FLT: Schuyler County Veterans Park to Gulf Road
This is a section of the Finger Lakes Trail that we’ve usually overlooked, except for hikes to and from the Van Lone Loop. It’s a short section of trail that’s largely sandwiched between our FLT sections in Texas Hollow and the Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area.
I’m adding this out-and-back hike to our hike location repertoire as a safe trail section during hunting season and as an enjoyable, flat hike in its own right during spring and summer months.
Meet at the Schuyler County Veterans Memorial Park in Alpine, 2558 NYS Route 228.
From the veterans park, the FLT travels southeast through woods and across seasonally active streambeds before arriving at Route 6. After a quick bridge crossing and a turn onto nearby Gulf Road, and the FLT follows Cayuta Creek through Hendershot Gulf until it reaches a stream crossing near the Van Lone Loop. This is a good turnaround location for our two-hour hikes.
Anyone who wishes to read more about the geology of the gulf may want to refer to The Finger Lakes Region: Its Origin and Nature by O. D. von Engeln, published by Cornell University Press.
Last edit 05/2023 JFR