Sunday June 7 - Finger Lakes Trail segment - Near Arkport NY (Near Hornell) - 8.5 miles, 1100 feet elevation gain estimated
The day certainly started of inauspiciously. We headed out early hoping to repeat last week's delicious breakfast from Sweet Arts bakery in Geneseo. Unfortunately, they don't open until 9 am on Sundays and it was barely 8:30 when we arrived so we had a McBreakfast instead. Then we headed off to fine Bully Hill which was written up in the 50 Hikes in Western NY book with seemingly detailed directions starting from Arkport. The directions said to head West on Almond Valley road which it said intersected NY-36 in Arkport. We didn't find that road (or it's county route designation CR-76). So we kept going south through Arkport until we got to I-86 (which wasn't very far) but then u-turned to pass through Arkport again to see if we missed something. The best we could come up with was West Ave which by mileage was at the right spot. So we headed west on that for the precisely stated 5.6 miles where Bush Road was supposed to be. but instead of gravel Bush road, we ended up at NY-70 and nothing else about the description in the book fit. So we drove around a 5 mile loop to get back to Arkport once again. Finally we headed back on West Ave and saw the CR-67 sign on a road the turned left just a few hundred feet down West Ave. But Bush road was a full 7 miles down CR-67 (which was labeled Almond Valley road further down the road). And the book said to drive .4 miles on Bush road and park. There was no apparent parking area and no sign of the Finger Lakes Trail. Finally, after driving until we got LTE service again I looked up the other Bully Hill trail on Alltrails and set Google Maps to take us there. And those instructions had us go up some other road about 1.5 miles but the road only went a bare half mile and ended. So we gave up on Bully hill.
We had driven by Stony Brook State Park a bit before so we started heading there as a backup plan to the backup plan. On the way we saw a marked trailhead on NY-21 for the Finger Lakes trail and parked. I hoped that if we walked North we might be able to walk up Bully hill from this further South access point. The trail started off going up a hill and then went through an extremely long and dark tunnel under I-86. It was wet and creepy but very unique. After paralleling the Southern Tier Expressway (I-86) for half a mile, the trail went uphill some more and came to a very nice shelter and privy. From there the trail was steep and lumpy, almost never flat. It was deeply wooded and shady. Some muddy spots. Eventually the trail went down a seemingly endless hill and was again right next to the expressway fence line before popping out on a dirt road with some houses along it. With only a few very hard to spot trail blazes we followed the dirt road which became a paved road and then turned right on another paved road for a mile and half or so. We were just about ready to turn around when an amazingly tiny trail entrance headed off from the road up a steep hill. This climb was very long and steep and sometimes on a narrow foot path. Eventually it leveled off on a beautiful ridge along the top of the hill. I'm pretty sure we were in the Bully Hill State forest but am not sure what the hill we were on was called.
Our post hike early dinner was at Racho Viejo in Geneseo. It was delicious but pushed the limits of what somebody could or should try to eat in a car. All told it was a very interesting day helped by the extremely agreeable weather. The high was barely 70 and there was a beautiful breeze all day. It was a totally perfect summer weather day.
We had driven by Stony Brook State Park a bit before so we started heading there as a backup plan to the backup plan. On the way we saw a marked trailhead on NY-21 for the Finger Lakes trail and parked. I hoped that if we walked North we might be able to walk up Bully hill from this further South access point. The trail started off going up a hill and then went through an extremely long and dark tunnel under I-86. It was wet and creepy but very unique. After paralleling the Southern Tier Expressway (I-86) for half a mile, the trail went uphill some more and came to a very nice shelter and privy. From there the trail was steep and lumpy, almost never flat. It was deeply wooded and shady. Some muddy spots. Eventually the trail went down a seemingly endless hill and was again right next to the expressway fence line before popping out on a dirt road with some houses along it. With only a few very hard to spot trail blazes we followed the dirt road which became a paved road and then turned right on another paved road for a mile and half or so. We were just about ready to turn around when an amazingly tiny trail entrance headed off from the road up a steep hill. This climb was very long and steep and sometimes on a narrow foot path. Eventually it leveled off on a beautiful ridge along the top of the hill. I'm pretty sure we were in the Bully Hill State forest but am not sure what the hill we were on was called.
Our post hike early dinner was at Racho Viejo in Geneseo. It was delicious but pushed the limits of what somebody could or should try to eat in a car. All told it was a very interesting day helped by the extremely agreeable weather. The high was barely 70 and there was a beautiful breeze all day. It was a totally perfect summer weather day.
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