Road Trips and Hike Reports

The original intent for this trip was to go to Karr Valley Creek State Forest.  Unfortunately, it seems like the access point written up in our 50 hikes in Western NY book has changed.  There was a gate there as described but there wasn't really anywhere to park nor any sign that we'd be doing anything other than maybe walking along the same snowy road we were driving on.  So we back tracked a bit and parked at a Finger Lakes Trail parking lot that we had previously used for an interesting summer hike . This time we went across the road and walked the other direction on what we assumed was the Finger Lakes Trail.  Earlier we had driven through Kanakadea park but didn't see any obvious place to walk.  The trail head we ended up at was only a mile or so down the road.  And going between that trail head and that county park was exactly what that part of the trail did.  By itself it wasn't a particularly interesting hike, mostly within earshot and sometimes sight line of th

 We've both been getting over being sick.  Brian had a nasty digestive upset that lasted days and I had annoying but not severe cold symptoms.  Oddly, later Brian's symptoms became more like mine but he tends to have more sinus issues.   We actually felt pretty good on this day so I pointed us south to Ithaca to revisit a park I had visited not too long ago on a solo trip.  This park is called a wildflower preserve but most of the year the creek and bluffs and a small dam are the star attractions. The first half mile or so of the trail was extremely icy where people had walked on it while it was slushy and then it refroze.  No matter, we pressed onward and enjoyed a beautiful winter walk.  There isn't much else to say about this trip.