hike reports – Page 89

Report to Hikers: week of June 13-June 19

Hello Hikers!

A warm week but very low humidity — lovely under the trees and we had three great hikes

Wednesday June 15

Bald Hill Road to The Pinnacles look-out, Danby SF

The wonderful look-out with the striking views over West Danby and the hills beyond is now fully obscured by scrubby trees until the leaves drop in the fall — so we had to do the traditional commemorative shot facing the other way

At the half-way point — it takes an hour to get back to the cars if you retrace your steps, including a steep climb — or about 20 minutes without any climb if you go back on the road here. There’s always a little drama at this point — who will wimp out and take the short-cut?

…. more than half the group took the short way back ….

Official head count: 24H, four D

Check out Jack V’s photos online here.

Saturday June 18

Hammond Hill SF, ski trails

A little excitement at the meet-up: Randy and Nancy pulled up in a 69 Jag

Official head count: 18H, four D

Sunday June 19

Shindagin Hollow SF, Braley Hill Road to Shindagin Hollow Road on the FLT

Official head count: 28H, three D

Roti get-together at Jack and Sandy’s

Jack and Sandy had this house built when they moved here from San Diego 16 years ago. It’s a classic passive solar design — it catches the low winter sunlight but excludes the hot summer sun with overhanging roofs and decks.

The roti was fantastic; the wrap part was especially tender. It took a lot of work but the result was really exceptional.

Gorgeous setting looking south over the pond with some hills in the distance

Margaret — the pond is full of blue dye to control algae

A number of us went swimming — water temp was just right

Talk about a hiker doing a good job keeping the love handles and waist puffiness under control — Tom — Tiger looks a little blase ….?

Get-together head count — I didn’t try an official count but we picked up some people who didn’t hike and it was a good turnout, especially considering it was Father’s Day.

Check out Annie’s photos online here.

Jack V didn’t post his shots online yet — stay tuned.

Report to Hikers: week of June 6-June 12

Hello Hikers!

Thursday June 9

Fillmore Glen, Moravia

A lot of our hikers are big travelers, but evidently no one is making the 21-mile trip from Ithaca to this beautiful gorge — the average time since the last visit here for Thuusday’s group was around 20 years

This is a replica of the cabin where President Fillmore grew up a few miles away — I neglected to look inside but Norm shot a video that you can see here.

And that’s the videographer at work

Fillmore Glen has similarities to the gorges closer to town that we’re all familiar with, but it’s different enough to be very pleasing and interesting — certainly seems worth coming here a little more often than every 10-20-30 years

Some really fantastic rock walls along the way — my favorite model ….

This is the end of the trail — somewhat strenuous walk up — there’s also a road so you can drive straight to the top.

Official head count: 13H, three D

Saturday June 11

Deputron Hollow Road, Danby

Hike coordinated by Roger. Photos and report by Sabine:

11 humans..5 dogs…became steamy…5 hikers went further, 6 of us turned around when we heard dogs bark in distance…roger was part of the group that went on…and he has a story.

Annie on vacation. Katharine dog sitting Rusty.

(We can see the road was wet, and I know from the Ithaca Climate Page that it was raining just before the hike — also supposed to rain during the hike but it didn’t, according to the various rain loggers.)

(Sabine also likes to take nature shots.)

Sunday June 12

Sledding hill, Taughannock Falls SP

This hike was coordinated by Hobit and Roger. Photos and hike report by Hobit

It was a blustery start at the top of Taughannock with everyone informing me “what Steve would do.” After consulting my co-leader Roger, taking the requisite group photo, and one slight misdirection, we found the trail and wound our way down the hill then through some lovely forest down to the creek. Despite brewing mutany and scattered lack of faith in my directional prowess, we made it to the overlook for some oohing and ahing before taking advantage of the bathrooms at the new visitors center and heading west on the North Rim trail. We lost a few folks at our stealth descent on the other side of the railroad tressel for a short jaunt along the South Rim Trail to take in some other scenic vistas, but picked them up again on the way back. One group ended up opting for the really short return to the parking lot, while the rest of us completed the MU trail loop for a perfect 4 miles and 2 hours. Most of us had never been on the MU trail, so it was nice to see somewhere new, especially on such a beautiful day. We started off with 26 hikers and I think 6 dogs, until Kathryn appeared on the top of a hill like an angel along with 3 dogs. I discovered one of the secrets of Steve’s leadership success (timely use of a bellowing “Yo!”) but am sure I’m not the only one who has newfound respect and awe for Steve and Susan’s hike leading superpowers. Thank you all for a wonderful morning!

Report to Hikers: week of May 30-June 5

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday June 1

Road walk — Trumansburg, side roads and back roads

This was a special walk conceived by regulars Mark and Ellie to show off parts of T’burg that most people would never get to see unless someone very familiar with the village showed them around.

