ithacahikers

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Dec 21

Road walk, Buck Hill Road and Aiken Road, Mecklenburg

One more in our series of country road walks off the beaten path.

Once again, I picked the walk without having seen it  —  I figured from the name “Buck Hill Road” that it would be hilly ….

It wasn’t  —  in fact, we were up on a large pretty flat plateau  —  I assume we were up on Buck Hill  —  there were great distance views in a number of spots but they were subtle, not dramatic

I loved the big-sky, wide open spaces feeling

A curiosity  —  this lovely house was on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War  —  and Jack V’s grandmother lived here as a girl, much later of course

Beautiful morning

Official head count:  21H, four D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Saturday Dec 24

Road walk:  Fischer Settlement Road, South Danby

Very nice mild gloomy morning  —  the radar was showing it would rain but the storm veered aside at the last minute

The snow was quite deep and in poor condition for walking so we stayed on the road

The road’s fully paved but it’s extremely quiet and it runs mainly through Danby SF so you feel like you’re really out in the country the whole time

This is an old cemetery with graves dating back to 1850  —  the snow was completely slippery on what should have been a minor slope

Official head count:  20H, five D

 

Sunday Dec 25

Lindsay Parsons Biodiversity Preserve, West Danby

Treacherously icy in the parking lot, but the snow was soft and walkable once we got onto the trail  —  though very slippery, and everyone was complaining of serious hip fatigue by the time we wrapped up

Another lovely morning, mild and gloomy  —  we ran into a little rain driving home but it was dry on the hike

Official head count:  18H, seven D

Get-together at Iris’s afterwards

The light was too subdued inside for me to get any shots  —  too bad, since Iris is an art teacher and her house has a very lively and distinctive decor  —  the turkey and the latkes created a great holiday feeling  —  lots of sweets and treats  —  the turkey was extremely succulent  —  roasted by Gopi, donated by our own Father Christmas/Father Hanukkah, Norm  —  who wasn’t even there; he was visiting family on LI.  Tiger and I went home at 2:20  —  official head count as of that point, 28 people.  Very nice vibe.

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Dec 14

Close-in walk, Christian Science church, Fall Creek, to the Cornell botanical gardens

Official head count:  18H, three D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Saturday Dec 17

Close-in walk:  Fuertes Bird Sanctuary, Stewart Park, Lake View Cemetery and Sunset Park

Official head count:  10H, three D

 

Sunday Dec 18

Monkey Run Natural Area, north side of Fall Creek

Great atmospheric morning  —  raining (a bit hard), ice, slush and puddles on the path, mist, fog and gloomy brooding woods

One hiker (Brenda) turned back early because one of her dogs began to shiver  —  meanwhile, three other hikers who arrived late caught up with us.  The rain turned to sleet

I loved the lighting out in the big fields

Official head count:  11H, five D

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Dec 7

Road Walk  —  Fairfield Road and Barden Road, Candor

This was the third road walk in a row I picked out sight-unseen, just by looking at Google Maps.  My good luck held  —   beautiful country scenery all along the way.

We also lucked out with some fantastic atmospherics  —  the snow that fell overnight had melted in town but it was piled deep out here  —  gorgeous dark grey dramatic sky  —  mist and fog on the hillsides

We passed some picturesque farms, and livestock standing out in the snowy fields

After a while, the sun came out and it felt almost balmy

Official head count:  17H, three D

We didn’t have either of our regular nature photographers with us, so I took some scenic-type shots myself  —  you can see seven here

 

 

Saturday Dec 10

Jim Schug Trail, Dryden

Official head count:  15H, three D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

 

Sunday Dec 11

Stevens Suspension Bridge, Forest Home, east into Monkey Run South

Official head count:  30H, seven D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Thursday Dec 1

Ellis Hollow Nature Preserve

Official head count:  19H, three D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

 

Saturday Dec 3

Rim trail, Taughannock Falls SP

Beautiful gloomy atmospherics, just like I hoped for  —  raining lightly on the way to the hike  —  rained lightly on the way home  —  misty, a little breezy in spots

Official head count:  21H, 10 D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

 

Sunday Dec 4

Treman SP on the FLT

I made everyone line up for a group shot on the way up the steep hill, but the result looked a bit stiff  —  I like this shot better  —  this is about half of the group as the line-up was breaking up  —  has a more relaxed feeling

Official head count:  29H, eight D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Hello Hikers!

 

Wednesday Nov 23

Stevens Suspension Bridge and Fall Creek Natural Area

The snow became extremely deep in places up in the big fields, and the walking got so hard we turned back  —  Norm getting the snow out of his boots ….

Toward the end, the sun came out and we ended up at the arboretum look-out  —  lovely morning

Official head count:  15H, 5 D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Thanksgiving Day

Get-together at Katharine and Scott’s, Danby

Tiger and I had visitors so we were only able to drop by for a little while —  very cheerful warm vibe

Official head count  —  as per Scott:  33 people, four dogs and two cats

 

Saturday Nov 26

Road walk, Taber Hill Farms, west of Mecklenburg on Route 79

A bit raw at the meet-up ….  chilly nagging breeze and raining ….

…. but we managed to warm up pretty fast by walking briskly up the hill away from Route 79

…. and if you like bleak and melancholy late fall scenery (I do), it was a fantastic walk

My only complaint is that the slopes in this area are pretty gradual and I like it when the land rolls a little more vigorously

On the other hand, the long views are spectacular  —  at one point I looked around and there were distant hills visible around the entire 360-degree horizon  —  no way to capture that in a photograph, of course  —  it was really striking

Several of the hikers said they want to come back in early spring when the leaves are just coming out, and also in fall when the leaves are turning, to get a whole different color experience in the cyclorama setting

Official head count:  12H, four D

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Sunday Nov 27

Lime Hollow Nature Preserve, McLean

Official head count:  23H

You can see Jack V’s photos here

 

Holiday events coming up

Christmas Day get-together at Iris’s  —  probably with a turkey

New Year’s Day tailgate party