ithacahikers

Hello Hikers!

Thursday April 8

Buttermilk Falls SP, lower parking lot to Lake Treman

First hike since Sun Jan 4 with no snow on the ground …. three full months! — we had to postpone this hike for a day because of heavy rain on Wednesday — Buttermilk Creek was really roaring 12 hours after the rain stopped — lovely dark damp morning, beautiful under the evergreens that flourish all along this trail

One excitement — a mysterious large animal pelt was lying along the path at the start of the Bear Trail — several of the hikers were willing to pick it up ….

…. Steve even put his mouth down next to it when I asked him to pretend to bite it

We also had a brief moment of false excitement —

Vicki, an avid birder, thought she saw a loon on Lake Treman …. but not so

Otherwise, uneventful, and a real pleasure to be back in the woods.

Official head count: 11 hikers, two dogs

Click here to see six more photos online

 

 

Saturday April 11

Lindsay Parsons Nature Preserve, West Danby

Wonderful morning on one of our most varied and picturesque trails — raw and blustery in the parking lot, but lovely once we dropped down into the preserve — upper 30s, dark and snowing lightly part of the time

The huge rolling fields got a boot-camp style buzz cut since we were here last, in September — in some spots, the effect was really extreme — no matter, it still looks great, and Elizabeth assured us the goldenrod, an annual, will all grow back, and we can expect the usual spectacular display when it’s in full bloom later in the year.

We had one of our best adventure hikes ever when we did this hike a year ago — then, we walked up un unfamiliar trail ad ended up in a huge bushwhack — this time we played it safe and stayed on the marked trails — the one excitement came from a bit of water crossing — Katharine’s feet are both in the air, if you look closely at the shot above — our hikers are all getting older and a little battered, but they can still jump ….

and balance ….

Official head count: 13 hikers, three dogs

The transition from snow and ice to puddles and mud seemed to happen almost overnight this year — that’s fine with me, I love puddles and mud — I sometimes wish I was a dog at this time of year, they have much more fun on the trail than I do (that’s Arlo, normally gold in color).

Click here to see nine more shots online.

 

 

Sunday April 12

Robert Treman SP on the Finger Lakes Trail

A fast-moving warm front arrived just before hike time — temps shot up more than 25 degrees from 8 am to noon, below-freezing to nearing 60 — we set off in hats and scarves and finished in shirtsleeves —

Gorgeous morning, of course — who would complain? — but I’d rather move a little more gradually from early spring to early summer than in the short span of two hours

This trail has dramatic dark masses of beautiful pines all along the way — but almost always off to the side — I’m always trying to work them into a photo, but failing — somehow I managed this time — though you’ll probably need to look twice to discern the hikers

Lots of fantastic sun-and-shade scenery and long shadows, very moody and satisfying to walk through — but a bit of a challenge for my new camera, which is exceptionally small and light but doesn’t do that well in bright glare and high-contrast settings because of the compromises needed to stay so small

Official head count: 23 hikers, nine dogs

The parking lot off Route 13 was unusually full when we stepped off, and when we got back to the cars, we found a strange sight — drivers from a college in Pennsylvania sitting idling their motors and waiting for parking spaces to open up — just like at a bustling mall — some kind of special outing for them

Hiker Virginia left a hiking pole by a tree and failed to retrieve it — if you saw it and picked it up, contact me.

Click here to see seven more shots online.

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed April 1

Mount Pleasant Road from Baker Hill Road to Midline Road, Dryden

We got an unexpected benefit from all the snow and ice in the woods this winter — forcing us to seek out unfamiliar places to walk — we ended up discovering some really fantastic scenery — and the sights along this latest country road were the best of all, in my opinion.

It was a lucky combination — a dramatically grey sky that turned sunny with beautiful puffy clouds all of a sudden — huge expanses of snow with a fringe of trees in the distance — rolling terrain that created wonderful perspectives — it added up to a bit of a surreal look that I just loved.

