Category: hike reports

Wednesday, August 14

Virgil Mountain, Cortland County

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Sixteen hikers took the FLT from the Virgil Mountain Trailhead on O’Dell Road up and across the top of Virgil Mountain, stopping briefly for views down the chair lift. The temperature was excellent for Ithaca summer, the sky was clear, and the light had entered early fall. There was almost no moisture on the trail. Although this hike had 707 feet of elevation gain in just over four miles, round-trip, the gentle and consistent slope made that amount of gain surprising.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, August 17

Lake Road southeast of Dryden

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Eighteen hikers converged at the parking area where the Jim Schug Trail crosses Lake Road. Four decided to take the FLT over Havington Hill, and everyone else stretched out for some mileage on the Jim Schug Trail. I led the Havington Hill group, and we did an out-and-back hike from the meet-up spot to the end of the blue trail spur (third field). This was about four miles and 875 feet of elevation gain, which we did in about 1 hour 45 minutes. The trail has been cleared for the most part after the storms a few weeks ago, and the few newly downed trees that are still in the trail were easy to get around (e.g., where the FLT heads south into the woods in the second field). The entrance field and the section between the stream crossing and the third field were remarkably dry – almost no mud anywhere.

Hike report by Jim

Eighteen hikers met on Lake Rd in the Town of Dryden to hike area trails. Typically, on this hike the group splits into two separate groups, with one group heading over Havington Hill on the Finger Lakes Trail, and the other group hiking the flat Jim Schug Trail towards the village of Dryden. The Havington Hill hike is hike # 34-1, while the Schug Trail hike is #34-2 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-34.

Leigh Ann V led the group that opted to hike over Havington Hill, and I assume that she will be submitting her own hike report. I led the remainder of the hikers on the Schug Trail.

The morning was cool and overcast, with some low levels of humidity. I found that we were sharing the trail with a variety of bicyclists, joggers and walkers.

The group I was with had an uneventful out-and-back hike, turning around at the halfway point and re-tracing our route back to the cars. A light rain, more of a sprinkle, began to fall as we neared the parking area. Leigh Ann’s group had already left by the time we got to the trailhead.

Welcome to Melissa, Katarina and Lawrence on their first hike with the group!

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 18

Alex & Michele Gonzalez Hiking Sanctuary & Preserve, Virgil

Hike report by Jim

Sixteen hikers and three dogs met in Cortland County for a hike of various trails within 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.

Leigh Ann led the hike. Both paper and digital trail maps of this trail section listed as ” The International Loop” are available for purchase through the Finger Lakes Trail Conference at : Link here. Sale of the maps benefits the FLTC and help defray costs associated with the upkeep of our trail system.

The turn-out for the hike was better than I expected, given the wet weather we’d had overnight. The trails were muddy in spots, and water was flowing in the streams, but overall condition were still very good for an August hike. Several hikers commented that the trails we hiked today were in excellent condition despite the damage from recent windstorms in the area.

It was one of the gloomier hikes I’ve been on recently; Leigh Ann likened it to the mid-day gloom you would associate with an eclipse.

Setting off from our cars on Daisy Hollow Rd the group hiked into the preserve, jumping almost immediately onto the yellow blazed Jose Trail. This is turn led into the blue blazed Irvin Trail, which runs along or crosses over Christina Creek for a good length of its overall distance. We passed a small group of campers at a bivouac site; these were the only other people we saw on trail all morning. Much of this section of the Irvin Trail is a switchback, so the footpath sticks close to the creek even as the trail climbs the hillside away from Daisy Hollow Rd. Eventually the Irvin Trail reaches a flat section that runs north and east before connecting to the Spanish Loop Trail.

The hikers took the Spanish Loop trail as far as Adams Rd before turning around, stopping along the way to check out some small ponds and make a trail journal entry. Eventually the group left the Spanish Loop on the return leg of the hike and returned to the Irvin Trail and from there the red blazed English Loop, which passed through some nice stands of small pines on its way back to Daisy Hollow Rd.

We got back to our cars a few minutes early; I will need to continue to tweak our regular route here to use our full hiking time more effectively.

