bruce Hill Rd; once across that road we stopped briefly to check out the small quarry located in that area.

Reaching the open fields South of Bruce Hill Rd, the group turned around nd re-traced its steps back to our cars. The snow picked up throughout most of the return trip, giving that portion of the hike much more of a wintery sense to it than we had for the outbound leg of the hike.

Other than a couple of CTC day hikers and  a single dog walker, the group had the trail to ourselves today.

Photos by Leigh Ann

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Photos by Cian

Complete album

Hello Hikers!

Wed Mar 16

Hike report by Jim

Kingsbury Woods, Jersey Hill, Danby

Three hikers met on Jersey Hill Rd for a hike of the Kingsbury Woods Conservation Area.

The day had started out foggy; so foggy that some of us had had concerns while en route to the hike of the day lending itself to an enjoyable hike. Which, in the end, is exactly what we had

When I left my house, Freeville was nearly devoid of any meaningful amounts of remaining snow. Arriving at the parking area on Jersey Hill Rd I found a considerable amount of remaining snow, even if it was in a state of retreat during our hike on this warm day. This was not unexpected, and since I’d worn my summer hiking  shoes with their less aggressive snow traction, I chose to wear nanospikes for probably the last time this winter hiking season.

Hikers crossed Jersey Hill Rd to climb the small flight of stairs to the kiosk, where we paused briefly to make a trail journal entry.

From there the trail follows Lick Brook for a while before deviating into what Leigh Ann referred to as our “flagpole hike”. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but the odd shape of this parcel does result in a single trail system that somewhat resembles a flag on its pole.

I was the only member of the group who had been here, and my sole previous winter hike had informed me that we wouldn’t be getting a two hour hike out of a single pass around the trail system.

During the hike the sun shone brightly, reflecting off the snow that remained in the woods and on the fields we passed near. The warming weather revealed frequent stones set in the muddy path that I had not seen in my previous winter visit; someone has gone to great effort to emplace stones in the muddier portions of the trail at this location.

Knowing that we wouldn’t get a complete hike out of a single circuit, I was in favor of stopping to explore along the way whenever the opportunity presented itself. So we struck off across Conservation land a time or two when old logging roads presented themselves.

Mud wasn’t too bad on the open portions of trail; a couple of stream crossings were required, but while the water was flowing well during the hike it was not at such a depth that it presented any great difficulties to passing hikers.

At one point in the hike the group encountered past Ithaca Hiker Scott, who was out with his new puppy. Scott passed along some information about the part of the conservation on the parking area side of the road that we were unaware of, before we parted ways.

Reaching a point in the trail leading back in the direction we had walked in from, the group turned around and revisited the trail going in the opposite direction. This brought us back to our cars with about twenty minutes to spare, so we crossed the road and explored the streambed as well as the high bluffs of the conservation area above the small parking lot.

Overall this was a great hike day and location. I encourage other Ithaca Hikers with an hour or two of available hiking time to give it a try.

Photos by Leigh Ann

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Special report from the Ithaca Hikers Snowbird Division

These reports were written by Randy, who is spending time with Nancy L in the Southern California desert area

Tuesday, March 15, Hike up Black Mountain
We drove about half hour straight uphill to the trail head leading to Black Mountain. The hike was quite steep with an overall elevation gain of a little over 2600 feet. The summit at 7700 feet had a fire tower, but was locked.  Most of the hike was on dry sandy granite, but at the top there was semi-crusty snow about 6 inches deep. It was a little slippery so we donned our one pair of yak tracks, mine on the right foot and Nancy’s on her left. We got up and down in 4.5 hours, a little over 8 miles.

Complete album

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Friday, March 18,  Hike down Potrero Valley 
After a large breakfast of homemade chili rellenos and tamales, we set off on an adventure close to home. We took the golf cart to the edge of our gated community and hiked south into an area we had not explored, but was practically in our backyard. We followed the dry creek bed until finding a way across to the other side. We then continued north following a faint trail.  Overall hike time was about three hours and we covered about 7.5 miles.

Complete album

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Sat Mar 19

Hike report by Jim

Fisher Settlement Road west on the FLT, Danby SF

19 Hikers and 2 dogs met on Fisher Settlement Rd for a very muddy hike Westerly on the FLT  At least half of the treadway covered by the group consisted of active run-off, mud, or remaining snowpack.

It was still an excellent hike despite the trail conditions.