Mount Pleasant Road goes past the Cornell Observatory, and the view from the road right at the observatory is amazingly far-reaching, of course — but I thought some of the other scenes along this road were more interesting —

This stretch has a reputation for being windy, and evidently there’s lots of blowing snow that has to be plowed often, because there were enormous walls of frozen mounded-up snow along the edge of the road in some spots …. created a really odd effect — I got Vicki and Jack to climb up to the top — Vicki did a little dancing and Jack did some posing — I also got atmospheric mug shots of Rich, Vito and Norm that reflect some of true feeling along the road – click here to see the photos online.

Official head count: 24 hikers, three dogs

Click here to see seven more photos of the walk online.

 

Saturday April 4

Hunt Hill Road, Irish Settlement Road and Hurd Road , Dryden

Classic early-spring morning, blustery, the sky bouncing back and forth from clouds to gorgeous sun, a couple of super-brief snow squalls …. birds singing, the streams and ditches brimming with snow-melt ….

These are quiet country roads with some rural touches – but this is Cornell-professor, well-to-do territory too ….

lots of big houses and fancy houses all along the way — great fun to gawk at

Official head count: 12 hikers, three dogs

Click here to see six more photos online.

 

 

Sunday April 5

Fisher Settlement Road, Danby, east to Travor Road

Beautiful mild dark snowy morning in Danby SF

We finally got back into the woods — still too messy for walking on the Finger Lakes Trail but the snowmobile trail that runs through the state forest was decent — just a little bumpy — but a number of us broke through the top crust at times — no serious damage reported but if you’re unlucky this can really mess up your ankle or knee

I’ve enjoyed all the road walks we’ve done while the snow in the woods was so deep, but not everyone shares my enthusiasm for walking on roads — and everyone was happy to be out in the pine woods on such a gorgeous atmospheric morning

Official head count: 18 hikers, one dog

Surprisingly big turnout for Hobit’s Easter lunch got-together after the hike, considering it was one of the major family holidays of the year — we had a great time — that’s Emmie, age six —

Click here to see seven more shots online

Hello Hikers!

We did four hikes this week, all road walks in order to avoid the choppy snow and ice in the woods.

 

 

Monday March 23

Braley Hill Road and Chestnut Road, Caroline

This was a special hike to make up for the disappointment of not being able to hike Sunday because of bad weather.

We walked in the wide picturesque valley that slopes up into Shindagin Hollow SF from the north. There’s a wonderful feeling of openness, but it was cold (13) and we were completely exposed to a sharp north wind — this was a group of our most cold-hardy hikers, but even so, several of them got uncharacteristically chilled this time.

We’re increasingly hitting scattered patches of ice as the snow season winds down — one minute you need shoe traction, the next the traction is slowing you down — I love YakTrax and microspikes but I find them pretty much impossible to put on and pull off by myself — so I identified completely with Brenda here needing help to get hers off — we walked up a snowmobile trail for a while and that was really treacherous in a few spots — one hiker fell down three times in quick succession

The valley was dead quiet on a Monday morning — one car, one snowplow — many lovely and peaceful views — official head count: Nine hikers, two dogs

Part of the walk took us through the northern end of the state forest — it’s always gorgeous here and it was really beautiful with a dusting of fresh snow — though more treacherous ice in a few spots.

Click here to see seven more shots online.

 

 

 

Wed March 25

Station Road and Brown Road, Danby

Quite a bit milder and a lovely slight feeling of spring in the air two days later — another great mix of scenery, from masses of brooding pines to sweeping open views

Again, basically no traffic — couple of brief encounters with dogs excited by the group of strangers

Station Road begins in Danby SF near the access trail to the Pinnacles Look-out, and runs down the steep hillside to Route 34-96 in the valley below. The first part of our walk, in the state forest, was extremely picturesque, with great pine tree action.

One curiosity: We passed several large areas of rock cut that I thought were quite appealing as a backdrop for some photos — pale rocks on one side of the road ….

darker ones on the other side of the road ….

such are the low-key pleasures of walking on unfamiliar country roads. Official head count: Eight hikers, one dog.

