Road Trips and Hike Reports

This was a wonderful day.  First we had a nice breakfast in Geneva then an easy pleasant drive past Ithaca.  The hike was a loop trail that we thought we'd done once before in its entirety and once tried to do in very deep snow but had to abort.  It was clear to us by about half way through that while we had certainly been to that trailhead before and done the first part of the trail before, we did NOT do the full Spanish loop either time before.  It started snowing and hailing as we hiked and as we finished the walk it was really coming down.  It was the first snow of the year for both of us.  We saw absolutely zero people on the entire hike and it was very peaceful and special being on the first really wintery hike of the year.  We finished our day out with dinner at Texas Road house in Ithaca.

Originally I had a hike picked out near Ithaca that would be a 7 mile loop.  When we got in the car, Google maps didn't seem to be going on the route I asked for but after a few rounds of fighting with it it was at least avoiding I-90 which was my main goal and we ended up going south along NY-64 which is very scenic and nice even though it wasn't the route I intended. That route took us right through Naples and as we approached Naples I asked if we really wanted to go on such a long drive and when Brian didn't care I decided to save a lot of road time and revisit Ontario County Park which is just 30 minutes from home. We hadn't been there in over a year and it is a showpiece park for the area because it's set on a very steep hill and has a lot of different trails. The other times we've gone to this park we have just passed through the park as a way to do a long stiff day hike on the Finger Lakes trail.  After the first mile or so through the park, the FLT goes

Taking a day off for a fall hike at a favorite trail is a luxury.  Our friend Gene and I were able to get away to this rugged spot not too far from Watkins Glen.  It's a hike Brian and I have done several times and it's a very special place. The first mile or so is an ambling easy walk along a creek.  Other times we've done this hike the creek has been a flowing lovely stream but it's been very dry here for weeks and pretty dry overall for months.  The creek was almost still this time with some swampy looking areas.  The trail eventually crosses the stream and then the climb begins.  There used to be a nice bridge over the creek but it collapsed.  The climb seemed to go on and on more than I remembered but it was an enjoyable climb.  Farther up the hill there were a lot of downed trees which weren't there before.  At times the trail was actually challenging to follow because of all the downed trees. Overall this was a good hike with a lot of exercise.  We neither sa