Temperatures along most of the trail were in the 60F range at the beginning, and had gone up to around 65F by hikes end.

The water crossings were uneventful, and remaining snowpack created a cooler microclimate around the streams that had fog and noticeably cooler temps in the immediate vicinity. Nancy H likened it to walking into a walk-in freezer.

Other than dog walkers and some equestrians we encountered on Curtis Rd, we saw no other persons during the hike.

Welcome to new hikers Celine, Jennifer, Tom, Sally, Ivana, and Lisa, as well as K9 Charlie, on their first hike with the group.

Ticks are active this year; I know someone who found a tick on themselves following a local hike earlier this week.

Hikers should use whatever sprays they are personally comfortable with and should conduct tick checks after a hike to verify that they haven’t acquired any unwanted hitchhikers during the hike

For those tracking their FLT mileage for the year to qualify for this years FLT mileage patch through the CTC,  Saturdays hike totaled 4.4 FLT miles

Link for those interested in the FLT mileage patch for 2022:

https://www.fingerlakes.org/news/announcing-flt60

This is the 60th year since the FLT was created, and the FLTC’s cross-county hike series is hiking the FLT in Tompkins County this year, so hikers will be seeing a bit of local FLT promotional effort this year.

Photos by Leigh Ann

Complete album

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Sun Mar 20

Hike report by Jim

Roy H Park Preserve into Hammond Hill SF, Dryden

19 hikers and 2 dogs met at the Roy Park Preserve for a hike of the hill leading towards the Hammond Hill ski trails.

The day had already hit the projected high temperature of 42F by the time I arrived at the parking lot on Irish Settlement Rd. A stiff breeze foretold of the rain that was projected to arrive in the afternoon.

We set off across the boardwalk, crossed into the woods and quickly encountered the first muddy patches of several as well as blow-downs that we would find on the hike.

The climb up the hill towards Hammond Hill Rd was uneventful, as we were hiking on bare and relatively dry footpath at the higher elevations.

Approaching Hammond Hill Rd we were again encountering long stretches of boggy, muddy  trail.

Pausing for a few brief photos on Hammond Hill Rd, we crossed the road and plunged onto the multi-use trails on Hammond Hill itself. We found a good amount of persistent ice pack still on the footpath, with more rotten ice concealed under the mud at various points. Reaching the blue trails we turned and hiked those for a few short minutes until it was time to turn around and descend the mountain back to our cars.

Our timing was more or less perfect, as it was only a few minutes later that the rain let loose for a few minutes, encouraging hikers to call an end to the hike day and head for home.

Reminder to hikers: Ticks are active again. Please check yourselves out after hikes. Before hikes use whatever sprays you are comfortable with before hikes to discourage them from going home with you. Dog owners don’t forget to check your four legged hiking partners.

Non-Hike report stuff:

In the interest of furthering social interactions among hikers, as the spring warms up I will be occasionally scheduling a Saturday hike near an outdoor  location where we can meet post-hike and socialize a bit while we have a bring-your-own beverage or snacks. The occasional Hopshire post-hike meetings will also resume once its nice enough for them to return to their outdoor seating. When Jack leads his Finger Lakes Forest hikes we can expect to resume the Grist Iron post-hike gatherings.

Hope to see you all on the trail!

Photos by Leigh Ann

Hello Hikers!

Wed Mar 9

Hike report by Jim

Hurd Hill Road, Caroline

9 hikers met in the Town of Caroline for a wintery hike of seasonal Hurd Hill Rd.

Snow was starting to fall when I arrived early at the intersection of Hurd Hill and South Rds. Arriving hikers reported to the group that they had encountered increasingly poor road conditions while en route to the hike.

The snow, now falling steadily, never let up throughout the hike and my return drive home to Freeville. The falling snow and the fresh snow under foot  made for a very winter-like hike experience, with each hiker individually  sheathed in a coat of fresh snow by the end of the hike.

Hurd Hill Rd, from its junction with South Rd, gradually descends through state land. While on todays hike, hikers encountered streams running vigorously alongside and under the roadway; evergreens shielding short sections of the roadway from the falling snow, creating small cocooned sections of road with still air that were protected from the steady snowfall, and nearly bare ground under the limbs. For much of the walk we had  hard crusty snow surfaces underfoot, with random hidden patches of ice concealed by the rapidly accumulating snow. One hiker went down to the ground on one of these ice patches, but thankfully sustained no injury.