Click here to see six more shots online

 

 

 

Saturday March 28

Comfort Road from Bald Hill Road to Gunderman Road, Danby

Back to winter! 15 and snowing at the trail head, fresh snow on the ground, a raw wind gusting from the north into our faces ….

…. notwithstanding, we had a great morning — the snow soon stopped and the sun came out a little and the wind was at our backs pushing us along on the return leg

As promised, fantastic scenery — interesting newer houses buried in the woods in the south near Danby SF, farms and fields

…. horses, chickens — delightful walk — we went by Ithaca Beer Co on the way home — first ones through the door as it opened at noon — I ate a huge amount of french fries ….

Click here to see six more photos online

 

 

 

Sunday March 29

Layen Road, Gunderman Road and Jersey Hill Road, Danby

Fast forward into spring! 24 hours after our frigid wintery hike on Saturday, we had a beautiful mild morning on the northern part of the Comfort Road corridor — spring birds singing sweetly in the scrubby fields, sun shining brightly, no wind in the face —  lambs cavorting in a pasture  —  we even saw some kind of horned steer ….

I’d never been on part of this route before and it felt a little like we were somewhere far away from Ithaca, like Iowa, which I drove across 50 years ago — huge vistas and rolling hills and flat plains — I can’t actually remember what Iowa was like so I’m just going on impressions — anyway, more fantastic scenery — and a wonderful feeling of more lovely mornings soon to come

It’s oddly fatiguing to walk on a road for two hours straight — you really start to feel it where your lower body joins your trunk, in your upper buttocks and hips and groin-thigh connectors — you might assume our woodland trails would be more challenging, but they’re actually easier to walk on.

We hit more traffic than on any other of the road walks we’ve done this year, which surprised me — but it still wasn’t much and it trickled off pretty soon — maybe people going to church ….?

Official head count: 19 hikers, four dogs.

Click here to see seven more shots online

Hello Hikers!

 

Wed March 18

Hill Road and Curtis Road, South Danby – road walk

More unfamiliar country roads — great rural scenery — delightful morning except for a raw wind blowing in our faces on much of the outbound leg

There was a NWS warning in effect for snow squalls and possible white-outs, but before the storm arrived it was gorgeous out, sunny with huge dramatic clouds and beautiful slanting light

The snow began on our way back to the cars, and the walk immediately turned moody and atmospheric — by the time we were in the home stretch, it felt like the dead of winter ….

and we actually did hit a white-out for a few minutes driving up 96B on the way back to town

This is the first winter we’ve done more than 1-2 road walks, and I’ve really enjoyed it — I love the rolling terrain and the feeling of openness and depth you can get, and the wonderful old farms, both the thriving ones and the decaying ones.

We passed two places with horses — in one, the horses came to the fence to watch us pass by — I hoped to get a cute shot of our guys interacting with them, but when Gary and Eckhart walked over the horses darted away (photo) and couldn’t be coaxed back.

Official head count: 12 hikers, two dogs

You can see nine online photos here.

 

 

Sat March 21

Yellow Barn SF, Dryden — snowmobile trail

Snowing hard on the drive out to the trail head …. Route 13 only partially cleared, and there were several cars resting in the ditch — Tehan Road so slippery three hikers’ cars couldn’t make it up the hill, and Wan had to go fetch them — one of our more exciting hike shape-ups ever.

As promised, we took the snowmobile trail north into unfamiliar territory, leaving the edge of Yellow Barn SF and dropping down into a huge open area with fantastic views into the rolling hills beyond Route 13

The snow stopped fairly soon but it was gusty and cold out in the fields, so we headed back up into the shelter of the forest — quite a tough climb back up — the snowmobile trail wasn’t groomed after all, it was a bit bumpy and there was 3-4 inches of fresh snow on top — a little grueling

We had a great time anyway — official head count: 12 hikers, one dog  —  no snowmobilers, no skiers

Click here to see nine more shots online.