A warm welcome to hiker Rogelio and his canine hiking partner Sheridan on their first hike with the group!

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, August 7

Sweedler Preserve/Lick Brook

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Seventeen hikers and one dog met at the Shady Corners parking lot off of Rt. 13 to hike east up Lick Brook. This is a great hike. We headed over to Lick Brook Falls, then took the blue trail up to Townline Road. From there, we crossed over to the orange trail, then took the upper blue trail south across the creek and back to Townline. From there, we retraced our steps, but we took the gentler and differently scenic FLT down to the base of the falls rather than do the blue trail again.

We were happy to experience the new holding pattern for weather: highs are in the 70s for the next 10 days, and although the humidity is still high, the temperature is more seasonable for this location. We made it back to the cars in 4.1 miles, 2 hours, and about 700 feet of elevation gain.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, August 10

O.D. von Engeln Preserve, Freeville

Hike report by Roger Beck

Twenty-five hikers and two dogs gathered at the O. D. von Engeln Preserve on West Malloryville Road. It was sunny and in the high seventies, lovely hiking weather. A highlight was seeing the many pitcher plants at and near the Florence Beck Boardwalk. Florence was my aunt (Aunt Flossy) and she was a real nature lover. 

In about half an hour we left the preserve, went up past my deceased brother Bob’s and his wife Gwen’s house and proceeded to the abandoned Leigh High Valley railroad bed. We stopped at the first trestle where, a short time ago, I had worked with a hydraulic excavator and a group of people to remove a lot of logs and brush that had washed up against the pilings of the trestle. 

We continued and crossed the next trestle then turned into the woods and climbed up onto the mile long esker that the area is known for. It was beautiful seeing the sun glistening off Fall Creek and up through the trees.

Soon we came to the beaver dam, crossed it and admired the Great Blue Heron rookery where two months ago there had been half a dozen or more young high up in the nests.

We hiked along the esker a bit farther, then retraced our route along the railroad bed back through the von Engeln and to our cars. 

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 11

Logan Hill Nature Preserve, Candor

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Eighteen hikers and two dogs met at the Candor HS parking lot for a lovely hike on Logan Hill. This Nature Conservancy preserve has a varied and satisfying hike on well-marked trails. Most of the almost 700 feet of elevation gain on this 4.2-mile hike is at the beginning, in the half mile from where Water Rd. becomes seasonal.

The weather was clear and summer morning cool at the beginning. By the end a front had moved in with spooky, atmospheric clouds. In the future, this hike could be on a Saturday rather than a Sunday so folks can head to the goat dairy in Candor for some yummy cheeses.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, July 31

Shindagin Hollow State Forest

Hike report by Mary Weiz

With a threat of light rain and some precipitation, eleven Hikers met on South Road in the Town of Caroline at the FLT crossing to hike eastward for 3.9 miles to Old 76 Road. And, with a bit of hiker’s luck, little to no rain reached our hats or shoulders during our time in the woods. 

This hike takes hikers predominantly through Shindagin Hollow State Forest until reaching Boyer Creek near Old 76 Rd at which point hikers travel a short distance on private land with current permission to do so. 

This is a typical hardwood forest with a  pleasing overstory, shrub layer, ferns and ground cover layers throughout. It’s an out and back on the FLT with a hefty elevation gain (500-1700 feet depending on the source of information) on the return leg when beginning from South Road. The trail was generally clear with only one blow-down walk-around. Many thanks to those who host clearing this section.

On this last day of July summer 2024, the air temperature reached up into the high 70’s, but it was the humidity that was challenging. This particular hike (IMO) can be classified as this summer’s sweatiest to date.

