Category: hike reports

Report to Hikers: week of March 25-March 31

Hello Hikers!

Wed March 27

Michigan Hollow Road at Diane’s Crossing SE to Hill Road and beyond oin the FLT, Danby SF

Official head count: 13H, one D

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Sat March 30

Monkey Run Natural Area, north side of Fall Creek at Hanshaw Road

The trail has been rerouted away from this creek-front stretch but a small group of us in front failed to notice the detour. This is the best time of the year to check out this stretch because all the weeds have been flattened by ice and snow.

Official head count: 25H, four D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun March 31

Treman SP on the FLT W from Route 13

The high point of this walk is always a group shot at the pavilion. The hikers were a little reluctant slow to get into a proper line this time, and I had to try and boss them around
Here’s the view from the line-up — I thought Norm’s stance was undignified
For some reason, we never manage to get all the hikers into the portraits — four people missing from this one, not counting me

Official head count: 23H, three D

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of March 18-March 24

Hello Hikers!

Wed March 20

Potato Hill SF, Level Green Road to Old 76 Road, Caroline

Major surprise when we got to the trail head — we found a big logging operation under way
We’re used to this place being completely deserted and tranquil, so it was very weird
Once we got a few minutes in from the road, the walk seemed normal again
It warmed up quite a bit during the hike, and by the time we finished we ran into some horrendous gooey mud

Official head count: 10H, one D

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Sat March 23

Roy H Park Preserve to Hammond Hill SF

Official head count: 14H, one D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun March 24

Taughannock Falls SP, gorge trail and north rim trail

Official head count: 25H, four D

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of March 11-March 17

Hello Hikers!

Wed March 13

Six Mile Creek, north side rim trail starting at Crescent Place

This hike is right in town and I thought there’d be a good chance the snow had melted, because there was so little snow in other parts of town …
This isn’t a popular trail by any means — we never see anyone else using it when we walk here — but enough people had used it that there was a treacherous thick layer of ice laid down that made walking tricky
The group had to cut the walk short when they came to a stream they couldn’t ford ….
No one wanted to retrace their steps through the woods because of the ice, so they walked back the whole way on the South Hill Rec Way, which parallels the trail.

I had to skip this hike, having fallen ill the day before with vomiting and diarrhea. I had to sit out a lot of hikes last summer after I fell down and suffered a concussion, but I always looked forward eagerly to looking over Tiger’s photos right after every hike to see how it went, and I always thought each walk looked beautiful in the photos. This time, though, oddly, the scenes from the hike looked ugly and depressing to me — never happened before — I was really surprised how much the intestinal illness was affecting my perceptions.

Official head count: 12H, one D

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Sat March 16

Woodard Road east into upper Treman SP on the CCC Trail and the FLT

Our official nature photographer Jack V loves to photograph water — he was using a high-quality new camera for the first time — check out his shots at the link below to see the shot he got of this lovely small waterfall
I was still too sick to hike, but this time when I looked at Tiger’s photos right afterwards, it seemed like a really great walk and I wished I’d been able to be there

Official head count: 12H, one D. Two more people left home intending to join the group, but they failed to pay attention to the location and they went to the wrong place

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun March 17

Lindsay Parsons Biodiversity Preserve, West Danby

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Official head count: 24H, four D

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of March 4-March 10

Hello Hikers!

Wed March 6

Spur trail from upper Lick Brook to upper Buttermilk Falls SP

Official head count: 17H, one D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat March 9

Stevens Suspension Bridge up to the big Cornell fields and across Freese Road to the Varna cliffs

When we reached the top of the hill and arrived at the edge of the huge fields, it was like suddenly arriving at the beach on a gorgeous mild calm spring morning — it was only in the low 30s, but with the sun bouncing off a vast expanse of snow, it felt like a perfect day — not hot, not cold, just perfectly right
The Varna cliffs — Tiger and I have become too alarmed by the severe undercutting of the banks that’s going on to walk to the edge the way these hikers did. Jack V has an excellent shot of the cliffs in his photos, linked below
Spectacularly nice morning IMO

Official head count: 24H, one D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun March 10

Upper Buttermilk Falls SP

We’ve had a lot of dark hikes this winter — this was one of the darkest — so dark the camera had trouble focusing, which is unusual — really fun if you like very gloomy atmospherics — mild and windy, a little rain

Official head count: 17H, five D

Report to Hikers: week of Feb 25-March 3

Hello Hikers!

Wed Feb 27

Six Mile Creek, north side — Mulholland Wildflower Preserve to Potter’s Falls

Official head count: 13H, one D

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Sat March 2

Woodard Road NW to Hines Road and beyond on the FLT, Enfield

Official head count: 25H, five D

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Sun March 3

Bald Hill Road to the Abbott Loop and up to The Pinnacles look-out, Danby SF

The snow was a bit deep, and quite soft and slippery — luckily, someone had driven up the road and there was a nice set of compressed tire tracks where the walking was much easier
Heading up on the Abbott Loop — no tire tracks here — what’s normally a somewhat strenuous climb to The Pinnacles became very tiring
Five people are missing from this shot, two taking photos and three laggards. The view in the background is fantastic, but I can never figure out how to include it properly in these group photos
On the downhill leg of the Abbott Loop — this stretch is normally a breeze, but it was fatiguing this time because the snow was so slippery
Back down on Bald Hill Road — no one could face the prospect of retracing our steps up to the look-out, so we decided to walk south on the road for a while instead
After two days of slogging through soft snow, my ass was seriously dragging as this hike wrapped up — I was really happy we were done

Official head count: 19H, five D