Hello Hikers!
Wednesday Dec 28
Road walk — Hosenfeld Road, LIsk Road and Cayuta Lake, Odessa
Another new road walk for our group — in an area southwest of town where a number of us had never been
First time seeing Caytuta Lake for quite a few of the group — it was frozen solid and several ice fishermen were scattered around (the lake has an average depth of just 14 feet)
We walked on two dirt roads that run along the side of Rogers Hill, just west of Route 228
This was a corral with llamas inside — they wouldn’t come over to us
This was a fantastic walk, and everyone said they want to do it again
Official head count: 15H, three D
More photos:
Annie
Jack V
Saturday Jan 31
Bald Hill Road to The Pinnacles look-out, Danby SF
Official head count: 21H, six D
More photos:
Annie
Jack V
Sunday Jan 1
Stewart Park, Fuertes Bird Sanctuary, Newman Golf Course, lighthouse and farmers’ market
The jetty and the lighthouse
A handful of us stayed behind on dry land while the main group went out to the lighthouse — as I’ve mentioned before, my balance is shot — so I’m completely afraid to walk out on the broken, narrow jetty — though it’s really fun once you get to the end ….
In any case, our two photographers Annie and Jack each got a shot of the group out at the lighthouse — you can see their shots lower down in this report
Tiger and I were concerned that walking in the floodplain areas along the lake might be boring to some of the hikers, but everyone seemed like they were having a great time — it was certainly easier than slipping and sliding on an icy trail along Six Mile Creek.
Tailgate party
Big success — a wonderful array of delicious things to eat and drink — we had the party inside the pavilion, which is filled with tables and seems a little like a restaurant — unfortunately, it was too dark for me to get any shots — I handed the camera to our nature photographer Hobit (who has much steadier hands than I do) and she managed to get a few shots, though she wasn’t pleased with them at all
Jack V has a flash on his camera and he got some clear photos of the food you can see at his link below.
There was a bit of a cold breeze off the lake while we were standing around in the gazebo; otherwise it was a gorgeous morning
Group photos at the lighthouse
The first is by Annie, then Jack V
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Official head count, hike and tailgate party combined: 44H, six D
More photos:
Annie
Jack V
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Newspaper story about the hiking group
There was a piece in the Ithaca Times earlier this month about Tiger and me and the hiking group. It was written by Marjorie Olds, who’s been having stories about people she finds interesting published in the Times and the Ithaca Journal for years.
Here’s the article
Marjorie neglects to mention that she’s the person who introduced us to the hiking group in 2004 — it was a very small group then and hiked only on Sundays. Marjorie was responsible for the steady growth of the group in the early years — she knows a huge number of people and she recruited many of them to at least give the group a try.
You’ll see an old photo of Tiger and me in the newspaper story — it’s from 1967.
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First recipe in the Ithaca Hikers Cookbook?
Annie brought a spinach quiche to the tailgate party and she said everyone wanted the recipe:
Mini-spinach quiche
20 oz chopped, frozen spinach thawed (do not drain!)
1 small onion chopped
4 eggs beaten
1 cup Bisquick
½ cup canola oil
8 oz shredded mozzarella
½ cup shredded parmesan
1 teaspoon each oregano, parsley, basil, garlic, salt, some pepper
Mix together. Bake in 13×9 pan at 350 for 25 minutes until puffed and lightly browned.
Serve warm or room temperature.
You can easily split the ingredients in half and use a smaller pan, like an 8×8.
If it’s cold, I like to heat it up first and then it can sit for a while if people don’t eat right away, it’s still tasty at room temperature. (It usually doesn’t sit around very long though!)
Back to the same place we did our Wednesday hike the week before — several people had said then that the views were even better higher up the hill
More fantastic wintry atmospherics — dramatically gloomy sky, a bit of sleet,some mist on the distant hills. This was the day before the cold wave arrived so we were pretty comfortable.
Official head count: 19H, seven D
Official head count: 27H, four D
Something different — we started by walking up the driveway, crossing over the creek on the Giles Street bridge, and going down to the creek edge downstream from where we always hike. This is a dramatic spot with towering cliffs on the north side of the creek and an abandoned factory. A number of the hikers had never been here before, though it’s only two minutes walk from the parking lot.
Very cold and gusty winds as predicted but we were shielded by the woods most of the time and it wasn’t uncomfortable being out. It was snowing at first — then the sun came out and it was lovely.
Official head count: 16H, four D