The road receives no maintenance during the winter, so the accumulated fallen evergreen boughs and leafless downed deciduous branches along the way added to  the appearance of a very rural hike that’s hard to fully describe. There had been a single vehicle at some recent time that had plowed its way down the road through the hard snow, but otherwise we were walking along an unbroken tract of snow on the roadway.

Most hikers wore some form of foot traction, but the nanospikes proved to be entirely ineffective due to the fresh snow clumping up on the soles of hikers using that form of traction. The hikers with micro-spikes had a much easier go of things.

Reaching the bottom of Hurd Hill Rd ( now in Tioga County ), hikers meet the junction of Hurd Hill Rd and Prospect Valley Rd. On todays hike we made a right turn, choosing to walk along a portion of the Shindagin Hollow basin that we don’t normally get to see on our other hikes of the area. Prospect Valley Rd itself was as -of-yet unplowed when we were hiking there, so it gave the sense of being a seasonal road like Hurd Hill Rd, the only difference being a slightly better road surface that made walking easier.

Soon the group reached the hour mark and turned around to re-trace our steps. The return trip back up Hurd Hill Rd found that our footprints from the outbound leg were already well on the way to being filled in with fresh snow. The incline on the return leg of the trip is so gradual that none of our group experienced any difficulties.

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Sat Mar 12

Hike cancelled — snow, ice and high winds

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Sun Mar 13

Hike report by Jim

Cornell arboretum and Mundy Wildflower Garden, Forest Home

11 hikers met at the Flat Rock parking area, for a hike of Cornell’s FR Newman arboretum, Mundy Wildflower Gardens, the area around Hemlock Gorge near Beebe Lake and the hamlet of  Forest Home

As hikers were arriving before the hike the sun shone with a brilliant intensity across the fresh snow from the previous nights winter storm. Fresh snow lay on the tree limbs, offering a sharp contrast in shading to the eye. Soon enough the cloud cover set in and we resumed our normal overcast Ithaca weather.

Hikers left the parking area and entered FR Newman Arboretum. The roads here had been plowed at some point in the recent past so that while the lanes were a little filled in from blowing snow, it was not an unpleasant hike. There was a layer of ice underfoot that made some form of foot traction much preferred. The air was filled with the sound of birdsong from the trees around us. Other day users of the arboretum were out in small numbers, but for the most part we had the place to ourselves.

The group circled Houston Pond on the Arboretum Rd before exiting onto Caldwell Rd

We crossed into the Mundy Wildflower Gardens but stayed there only long enough to reach the stairs that lead to Judd Falls Rd and the Nevin Welcome Center. The group found that all of the paths we used outside of FR Newman were well-used, and the snow depth did not impede the hike in any noticeable way

Passing by the welcome center we reached Forest Home Drive, crossing at Sacketts Bridge towards Beebe Lake.

The group took the short side loop trail to Hemlock Gorge, where we found the water flowing vigorously over the short falls.

Returning to Forest Home Drive we walked the short distance to the hamlet of Forest Home, passing through the hamlet on our way back to the arboretum.

Once back in the arboretum we jumped on the orange blazed trail which took us back to our cars without incident

Warm welcome to Lori and Judith on their first hike with the group!

Photos by Leigh Ann

You can see Leigh Ann’s complete photo album here

Hello Hikers!

Wed Mar 2

Hike report by Jim

Curtis Road, South Danby

Six hikers met at the junction of Hill and Curtis Rd, for a planned hike of the seasonal portion of Curtis Rd.

A seventh hiker went to the wrong intersection and ended up hiking their own hike to Curtis RD via the FLT.

It was a pleasant hiking day, and the wind that so often plagues this hike location was absent on this hike.

Passing Karenville we paused briefly to interact with Tangles the pony, before continuing onwards.

We soon found that beyond the last inhabited residence on Curtis Rd, the road surface turned into a messy slick and hazardous walking surface. Arriving at the FLT crossing point I suggested to the group that we deviate from the planned hike and turn onto the FLT. The trail surface was shown to be crusty but walkable, without the slippery nature of Curtis Rd.

The group hiked Westerly in the FLT, eventually reaching the Abbott Loop. The hikers turned onto the Abbott Loop, walking Southerly until we reached the hour mark, at which time we turned around and re-traced our steps back to Curtis Rd and from there back to our cars.

