Report to Hikers: week of July 17-July 23

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday July 19

Woods road walk:  Bald Hill Road, Danby SF

Official head count:  15H, three D

 

Saturday July 22

Monkey Run Natural Area, south side of Fall Creek, Varna

Official head count:  21H, seven D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

After the hike, I got a message that one of the hikers had found a nymphal tick on himself, as small as a sesame seed, so tiny he could barely make out the legs through a 20-power magnifying glass.  I passed on the news  —  one of the other hikers suggested there was a good chance such a small tick had never bitten anything yet  —  another hiker sent me this excellent info on ticks from Penn State U

 

 

Sunday July 23

Kennedy SF, Virgil

Official head count:  21H, five D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

The trail in Kennedy SF is always challenging, full of roots and snags and small rocks, and rutted and eroded in spots  —  but the area had clearly suffered extremely heavy rain runoff flows since the last time we were here, and the trail condition was worse than we’d ever seen  —  I caught my foot in a snag near the end of the walk and went crashing straight down face first —  when your foot is suddenly trapped, there’s no way you can break or soften your fall  —  landed on one knee  —  couldn’t tell how bad the damage was  —  iced it at home and took an Aleve  —  it really stiffened up as the afternoon wore on  —  but when I got up, I felt amazingly OK

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Our nature photographer Annie spends part of every summer on an island in the Thousand Islands.  Tiger asked her to put some photos from the island onto our hiker photo site.  Here they are.

 

Report to Hikers: week of July 10-July 16

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday July 12

Shindagin Hollow SF bike trails

Great dark and sultry morning  —  there was rain in the area and it hit us slightly hard about 20 minutes before we wrapped up.

Official head count:  14H, three D

 

Saturday July 15

Tamarack lean-to, South Danby

We changed our plans at the last minute and hiked in the opposite direction out of concern the originally scheduled hike would be too muddy after all the rain

Lots of big succulent-looking Chanterelles growing in the pine needles, and a number of hikers took some home  —  shortly after Tiger and I got home we got a flash message from Norm, our native plants guy  —  Notify everyone these are false Chanterelles !! —  Mushroom people online don’t seem to agree whether these are safe or not

Official head count:  16H, three D

 

Sunday July 16

Lake Road, Dryden, east into Cortland County on the FLT

Official head count:  18H, six D

 

Report to Hikers: week of July 3-July 9

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Tuesday July 4

Treman SP on the FLT

Official head count:  26H, four D

I’d suggested we could go for a swim in Enfield Creek after the hike but no one was interested so we all just went home

 

Saturday July 8

Gorge Trail, Finger Lakes National Forest

Official head count:  18H, three D

You can see Jack V’s nature photos here

 

Sunday July 9

Michigan Hollow Road west toward The Pinnacles look-out, southern approach, Danby SF

Official head count:  24H, six D

There were very intense light-and-shadow effects on the entire hike  —  if you’re nearing the point when you need cataract surgery, the constant changing from dazzling bright to deep dark can be unpleasant

You can see Jack V’s photos here

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Our nature photographer Jack V is just back from a hiking expedition around Mont Blanc

Photos

 

Report to Hikers: week of June 26-July 2

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday June 28

Road walk:  Smiley Hill Road and Hill Road south from Diane’s Crossing, Danby SF, followed by a get-together at Katharine and Scott’s

Official head counts:

Hike: 17H and two D

Get-together: 30H, not sure how many D

 

Saturday July 1

Six Mile Creek, south side rim trail

Wonderfully atmospheric dark and sultry morning  —  raining a little off and on and thunder a few times in the distance  —  mud not too bad and some fantastic sweet-smelling blossoms here and there  —  loved it

Official head count:  25H, five D

 

Sunday July 2

Bock Harvey Forest Preserve

Official head count:  22H, five D

 

Report to Hikers: week of June 19-June 25

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday June 21

Road walk:  Curtis Road from Hill Road to Fischer Settlement Road, South Danby

Official head count:  18H, three D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V

 

Saturday June 24

Upper Treman SP and adjacent country roads

Official head count:  18H, five D

More photos:

Annie

 

 

Sunday June 25

Six Mile Creek, wildflower preserve to Potter’s Falls

Official head count:  25H, five D

More photos:

Annie

Jack V