Here’s a shout-out of thanks to two pre-hikers and one canine who took the hike with me on Tuesday, which was nearly as humid.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, August 3

Finger Lakes Trail through Lower Treman

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Fifteen hikers gathered at the Shady Corners parking lot on 13, to hike under 13 and west on the FLT. This was another humid day that felt cool when you weren’t moving, but once you started moving was like being in a rain storm. This is an out-and-back that can have 1000+ feet of elevation gain, depending on how far you go, so people went at their own paces. Some folks returned to the cars early after turning around right at the 1-hour mark. Others got all the way to the rim trail and took the stairs down to the overlook of the gorge trail and returned at 11:45 after 6 miles. It’s a satisfying hike, however far you go, and it’s one of our best “cliffs of insanity” for sustained steepness.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Many of these hikers went to Roger and Gunilla’s beautiful place for the hiker’s picnic/cookout right afterward, and we met many more people there.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 4

Connecticut Hill, Newfield

Hike report by Dave Bock

18 hikers and 2 dogs met on Connecticut Hill, with the temperature a bit cooler and the humidity a bit lower than the recent sweltering days. A short walk down Lloyd Starks Rd brought us to the trailhead, where 2 potential hikers opted out. Now 16 hikers + 2 dogs strong, we climbed through a somewhat brushy area along one of the DEC cuts before entering the forest. The trail was fairly flat and in great shape as it looped eastward through some lovely woods. Along the way, one of the dogs lost contact with its owner and headed back, the owner following in hopes of finding her pet and then catching up with the group. Our troupe of now 15 + a dog continued the hike to a nice view across the valley that’s home to the hamlet of Newfield, with layers of hills beyond. Upon our return to the main trail we were met by hiker and dog, happily reunited; hearing our voices, they were able to take a shortcut to rejoin the group. The trail stayed in the forest quite a while before crossing the road for a brief — and hotter — walk across a recently mowed field. From there it was woods and more woods as we headed mostly downhill to parallel a deep ravine before emerging at a large pond formed by a wide and tall beaver dam. A short trail later led us back to the road near our initial point of entry, leaving us only the quick walk back up Lloyd Stark to the cars. All hikers and dogs accounted for, we wrapped up 7 minutes early and 4 miles healthier!

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, July 24

Cayuga Trail from Freese Rd

Hike report by Jim

Nine hikers met on Freese Rd at the Community Gardens parking lot, for an out-and-back hike of our adopted section of the Cayuga Trail following recent storms that caused some significant damage to area hiking trails. This is hike # 5-3 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-5.

The skies starting spitting rain at us in small amounts even before the hike started. Once the group set off the volume of rain increased but never so much that it became unbearable. Under the trees the rain volume was greatly diminished and almost enjoyable.

Temperatures were warm, footpath conditions were good, even with the precipitation we were hiking in. By the time we reached our turn-around time the rain had mostly ceased.

I’m happy to report that we found no storm related damage. Some trail maintenance issues were identified and will be addressed on our next planned trail workday.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 27

Black Diamond Trail from Houghton Road

Hike report by Jim

Twenty-two hikers and one dog met at the CNC parking lot on Houghton Rd for a southerly out-and-back hike on the Black Diamond Trail, led by Tom. This particular hike isn’t listed on our regular hikes list, as we normally start our BDT hikes from elsewhere along its length.

The day was perfect summer recreational weather, and we were sharing the BDT with a LOT of other bike riders, dog walkers and joggers.

I was looking for some of the BDT footpath damage from recent storms that I’ve heard recent reports of, but it appears that repairs have already been made.

The hike was a mix of not-too-hot exposures to direct sunlight and pools of shade under the canopy of leaves. There was no running water in any of the streams we passed over.

The group photo for this hike is going to have to come from Leigh Ann at a later date, as my camera had an issue while I was taking my group photo. The issue was resolved later in the hike when I managed to get a couple of candid shots of the hikers underway.

Warm welcome to Karl and Elisa on their first hike with the group!

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, July 28

Lindsay Parsons Preserve, West Danby

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Twenty-two hikers and two dogs met at the Lindsay Parsons Preserve parking lot for a hike through this lovely preserve. On a prehike the day before, I had found that the trails had gotten a lot of love. The few newly downed trees had already gotten some chainsaw love, the trails and verge had gotten some mower love, and the trails had been picked free of branches. Whoever keeps the trails so lovely in this Preserve has done an amazing job, and the group thoroughly enjoyed our hike!