It was a perfect walk for me because I’ve always liked the feeling that T’burg creates when you drive through, but I’d never looked around. In fact, it’s a fantastic place and now I feel like I’d like to move out of Fall Creek where Tiger and I live, and move here instead.

We just had to walk for a few minutes from the village parking lot to get into a fantastic neighborhood with huge old houses and rural-seeming properties. We wandered around here for a while and then went onto the property where all the schools are clustered. This felt a bit like a park. One of the hikers is a T’burg HS grad and he sang the full alma mater for us, to our amused appreciation.

Shortly after, we got to a surprisingly large old growth forest full of a wonderful sweet fragrance that one of the hikers said was honeysuckle. Just beyond was Grove Cemetery, where the alma-mater singer’s father and extended family are buried. I love cemeteries and this is a really beautiful one. The hikers were lookiing at some fancy stone lettering here.

The areas north of Route 96 along Trumansburg Creek are exceptionally nice — not striking in the way the historic neighborhood just south of downtown is, but with a wonderful low-density semi-rural feeling.

We spent a fair amount of time out in the sun but luckily it wasn’t too hot. All in all, a fabulous walk.

Official head count: 17H, two D

Saturday June 4

Satterly Hill, Schuyler County

Once again, we failed to find the idyllic spring scene I’d hoped for — but it was fantastic anyway

The fields had been cut pretty recently and we had great views in several directions — our nature photographer Annie was finally able to get back on the trail after several foot injuries, and you can see some very big views in her online shots, linked below.

We spend a good bit of time out in the open on this walk — luckily it wasn’t sunny or hot

Official head count: 21H, two D

More photos online:

Annie

Sunday June 5

Willseyville Creek, Caroloine

This is snapping turtle territory — this one didn’t seem afraid of us at all — looked like it might easily lunge at us — the dogs were really interested

For the second Sunday in a row,it started to rain fairly hard just a few minutes after we got back to the cars and started home

Official head count: 22H, five D

More photos online:

Annie

Report to Hikers: week of May 23-May 29

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday May 25

Road walk — Travor Road, South Danby

First hike of the year over 80 degrees — I worried at the start that it might be a bake-off, since we were out in the open part of the time — but the humidity fell below 40% after we set off, and it was very pleasant

We did most of the hike in the shade and this was gorgeous. This was another unfamiliar road, Travor Road, which runs mainly N-S through Danby SF in South Danby. Some of the scenery was extremely good, and there was a little breeze blowing, the birds were singing merrily, and a mix of sweet pine-needle smell and something else sweet hung in the air — extraordinarily nice!

One car passed during the whole two hours — I always enjoy the flurry of excitement.

In the middle of the forest we came to an open area along the road where people evidently gather to shoot — we picked up a number of spent rifle casings, some of them seemingly large, though I actually have no idea how big they are or how far they might carry — this was a first in 12 years of hiking and it was fun for a few minutes.

Official head count: 13 H + Yoda

I love to get out of the car and look out over a country road I’ve never walked before — it really exerts a bit of a pull on me — I like to imagine a life of tramping the countryside and having adventures like I used to read about with relish as a boy ….

I’ll need to choose road walks for the hot months that don’t expose us to heat exhaustion, but I think we can keep on finding great ones this summer.

Saturday May 28

Doll Hill, Connecticut Hill WMA, followed by a get-together at Dave and Joanna’s

Official head count: 20(22)H, five D — hiker #21 was seen driving the wrong way near the trail head; he turned around but then took a wrong turn and couldn’t find us; hiker #22 arrived late, met us as we were getting back to the cars

In Jack V’s online photos you can see a fawn — there’s no real reference to judge its size — it was actually about as big as a very small thin cat

Sunday May 29

Kennedy SF, Virgil

Official head count: 22H, four D

It started to thunder about halfway through the hike — got extremely dark after a while — started to rain just before we finished — began to pour a few minutes after we drove away

Report to Hikers: week of May 16-May 22

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday May 18

Yellow Barn SF, Dryden

Tadpoles hatching!

Official head count: 15H, one D

More photos online by Jack V here

Saturday May 21

Woodard Road south into Upper Treman SP, Enfield

Rain nearby …. approaching …. wonderful mild and gloomy atmospherics!

We wanted to cross Fishkill Creek so we could walk on several quiet country roads just beyond — water level very high, and we had to bushwhack quite a distance upstream to find a shallow enough crossing point

Van Ostrand Road at Thomas Road, a country setting just south of the park boundary

Lucifer Falls lookout

Official head count: 22H, threeD

Check out Jack V’s photos here.

Sunday May 22

Six Mile Creek from Juniper Drive to the upper reservoir

More great atmospherics …. raining very lightly off and on

The walk down the stream bed was extremely slippery, worse than we’ve ever seen it — one hiker fell and just caught himself on his fingers before he smashed his knee really badly