 

 

Sunday Mar 22

Hike cancelled because of snow and bad driving conditions  —  but then not too long after I sent out the cancellation notice, the snow stopped and the sun came out ….

Hello Hikers!

Wed March 11

Road walk, Hillview Road from Route 34-96 to Michigan Hollow Road, South Danby

Fabulous spring-like morning along the Tioga County line — mid 40s, sunshine, birds singing in the bushes — there was a dense fog warning in effect, though we didn’t see much ourselves, and it was beautifully damp.

Hillview’s an odd little road (2 miles long) that doesn’t seem to connect anywhere important — in great condition for an obscure country road — just a scattering of houses — but two commercial operations that probably explain the quality of the road — a garbage dump, now abandoned and reclaimed, and a big sand and gravel operation that produced the only traffic we saw.

I know that lots of people, if given the choice, would rather hike in the mountains — I prefer the rolling countryside we get around here, with the patchworks of fields and hills and the distant views — and this walk had some really good examples. The scene above is where Hillview dead ends into lower Michigan Hollow Road — it has a wonderfully bucolic feeling.

Official head count: 13 hikers, three dogs

I always like to know how deep the snow is on our walks — it looked extremely deep in spots this time — Wan volunteered to check it out, but then he backed out after climbing up to the edge of the snow field and deciding he didn’t want to get wet up to his mid-thighs.

You can see nine more shots from the hike here.

 

Sat March 14

Pi Day celebration and road walk on Peter Road, Danby

Bit of a grim morning in Danby, dark, wet and raw — but despite the gloomy atmospherics, we had a great time

The Pi Day ceremony in Danby Town Hall was fun in a low-key way — seemed like the hikers made up almost half the crowd at 9:26:53 when the official once-in-a-century pi moment arrived — Tiger and I never have pie at home, for reasons I won’t touch on, so I was very happy to have two kinds at the ceremony, both probably store-bought, quite tasty

We’ve had extremely good luck finding picturesque country roads to walk on while we wait for the snow to melt, and Peter Road was very satisfying — the only problem was that it was treacherously icy in a few spots

Not many houses at all, so it was noteworthy that we met people from three different homes — one woman and her dog walked with us for almost an hour — the dog with the fellow in shirtsleeves loved our dogs so much she wouldn’t go home until her owner snagged her — and we met another woman further down the road — normally we never meet anyone, so it was fun

Just one real curiosity, an old cemetery you can see behind the hikes waiting to step off — Dave climbed up the wall of ice to look at the dates (photo here), but I forgot what he said.

Official head counts: 14 hikers, five hiker dogs, two non-hiker dogs and three cars.

You can see seven more photos here.

 

 

Sun March 15

Snowmobile trail, Shindagin Hollow SF

Great stormy morning on the trail …. snow, sleet and gusty winds — the roads were snowy as we drove to the trail head; the plows and salt trucks were just coming out — Braley Hill Road is often slippery and it was really jivey this time and our cars were sliding around — Tiger and I got there first by quite a few minutes; we wondered if anyone else was going to show ….

…. no need for concern — the usual hard-core group who’ve come out all winter — official head count: 14 hikers, four dogs — no snowmobilers, one lone skier

The snowmobile trail was in very good shape for walking despite last week’s mild weather — just a few minor dents and depressions and ripples — we took it down to the beautiful swamp near where Gulf Creek Road comes in — fantastic gloomy brooding scenery everywhere

Recently Diego Beck has taken to disappearing and causing us some anxiety — Brenda decided to bring a bag of treats for him and Ruby to see if that would keep him near us — worked very well, at least this time

Speaking of Brenda, I want to mention an innovation she brought to us this winter, the face mask — she gave me one that I’ve worn off and on; I wore it for the first part of this hike until I heated up — it can be a little steamy, but what a godsend on some of these windy mornings

You can see seven more photos online here