Being my return date to work is 6/1, I figured I would try to get in as many adventures as possible. Today’s started out at 4:00am, with the goal of making it to the top of Bald Mountain to watch the sunrise. Once at the top, nothing but clouds and fog rising from the forest floor. But as the minutes ticked by, it began to clear up. It was very quiet, with three other people at the top. It was an absolutely amazing experience, not only hiking with a headlamp on, but just watching the sunrays blanket everything. Greg S.
FLT – Morgan Mt. Another fantastic hiking day! 15 miles on the Finger Lakes Trail. Started at Spruce Pond then to Hang Glide overlook, Tinker Falls to the summit of Morgan Mountain. Carolyn E.
Verona Beach and Beyond A beautiful day for a bike ride! Took a note from the 911 bikes and started from Verona State Park, but changed it up a bit, eventually following Fish Creek on one side up to Rt. 49 and looping back on the other side. Out Poppleton, Jug Pt., Buck…sound familiar? Would never have attempted crossing the “closed” bridge on Cove Rd. if not for previous outings. Still tricky getting around the large barriers with a bike. Another “adventure” on Old Rt. 49, “road closed,” but made it around another barrier set very close to a ditch, and a second barrier made of a huge pile of dirt crossing the entire road. Up and over with my bike! It was nice to see lots of boat traffic on Fish Creek, a sign of Spring, with hopes of some return to normalcy. I was dismayed however at the gatherings in the private campgrounds and along the creek. No masks, no social distancing. The only ones I came close to were on that bridge, only me with a mask. Back to Oneida Lake, bucking the wind, few boats on those choppy waters. Mary Pat C.
Q News – May 10, 2020 Mt. Hope Reservoir and Remsen Falls
Today’s hike was a nice outing, especially after the snow we got yesterday. Nothing long today, just 5.5 miles at the Mt Hope Reservoir. With all the snow it was more like we were participating in a mud run rather than a hike, but the weather was nice. Carolyn E.
REMSEN FALLS
A Mother’s day hike to Remsen Falls proved to be quite enjoyable. There were signs of spring everywhere. Trilliums and Trout Lilies ready to bloom (should be fully open by next weekend) even with the little bit of snow left on the ground from Saturday. The only other people we saw we passed on the way out. About 10 mins before the parking lot a family with 3 small kids were on the way in. Sharon K.
Q News – May 2, 2020 Third Lake, Arietta and Remsen Falls to Nelson
I hiked to Third Lake today (no not that one). This one is in Arietta. 8 miles on a beautiful sunny day. The Adirondack mud season is in full swing. I passed a snake sunning himself on the trail and only one other couple while on my way out. Sharon K.
Me and my shadow.
Remsen Falls to Nelson Lake
Starting at the Bixby Rd parking area, some tramps (implementing strong social-distancing) hiked 16 miles to the Remsen Falls lean-to and then on to the Nelson Lake lean-to. As soon as we exited the car at the parking area, we were engulfed in flies that had no concept of what 6 feet is. As we starting moving, at a fast cardio pace, the flies had difficulties keeping up. Lunch overlooking the falls at Remsen lean-to was beautiful and fly-free due to the cool breeze and not to mention prosperous for Paul. Greg S.
Q News – April 25, 2020 Big Bad Luck Lake & Lost Creek
Mandy and Sharon hiked 7.5 miles on a beautiful sunny day to Ross, Big Bad Luck & Whortberry Ponds. The trail starts out on the OK Slip Falls trail. When we got to the parking area there were about 20 cars. We were hoping that most of them would be going to OK Slip and we would be isolated. We were right, we had the whole pond to ourselves. We saw a couple of piles of moose poop near Ross but didn’t see any moose. We had a peaceful lunch at Big Bad Luck where the water was so clear I was able to take the picture of the newt right through the water while he was swimming. We made a trip to Whortberry before making our way out. Sharon K.
Big Bad Luck LakeBig Bad Luck PondClear enough to see a newt.Ross Lake
Lost Creek
A few of us hiked 15 miles to Lost Creek from the Partridgeville Rd parking area, stopping at the bridge at Big Otter Lake to take a couple of pics. It was an incredible day on the trail, spotting no other soul. The trail had us crossing a beaver pond and jumping rocks to traverse a deep, swift creek. All in all, a gorgeous day. Greg S.
Madonna and I hiked about 7.5 miles into the lean-to today. We missed our turn due to new signage and did an extra mile. The trail was beautiful with very little mud for this time of year. We could not have picked a better day, with no wind and constant sunshine. We met 2 other couples during our hike and saw two guys canoeing on the lake????? Don F.
Mandy and I hiked 9 miles today to Pine Lake with a side-trip to Pieco Mtn. It started out cool but the sun came out after lunch. The last of the snow were the small patches left in the shade. The trout lily leaves were starting to push up through the leaf litter and there was a loon on the lake. I don’t think I would want to come across the beaver that was able to take down that very large tree! A very nice hike which we will have to introduce the tramps to.
Sharon K.
Egypt Rd. – Breia Trails – April 18, 2020
Bobbie, Richard, Russ and Dianna parked at the lower parking lot and headed off into the woods on the Great Trail. We then moved on to the Link Trail, to Glacier Trail to Gully I to Creek View Trail up the steep hill that is the Gully IV trail, then along the Rim Trail to the Adirondack Overlook trail, back along the Moss Trail, to the Shortcut Trail back to the Glacier Trail, Great Trail and back to our cars. Along the way we entertained ourselves by botany lessons (courtesy of Dianna) that included Bobbie and Dianna wild crafting some ramps to take home to make potato ramp soup. We learned a three-part round (courtesy of Bobbie) that involved Fish and Chips and Vinegar, junk in the back yard and soda pop. It is probably fortunate that we didn’t come across any other trail walkers while singing the round – they would have thought we were a bunch of seniors needing to be locked up! I still have not gotten the silly song out of my head! We threw a few snowballs, slid in the snow and mud and had a great time – all the while maintaining a minimum of 6 ft social distance from each other. I think the next trip there will involve walking the Great Trail to Echo Lake and exploring that area.
Total hiking distance varied from 5.6 miles to 6.3 miles – depending on whose pedometer you want to believe!
Bobbie, Russ and Dianna decided to venture on the Deerfield Wilderness Trails on a cooler, slightly snowy morning. We were happy to get off the rim trail and down into the woods where we were sheltered somewhat from the morning winds. There wasn’t a lot of snow, but there was enough that we enjoyed being silly and making strange footprints on a few of the bridges crossing the creek.
Bobbie had us add on some more distance when she realized she had lost her handkerchief somewhere along the trail so we back tracked until we found it. Russ picked it up with a 6 ft long stick, passed it to my 10 ft long stick and I passed it on to Bobbie – but, oops – I dropped it into the mud right before Bobbie was able to grab it! The silly things we do to avoid touching another person’s used handkerchief and at the same time maintain our social distance!
By the time we got back up to the upper trail, it had warmed up and the wind was no longer a chilling influence so we finished up by walking the upper loop back to our cars.
