Category: hike reports

Report to Hikers: week of Sept 16-Sept 22

Hello Hikers!

Wed Sept 18

Shindagin Hollow SF — trails in the NE part of the forest

Official head count: 19H, six D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat Sept 21

Connecticut Hill, with Dave B — The Wedge

Our oldest hiker, Eckhart, turned 88 on Friday, so the group sang Happy Birthday to him before wee set off. We’re going to mark the birthday next Sunday with a stop at Hopshire Brewery after our morning hike.
About halfway through the walk, my vision became disrupted by a periodic nerve problem I’ve been having recently, and I couldn’t see well enough to walk unaided through the woods. Luckily we were right near one of the deserted dirt roads that crisscross the area, and we were able to take it right back to the cars.
Along the way, we passed this beautiful pond. We came upon a woman standing next to it who said she lives up the road and walks to the pond all the time hoping to get a view of a blue heron which lives there — but it always flies away before she can creep up on it.
Dave wrote to me in the afternoon to report how the walk finished up. Here’s a screen shot of his stopwatch report on the total duration — pretty great!

Official head count: 20H, seven D

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Sun Sept 22

Layen Road to Bruce Hill Road and beyond, Jersey Hill, Danby

Official head count: 16H, three D

Report to Hikers: week of Sept 9-Sept 15

Hello Hikers!

Thu Sept 12

Potato Hill SF, Caroline

First real fall-like hike of the season — raining a bit off and on, cool, dark — fabulous
The woods were so dark when we first stepped off the road, I wondered if I would be able to see my way to walk — but it soon lightened up a little — then we were attacked by ground bees in two spots a short distance apart — four hikers got stung, one six times, one five times
We decided to abandon the woods hike at once — we made our way back to the road and headed up Level Green Road.
With the bees and the deep gloom and the dripping foliage, the forest trail seemed a bit depressing — but the open road was really satisfying
We came to a lovely stretch of open fields blooming with goldenrod
Level Green Road runs through some deep countryside, and there’s really nothing around for quite a distance; I wouldn’t expect to see upscale houses dotted around, but they are
So it turned out to be an interesting morning

Official head count: 7H, one D

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Sat Sept 14

Finger Lakes National Forest: Gorge Trail

Official head count: 16H, six D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Sept 15

Eastman Hill Road on the Tioga County line in East Danby

This was a brand-new hike for us and there was a little more sense of excitement and curiosity than usual among the group
Very pleasant country setting at the meet-up — this house is right where the road turns into a dirt track
Jim discovered this walk by accident one day when he was exploring another trail and he missed a turn and ended up here.

We started off down a one-lane old dirt road — it was easy waking at first, but then the surface became badly eroded, and it had been covered with small flat rocks — I began to slip and slide and lose my balance, so Tiger and I turned around. I don’t have any more photos from the hike too post, but you can see scenes from the trail in Jack V’s photo album from the walk.

Tiger and I happened to see three of the hikers plus Jim later in the day — the hikers said the hike was excellent, and Jim said a number of people complimented him on it. I’m thinking maybe I could handle the rough trail when it’s covered with enough snow to cover over all the slippery little rocks.

I asked Jim to write up a hike report — here it is:

Sundays hike covered  a looping  figure 8 portion of the FLT running between Eastman Hill Rd and Heisey Rd in the Town of Danby that  we haven’t previously had a chance to hike in my short  time with the group.

With the morning fog just burning off,  hikers left the trailhead at the end of the maintained portion of Eastman Hill Rd just inside the Tompkins County line.

The hike route followed the seasonal one lane road through forested state DEC land as it heads North towards Coddington Rd.  As the road approaches the FLT it passes through private land where the road is now abandoned, and as a result the deteriorated walking surface was a bit of a challenge to traverse for some hikers. I think that if we do this hike in the future, I will offer those hikers who found the road surface today to be difficult  a slightly different hike option that will still allow them the opportunity to enjoy the majority of the area we walked through.

Once on the FLT, the hikers climbed through a series of steep uphill portions interspersed with a few older and flatter logging roads that gave us a chance to catch our breath. By this time the sun was out, temperatures were pleasant, and the hikers were passing through a varied terrain as we headed towards Heisey Rd.

Once at Heisey Rd, the group turned around and re-traced our steps to the nearest logging road that offered us a direct route back to Eastman Hill Rd and our vehicles.

Official head count: 21H, eight D

Report to Hikers: week of Sept 2-Sept 8

Hello Hikers!

