ithacahikers

Hello Hikers!

another great morning on the trail, warm but not hot, almost no mud or bugs, a sweet smell in the air from autumn olive  —

and dazzling sunshine everywhere, sparkling in the creek and lighting up the woods

Official head count:  37 hikers, 11 dogs

we fractured into sub-groups as soon as we turned uphill away from the creek bank, and there were hikers scattered all over for the rest of the walk  —  at Potter’s Falls, a surprisingly large group decided to keep going, along the frightening cliff-face walk that drops right into the creek 100 feet below  —  I didn’t realize we have so many daredevils

everything out in the open looked fresh and wonderful in the intense light  —  in the deep woods, it was dark and lovely  —  too gloomy for any good shots, alas

 

I got back to the parking lot in precisely two hours flat  — those of you who know my minor O-C tendencies will know this made it into a super-perfect walk for me.

You can see 11 more shots online  — click here.

Hello Hikers!

another gorgeous sunny mild morning  —  mud galore  —  a festive holiday spirit in the air  —

 

great walk up a fabulous trail!

I really love three things about this walk ….

…. one is the wet boggy glen full of little streams and wildly tumbled-up fallen trees where a tributary of Michigan Creek starts ….

….  another is the way you get an intense green glow year round from all the evergreens that grow here in abundance  —  especially beautiful when the sun is shining through …

….  and the last is the fantastic terrain all along the way, at its best when there are no leaves

official head count:  24 hikers, five dogs

as promised, it was extremely muddy  —  you need to be ready to fall at any time, and several hikers took big arsers   —  I like mud myself so I had a ball

on the way back we ran into regular hiker Katharine, who broke her spine in a dog-leash accident in early March and who’s been knocked off the trail since  — we were all so happy to see her back in the woods, although she had to proceed very slowly, especially in the mud.

Click here to see eight shots online of the stretch from Bald Hill Road to The Pinnacles look-out, including the obligatory group portrait.

Click here to see 10 shots of the stretch from Michigan Hollow Road to Bald Hill Road.

Hello Hikers!

gorgeous balmy morning along upper Six Mile Creek

an adventure!  the creek we always walk down was too full, so we had to climb the infamous steep hill right away, in a spot where it’s quite a bit longer and steeper  —  extremely slick mud under the perpetual dead leaves  —  I had on clunky stiff-soled shoes  — couldn’t get traction  —  periodically sliding backwards  — I ended up crawling on my hands and knees and clawing my way up by my fingertips  —  the toughest hill climb I’ve had to do in many years  —  fun!

official head count:  16 hikers, eight dogs

20 of us also hiked up this watershed Saturday, on the other side of the creek  —  walking here two days in a row really makes you realize what an amazingly varied, delightful, beautiful and wild place this is

Click here to see 10 more shots online.

Hello Hikers!

Fantastic morning along Lick Brook

we lucked out with the weather and hit a snow squall at the trail head  —  gorgeous atmospheric conditions while it was snowing hard

and the squall left just enough snow cover to really light up the woods and show them off at their best

There was some tricky ice along the trail  —  but it was doable with a little effort even without YakTrax

Official head count:  21 hikers, five dogs

As I’ve said, I love everything about this trail  —  and I’m a big believer that atmospheric conditions can really make a hike  —  I’d say we had a case of a perfect snowstorm Sunday.

Click here to see 14 more shots online.

Hello Hikers!

Another great Sunday morning along Fall Creek  — almost 30 degrees warmer than last week  —  a lovely gloomy grey light, and snowing gently most of the time

Official head count:  22 hikers, five dogs

This side of Fall Creek is a lot easier to hike than the north side, and it wasn’t very slippery, so we had a pretty casual time, with lots of relaxed standing around

The top photo shows you the high point of this trail, two completely undercut trees hanging over a sheer drop that’s at least 100 feet straight down  —  always a great challenge for our daredevils  — that’s Jack M in this photo

Everywhere you look there’s fabulous scenery along this walk  —  I’m always trying to get a photo that captures it, never succeed, but I like the challenge of trying.

Click here to see 12 more shots online.

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Weather permitting, we’re going to have a hot dog-marshmallow and beer cook-out on the fireplace at the Chestnut Lean-to in Danby SF next Sunday.  Stay tuned.