Overall it was a good hike day, and in view of the season, not entirely unexpected that we encountered the icy conditions.

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Sat Mar 5

Hike report by Jim

Virgil Mountain

Ten Hikers and 2 dogs met in Cortland County at the junction of Odell and Baldwin Rds, for a hike of Virgil Mountain. Two additional hikers arrived late and did their own separate and much longer hike of the Virgil Mountain Loop.

We’ve previously hiked this route only in the summer, and our normal pace is normally sufficient to get us to the peak of the mountain and back to the cars in two hours.

Arriving at the parking area early, I spoke to several day hikers, snowshoers, etc who were there ahead of me. Based on their reports of trail conditions I gave our group the option of hiking an alternative to the planned route, but everyone was enthusiastic for hiking the mountain regardless of trail conditions.

The group walked up Odell Rd and plunged into the woodline. The FLT footpath along this section of trail had seen a minimal level of foot traffic, so it was somewhat compacted; but not to the degree  that the FLT in the opposite direction towards Bleck Rd had been observed to be.

The group proceeded slowly up the mountain, crossing a small number of streams along the way, while passing through stands of evergreens that lent a certain muted ambiance to the hike.

Reaching Van Donsel Rd at the hour mark I discussed with the group that our pace was slowed enough that we could not reach the peak and return to the cars within the allotted hike time. Several of us had afternoon commitments, so the group split into two sub-groups, with half continuing up the hill and my half of the group returning to the cars within the two hour hike time.

Cian reported to me the following day that the subgroup that had summited had hiked an additional hour in order to do so.

Warm welcome to Kris, Louie and Miles on their first hike with the group.

Photos by Cian

You can see Cian’s complete album here

Two photos by Casey, who arrived late and did his own walk

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Sun Mar 6

Hike report and photo by Jim

South Danby Road east, Danby

18 hikers and 2 dogs met on South Danby Rd for a hike of the FLT Easterly.

It was the warmest hike day we’ve had in a  while, with highs in the 50s. Turn-out reflected the excellent hiking weather.

As we set off from the parking area, it was obvious that the higher temperatures  were already having an impact, as the streams were flowing with a lot of run-off, and the icy lower sections of the trail were already weakening and collapsing in on themselves.

In a very short time I realized that the FLT itself was an inferior hiking surface to the snowmobile trail that follows alongside the FLT. The surfaces of both trails  were melting, but the snowmobile trail had started as a compacted surface and still easier to hike on. So most of our hike East of South Danby Road was over the snowmobile trail. Cian opted to stay on the FLT and reported later that it had been a long process of post-holing his way along the trail.

Periodically we would meet the FLT as it crossed over the snowmobile trail, and I opted to remain on the snowmobile trail.

The trail climbed the hill, the sun and snow combining to create a mix of light and shadow. In places the needles under the evergreens lay exposed, the surface of snow in those places already melted away. Portions of the path that I recall being muddy in warmwer months were still thankfully quite frozen.

The group chattered behind me, while Casey kept me company at the front of the line.

Eventually the path ended its long climb and we found ourselves descending towards Peter Rd.

Reaching Peter Rd the group turned Westerly and followed Peter Rd to South Danby Rd.

It was here that the group encountered the only other person we saw the entire hike, as  a local resident passed us on his Gator.

Reaching South Danby Rd the group turned around and re-traced our path back to the snowmobile trail. The sun was beating down on us, and the snow underfoot was always beginning to turn into a melting slush. The wind was picking up, causing me to be thankful that we were not conducting this hike later in the day when the melt might have progressed further.

Once back on the snowmobile trail it was mostly a descent back to the cars, and so we found ourselves standing at the parking area with half an hour to spare.

The group opted to jump on the FLT on the opposite side of the road and walk to Fisher Settlement Rd to bring us closer to our normal hike duration.

This was done without incident.

Welcome to Val and Al on their first hike with the group!

Photos by Cian

You can see Cian’s complete album here

Hello Hikers!

Wed Feb 23

Hike report and two photos by Jim

Monkey Run Natural area, south side of Fall Creek

Nine hikers met on Monkey Run Rd for a hike of the trails on the South side  of Fall Creek.

When I first got to the parking lot I spoke to a woman who was just coming off the trail with her dog; we reviewed a trail map and she advised me of some areas that she had found to be impassible due to trail damage or significant ice that had covered the footpath.

