ithacahikers

Report to Hikers: week of Sept 23-Sept 29

Hello Hikers!

Wed Sept 25

Woods road walk — Bald Hill Road, Danby SF

This walk was a special request and a special occasion — regular hiker Tom was making his first return to the hiking trail since getting a knee replacement two months ago.

He was in good spirits. This was actually his second new knee — he had the other one replaced a few years ago

In fact everyone was in good spirits — it was a gorgeous morning, with a wonderful feeling of fall in the air

Tom requested a walk where the trail surface would make for easy walking, and he could turn back early and be sure of finding his way back to the cars

As you can see from the close-up here, the trail surface is excellent, especially compared to our typical trail, which is a lot rougher

This is an excellent walk, realy pretty the whole way

Official head count:

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat Sept 28

Treman SP on the FLT from Route 13

Second hike in a row where a hiker rejoined us after an extended medical layoff — this time it was Casey, back after three months’ recuperation from major abdominal surgery — amazingly, he was able to do the complete hike at normal speed

This trail is always extremely dark, but there is one open spot where we can count on getting a photo

I can’t say the hikers always love the experience of undergoing a group photo

Not everyone made it into the portrait shot

Official head count: 21H, five D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Sept 29

Kennedy SF, Virgil

Our snowbirds are starting to leave town. Mak and Tamara are planning to leave this week for their winter home in Florida. They’ll be gone until May. We’ll lose more hikers as winter gets closer.

Official head count: 21H, eight D

Ekhart’s 88th birthday get-together at Hopshire

A number of people who missed the hike turned out. We sat in the brewing room, which was open to the outdoors, and we had a number of yellowjackets buzzing peacefully around. The setting was oddly festive, and the get-together had a very lively vibe.

It would be really fun if this photo was depicting a special envoy from the county sheriff’s office officially sent out to congratulate Eckhart for continuing to hike at such an advanced age — actually it’s just our regular hiker Jim, who was on duty and who swung by for a quick handshake. In fact, Jim was celebrating a milestone of his own — last day on the job after 32 years.
This is the open doorway where the bees can come and go.

There was lots of delicious food. Hand-made chocolate heart and photo of Eckhart by PJ

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

Report to Hikers: week of Sept 16-Sept 22

Hello Hikers!

Wed Sept 18

Shindagin Hollow SF — trails in the NE part of the forest

Official head count: 19H, six D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sat Sept 21

Connecticut Hill, with Dave B — The Wedge

Our oldest hiker, Eckhart, turned 88 on Friday, so the group sang Happy Birthday to him before wee set off. We’re going to mark the birthday next Sunday with a stop at Hopshire Brewery after our morning hike.

About halfway through the walk, my vision became disrupted by a periodic nerve problem I’ve been having recently, and I couldn’t see well enough to walk unaided through the woods. Luckily we were right near one of the deserted dirt roads that crisscross the area, and we were able to take it right back to the cars.

Along the way, we passed this beautiful pond. We came upon a woman standing next to it who said she lives up the road and walks to the pond all the time hoping to get a view of a blue heron which lives there — but it always flies away before she can creep up on it.

Dave wrote to me in the afternoon to report how the walk finished up. Here’s a screen shot of his stopwatch report on the total duration — pretty great!

Official head count: 20H, seven D

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Sun Sept 22

Layen Road to Bruce Hill Road and beyond, Jersey Hill, Danby

Official head count: 16H, three D

Report to Hikers: week of Sept 9-Sept 15

Hello Hikers!

Thu Sept 12

Potato Hill SF, Caroline

First real fall-like hike of the season — raining a bit off and on, cool, dark — fabulous

The woods were so dark when we first stepped off the road, I wondered if I would be able to see my way to walk — but it soon lightened up a little — then we were attacked by ground bees in two spots a short distance apart — four hikers got stung, one six times, one five times

We decided to abandon the woods hike at once — we made our way back to the road and headed up Level Green Road.
With the bees and the deep gloom and the dripping foliage, the forest trail seemed a bit depressing — but the open road was really satisfying

We came to a lovely stretch of open fields blooming with goldenrod

Level Green Road runs through some deep countryside, and there’s really nothing around for quite a distance; I wouldn’t expect to see upscale houses dotted around, but they are

So it turned out to be an interesting morning

Official head count: 7H, one D

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Sat Sept 14

Finger Lakes National Forest: Gorge Trail

Official head count: 16H, six D

More photos:

Jack V

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Sun Sept 15

Eastman Hill Road on the Tioga County line in East Danby

This was a brand-new hike for us and there was a little more sense of excitement and curiosity than usual among the group

Very pleasant country setting at the meet-up — this house is right where the road turns into a dirt track

Jim discovered this walk by accident one day when he was exploring another trail and he missed a turn and ended up here.

We started off down a one-lane old dirt road — it was easy waking at first, but then the surface became badly eroded, and it had been covered with small flat rocks — I began to slip and slide and lose my balance, so Tiger and I turned around. I don’t have any more photos from the hike too post, but you can see scenes from the trail in Jack V’s photo album from the walk.

Tiger and I happened to see three of the hikers plus Jim later in the day — the hikers said the hike was excellent, and Jim said a number of people complimented him on it. I’m thinking maybe I could handle the rough trail when it’s covered with enough snow to cover over all the slippery little rocks.

I asked Jim to write up a hike report — here it is:

Sundays hike covered a looping figure 8 portion of the FLT running between Eastman Hill Rd and Heisey Rd in the Town of Danby that we haven’t previously had a chance to hike in my short time with the group.

With the morning fog just burning off, hikers left the trailhead at the end of the maintained portion of Eastman Hill Rd just inside the Tompkins County line.

The hike route followed the seasonal one lane road through forested state DEC land as it heads North towards Coddington Rd. As the road approaches the FLT it passes through private land where the road is now abandoned, and as a result the deteriorated walking surface was a bit of a challenge to traverse for some hikers. I think that if we do this hike in the future, I will offer those hikers who found the road surface today to be difficult a slightly different hike option that will still allow them the opportunity to enjoy the majority of the area we walked through.

Once on the FLT, the hikers climbed through a series of steep uphill portions interspersed with a few older and flatter logging roads that gave us a chance to catch our breath. By this time the sun was out, temperatures were pleasant, and the hikers were passing through a varied terrain as we headed towards Heisey Rd.

Once at Heisey Rd, the group turned around and re-traced our steps to the nearest logging road that offered us a direct route back to Eastman Hill Rd and our vehicles.

Official head count: 21H, eight D