Wed Sept 4

Lands belonging to the YMCA, Coy Glen, Longhouse and EcoVillage, West Hill

The weather forecast was predicting a moderate risk of thunderstorms, but we didn’t pay much attention to it. Then, about halfway through the hike, we started to hear thunder, just as we were about to go out into the big fields to the south of EcoVillage. We decided to get back into the woods on the assumption we’d be better protected from lightning by a canopy of trees. It started to rain quite hard and it rained all the way back to the cars, but it didn’t actually pour and there was no lightning or high wind. I enjoyed being out in the storm myself.

Official head count: 19H, one D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat Sept 7

Lindsay Parsons Biodiversity Preserve, West Danby

Official head count: 28H, eight D

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Sun Sept 8

Two hikes starting from Lake Road at the Jim Schug Trail, Dryden

The main group walked up the hill in the right background — there’s a lovely overlook on the other side of the hill:
Meanwhile, three of us walked up to the far end of the picturesque big field and then turned back without tackling the steep hill — we walked back to the cars and then walked on the Schug Trail.
This is Dryden Lake; the hill in the background is the one that main group climbed.
In addition, yet another group of hikers chose to do a 100% flat hike, so they walked on the Schug trail from the start — so we managed to cover all the bases.
Hopshire was deserted and we had a very lively fun time

Official head count: 27H, nine D

Report to Hikers: week of Aug 26-Sept 1

Hello Hikers!

Tue Aug 27

Deputron Hollow Road and Olefski Road, East Danby

Deputron Hollow Road is worth a few words of appreciation. It runs through an undeveloped and heavily wooded area of east Danby between Route 96B and Coddington Road. There are a smattering of houses at the east end of the road; otherwise, it’s all in the woods. There was probably a reason it was constructed in the past, but it’s not possible to deduce the reason now. The road seems to go nowhere at its western end. I’m not complaining, because it’s a delightful woods road to walk on, especially on a dark cloudy day. There’s a deep gorge running along the south edge for much of its way, with a stretch of Six Mile Creek running in the bottom. The effect of the road dropping away before you and the heavy and somber tree massing in the gorge is really spectacular, and I get a big kick out of walking by. Definitely a strange little road, and a real pleasure.

Official head count: 16H, three D

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Sat Sept 31

South Danby Road east to the Tamarack Lean-to on the FLT

I was doing a pretty good job of corralling the people to pose for me as they arrived — then we got a surge of hikers at the last minute and the group took off and I was left missing a number of people
Tiger’s very experienced at taking photos in the woods, but it was just too dark for her this time — she took tons of shots but this is the only one that came out
This is typical of what the other shots looked like

Official head count: 31H, five D

Get-together at Katharine’s

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Sun Sept 1

Country roads and park trails at upper Treman SP

Official head count: 21H, two D

More photos:

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of Aug 19-Aug 25

Hello Hikers!

Thu Aug 22

Ellis Hollow Nature Preserve

I missed one hiker who arrived late

Official head count: 19H, two D

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Sat Aug 24

Connecticut Hill WMA with Dave B — Rowell Hill

The walk started right on time, and Dave got us back to the cars at precisely the 2-hour mark. He really has a knack for such precise timing, though he’s not usually this exact. He routinely times the hike ahead of time using a stop-watch function on his phone, and then keeps track of our progress using mileposts he’s created.

There was one mishap on the walk. Bad Dennis was stung twice, only the second and third times he has ever been stung. ” I was stung twice by ground wasps near the wood “bridge” (just planks) on the way back down the trail we used to go up.  Roger knocked several small wasps off my backside and inner thighs–I had one up my shirt sleeve ;  his dog was limping on three legs–I think the dog upset the ground nest.  Might have a small reaction to them.”

Official head count: 33H, seven D

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Sun Aug 25

The Pinnacles look-out from the southern approach, Danby SF

This was a special day for Tiger and me — exactly 15 years ago, on the last Sunday of August 2004, we took our first hike with the group, after taking over as coordinators — it was a small-scale beginning — there were only two other hikers, Roger and another person who left the trail a while ago — I’ve enjoyed the 15 years of hiking since then greatly
A few years ago I started to have an occasional disruption of my vision known as an ocular migraine, though in my particular case I don’t actually have headaches. The event leaves big blind spots in my vision and can be accompanied by areas of extreme brightness, making it hard for me to see. I got hit with an episode about a half-hour into the hike — I had to turn back and hang on to Tiger’s arm and stumble along clumsily until the condition resolved after a while.

Official head count: 23H, eight D