Thursday November 27 2025 - Swedish Loop Trail - Drynen NY - 7.3 miles, 876 feet elevation gain

This same trailhead has been the starting and ending point for at least 6 other documented hike on this blog.  This time we followed the 'Swedish Loop' instead of the 'Spanish Loop' we have done more frequently.  It was odd looking at Alltrails.  The Swedish trail loop and the Spanish loop trail look overwhelmingly the same on the overview pages.  Yet, as our hike went on (and on) we realized that this was a substantially different and somewhat longer and harder hike than any of our previous visits to this trail network.  The Swedish trail, in reality, only makes up a certain amount of the total hike.  The first mile or so on the way into the trail network is the main Finger Lakes Trail and then the Swedish trail branched off and gained more elevation than the other trail we normally take.  I believe we did at least part of the Swedish trail (with blue blazes) before but when we popped out onto a gravel road after a long gradual climb and then had to walk along that road for most of a mile, I knew that we hadn't done all of it before.  Then there were some sections that we probably have used before but towards the end we were following red trail blazes that were part of the German Loop I think.  This changed the end part of the hike substantially and when we came out onto a paved road it was a different side road, not the same one we parked just off of.

Unfortunately and very randomly, Brian was bit by a dog along the main road only 1/3 of a mile from the car.  The owner said their dog had current rabies shots but the bites were painful and standard medical advice is to treat with antibiotics etc. So Brian has had to go to urgent care, take medication and navigate a lot of public health bureaucracy as a result of that dog bite.  It happened so fast.  A dog jumped the little tarped enclosure it is usually in and ran right past me and then bit Brian in his calve muscle.  

Other than the dog thing, it was a lovely winter hike including a tiny bit of snow on the trail and a little bit more falling on us as we hiked.









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