As the group arrived I advised them that we might be forced to deviate from our normal hike route due to trail conditions

The group set off towards the west, the orange-blazed footpath underfoot still slick enough from a layer of ice that traction was a necessity for much of that section of trail. The group climbed upwards, then began a meandering section of trail that climbs and falls as it makes its way towards Varna.

The group emerged from the woods and began the section of road-walking that cuts across the open Cornell fields. Here we found the remaining ice on the road to be extremely fragile, with a significant amount of water flowing below the icey surface.

Soon we turned into the red blazed trail that runs along Fall Creek itself. Here we found the creeks shores to be lined with huge fractured slabs of ice. The accompanying photos depict Bud crossing a pile of such slabs, along with a group photo. The amount of water flowing in the creek today was significant

It was here we encountered  a tenth Ithaca hiker, who had arrived late and opted to hike our usual  route in reverse to meet us.

The group continued onwards, stopping occasionally to view the creek below from the high bluffs, until we arrived at one of the final downhill slopes that was covered with a significant amount of ice. The group conferred on our course of action, with most preferring to backtrack a bit and take the less iced-over yellow blazed side trail back to the cars. One hardy hiker opted to continue on alone over the ice-covered red blazed trail.

The remainder of the group re-traced our steps to the yellow blazed trail, taking that back to the cars with a few minutes to spare.

Despite the trail conditions it was a good hike, with relatively warm temperatures. The group had the trail to ourselves in the time we were there.

Photo by Nancy H

Three shots of the icy conditions by Bud:

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Sat Feb 26

Hike report by Jim

Woodard Road west on the FLT to Rockwell Road, Enfield

13 hikers met on Woodard Rd for a hike Westerly on the FLT.

Two late arrivals chose to do their own hike Easterly on the FLT and will be reporting separately.

It was a sunny day, and after the warm temperatures earlier in the week most of the existing snowpack had melted off the trail. The very recent snows had formed a thin layer of hard crunchy snow that gave no difficulties except on the steepest of hillsides.

The group made its way Westerly on the FLT quickly, the route well-marked for the most part along this popular section of trail. Other than a few glimpses of park road through the bare trees there is little to hint of surrounding civilization until you approach the Treman Conference Center on Hines Rd.

The group passed over Hines and continued on the FLT, stopping just before reaching Rockwell Rd. Here the majority of the group opted to turn around rather than road walk back to the cars. I opted to continue on to Rockwell and road walk the entirety of the return leg.

I met up with the group as they exited the woods on Hines Rd. Here the group split again, with most of the group opting for an out-and-back on the FLT, while some of us opted for a road walk back to Woodard Rd.

Arriving back at the cars I walked into the woods until I met the hikers returning to Woodard via the FLT.

Three photos by Leigh Ann

You can see Leigh Ann’s complete album here

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Sun Feb 27

Hike report by Jim

FLT into Hammond Hill State Forest from Route 38 South of Dryden

15 hikers and 4 dogs met on Star Stanton Hill Rd for a hike of the FLT.

The morning was sunny and clear, although somewhat windy at the meeting location.

The view up and down the valley from Star Stanton Hill Rd was great.

The group started up the hill, a steep climb through snow that was compacted by snowmobiles in recent days. Star Stanton Hill Rd in this area is abandoned, although the road surface is in very good condition due to some logging operations that occurred in recent years.

Soon the FLT turns into the woodline and heads towards the yellow blazed trails on Hammond Hill. The snowpack here was not as compacted as it had been on the roadway, but thanks to recent warm temperatures wwith the ensuing snow melt, the snow depth was not intolerable. The sun shone off the fresh white snow in the woods we passed through.  Here the Trail passes through some stands of evergreen trees and young forest growth; for much of the hike here the view of the valley beyond the forest is visible through the leafless trees.

Eventually the FLT takes a sharp turn and climbs the hillside to join the Hammond Hill trail system. The group passed a couple of snowshoers and skiers, but otherwise had the trail to ourselves. The Hammond Hill trail was very much compacted due to the amount of use its had, so the group managed to move at a fairly good pace for the remainder of the hike.

Eventually the group reached the Hammond Hill radio tower and turned around to retrace our route back to the cars. The return leg, much of it now downhill, passed much quicker than the outbound leg of the journey had.

Photos by Leigh Ann:

You can see Leigh Ann’s complete album here