We did a counterclockwise loop. The blue trail over to Coleman Lake was still fairly cool, and we went along the unmarked but well-mowed trail from there to the red trail to stay in the shadow of the woods as much as we could. Then we took the red trail over to the southern end of yellow trail where it enters the woods. We crossed the train tracks on the southern end of the orange trail and took the purple trail where it heads uphill. Then we came down the orange trail back over the railroad tracks and went north on the yellow trail where it passes the drowned forest and fire hydrant. We returned via the observation point and the longer side of red trail, away from Rt. 13.

It was hot and humid by the time we returned to the cars after about 3.8 miles and 550 feet of elevation gain, so no one chose to do the Coleman Lake observation loop. This little 0.4-mile trail will be amazing in a few weeks when the goldenrod is fully in bloom.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, July 17

Finger Lakes Trail from Comfort Road

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Today’s hike was soupy, broken-up, pine-scented hell – but the company was good. Ten hikers met at the junction of Comfort Rd. and the FLT and hiked west for an out-and-back. After the tornados and other severe storms last Wednesday and yesterday, we expected to find a lot of downed trees and expected to do a lot of trail cleaning. This we did. 

As usual at this time of year, this stretch of trail was dry. At other times of the year, this is a mud slog. We picked our way slowly along it, having a visit with each other and removing smaller branches and trees. There are a few new step-over trees and one that will need chain sawing, but the trail is much nicer now up to the first field west from Comfort Rd., which is where we turned around. 

For the first half hour, the weather was nice, but the humidity increased so much that it felt like Alabama. We returned to the cars early at 11:15 after about 3.75 miles and 450 feet of elevation gain, and that was plenty.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Saturday, July 20

Dabes Diversion Loop, Kennedy SF, Cortland County

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Twenty hikers met at the corner of Hauck Hill and Bleck Roads on this third day in a row of classic Finger Lakes summer weather. That is, not Alabama summer weather. Jim and Nancy H. had prehiked this route the previous day to see if it was passable, after the previous weeks’ storms had brought down too many trails to keep some of the International Loops open. They had found six new downed trees over the trail on the Kuzia Cutoff, and it was evident that they had ensured that the trail was clear of branches for Saturday’s hike.

Because we knew the conditions of the Dabes Diversion Loop, we kept to the prehiked route on Saturday. It was a fabulous hike. The field west of the rock pile had just been mowed and it was as pretty as I’ve ever seen it. This is an excellent place to pause, admire, and gather everyone back together before heading down to the fancy new footbridge heading up to Bleck Road.

Even with the six new downed trees, hikers at the front arrived back at the cars in usual front-of-the-group time (1 hour 35 minutes). The day was warming up, so most folks were happy to head on to their next Saturday activities. A few walked back to where the Kuzia Cutoff meets Hauck Hill Road and re-arrived at the cars in exactly 2 hours from the start of the hike, after 4.12 miles and 512 feet of elevation gain.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, July 21

Potato Hill State Forest, Caroline

Hike report by Jim

Twenty-two hikers and three dogs met on Level Green Rd in the Town of Caroline, for a hike of the Finger Lakes Trail through Potato Hill State Forest and Summerland Farm Preserve.

This is hike # 29-1: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-29 on our list of regular hike locations. Todays route was on FLT map sheet M18, available here: https://fingerlakestrail.org/store/maps-and-gps/.

The day was sunny and warm, with a hint of humidity but overall, a pleasant day for a hike. The heat was nowhere near as oppressive as it has seemed in recent weeks, and several hikers were overheard commenting that today was more of what we’ve always thought of as traditional summer hike weather.

Quite often the lower sections of the FLT near Level Green Rd are quite muddy, but everything was pretty dry today. I had pre-hiked this route on Thursday to check for storm damage from our recent bad weather. There were a few blowdowns on today’s hike route, but nothing that presented a real obstacle to the group.

Reaching Blackman Hill Rd the group entered the Summerland farm Preserve; there is a short hike through the woods before the FLT breaks out into open fields with a spectacular view of several peaks in the far distance in almost any direction you look. There was a little haze visible in the air, but overall, it was still a great view.

After pausing for a quick group photo at the memorial bench the group pressed on, leaving the open fields behind and continuing through the woods on the FLT towards State Route 79, before turning around to retrace our route back to the cars.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable hike, and a great group of people to share the trail with. Thanks to all who came out for today’s hike!

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.