ithacahikers

Report to Hikers: week of May 30-June 5

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday June 1

Road walk — Trumansburg, side roads and back roads

This was a special walk conceived by regulars Mark and Ellie to show off parts of T’burg that most people would never get to see unless someone very familiar with the village showed them around.

It was a perfect walk for me because I’ve always liked the feeling that T’burg creates when you drive through, but I’d never looked around. In fact, it’s a fantastic place and now I feel like I’d like to move out of Fall Creek where Tiger and I live, and move here instead.

We just had to walk for a few minutes from the village parking lot to get into a fantastic neighborhood with huge old houses and rural-seeming properties. We wandered around here for a while and then went onto the property where all the schools are clustered. This felt a bit like a park. One of the hikers is a T’burg HS grad and he sang the full alma mater for us, to our amused appreciation.

Shortly after, we got to a surprisingly large old growth forest full of a wonderful sweet fragrance that one of the hikers said was honeysuckle. Just beyond was Grove Cemetery, where the alma-mater singer’s father and extended family are buried. I love cemeteries and this is a really beautiful one. The hikers were lookiing at some fancy stone lettering here.

The areas north of Route 96 along Trumansburg Creek are exceptionally nice — not striking in the way the historic neighborhood just south of downtown is, but with a wonderful low-density semi-rural feeling.

We spent a fair amount of time out in the sun but luckily it wasn’t too hot. All in all, a fabulous walk.

Official head count: 17H, two D

Saturday June 4

Satterly Hill, Schuyler County

Once again, we failed to find the idyllic spring scene I’d hoped for — but it was fantastic anyway

The fields had been cut pretty recently and we had great views in several directions — our nature photographer Annie was finally able to get back on the trail after several foot injuries, and you can see some very big views in her online shots, linked below.

We spend a good bit of time out in the open on this walk — luckily it wasn’t sunny or hot

Official head count: 21H, two D

More photos online:

Annie

Sunday June 5

Willseyville Creek, Caroloine

This is snapping turtle territory — this one didn’t seem afraid of us at all — looked like it might easily lunge at us — the dogs were really interested

For the second Sunday in a row,it started to rain fairly hard just a few minutes after we got back to the cars and started home

Official head count: 22H, five D

More photos online:

Annie

Report to Hikers: week of May 23-May 29

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday May 25

Road walk — Travor Road, South Danby

First hike of the year over 80 degrees — I worried at the start that it might be a bake-off, since we were out in the open part of the time — but the humidity fell below 40% after we set off, and it was very pleasant

We did most of the hike in the shade and this was gorgeous. This was another unfamiliar road, Travor Road, which runs mainly N-S through Danby SF in South Danby. Some of the scenery was extremely good, and there was a little breeze blowing, the birds were singing merrily, and a mix of sweet pine-needle smell and something else sweet hung in the air — extraordinarily nice!

One car passed during the whole two hours — I always enjoy the flurry of excitement.

In the middle of the forest we came to an open area along the road where people evidently gather to shoot — we picked up a number of spent rifle casings, some of them seemingly large, though I actually have no idea how big they are or how far they might carry — this was a first in 12 years of hiking and it was fun for a few minutes.

Official head count: 13 H + Yoda

I love to get out of the car and look out over a country road I’ve never walked before — it really exerts a bit of a pull on me — I like to imagine a life of tramping the countryside and having adventures like I used to read about with relish as a boy ….

I’ll need to choose road walks for the hot months that don’t expose us to heat exhaustion, but I think we can keep on finding great ones this summer.

Saturday May 28

Doll Hill, Connecticut Hill WMA, followed by a get-together at Dave and Joanna’s

Official head count: 20(22)H, five D — hiker #21 was seen driving the wrong way near the trail head; he turned around but then took a wrong turn and couldn’t find us; hiker #22 arrived late, met us as we were getting back to the cars

In Jack V’s online photos you can see a fawn — there’s no real reference to judge its size — it was actually about as big as a very small thin cat

Sunday May 29

Kennedy SF, Virgil

Official head count: 22H, four D

It started to thunder about halfway through the hike — got extremely dark after a while — started to rain just before we finished — began to pour a few minutes after we drove away

Report to Hikers: week of May 16-May 22

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday May 18

Yellow Barn SF, Dryden

Tadpoles hatching!

Official head count: 15H, one D

More photos online by Jack V here

Saturday May 21

Woodard Road south into Upper Treman SP, Enfield

Rain nearby …. approaching …. wonderful mild and gloomy atmospherics!

We wanted to cross Fishkill Creek so we could walk on several quiet country roads just beyond — water level very high, and we had to bushwhack quite a distance upstream to find a shallow enough crossing point

Van Ostrand Road at Thomas Road, a country setting just south of the park boundary

Lucifer Falls lookout

Official head count: 22H, threeD

Check out Jack V’s photos here.

Sunday May 22

Six Mile Creek from Juniper Drive to the upper reservoir

More great atmospherics …. raining very lightly off and on

The walk down the stream bed was extremely slippery, worse than we’ve ever seen it — one hiker fell and just caught himself on his fingers before he smashed his knee really badly

Fallen trees across the stream bed also a big problem — more than we’ve ever seen — very slow going

We brought a rope to help with the big uphill climb — it actually did help a bit

Official head count: 28H, three D

Check out Jack V’s photos here

Report to Hikers: week of May 9-May 15

Hello Hikers!

Wednesday May 11

Road walk NW of Perry City

Bower Road at Burr Road, Schuyler County — farm country!

Absolutely perfect May morning — one hiker who knows birds said the fields and meadows were full of bobolinks

The stretch of Bower we walked on had just been wetted down by a highway truck — delightful touch of freshness — otherwise, dusty!

One micro-burst of excitement, while we were waiting to start — huge milk tanker truck passed in a cloud of dust — otherwise, no traffic at all

This hike was conceived by our nature photographer Jack V, who lives a few miles away from this corner on Grove Road. Best road walk we’ve done so far, IMO