Road Trips and Hike Reports

It's been warm this weekend with humid days, highs in the mid 80's.  My #1 goal if were going to do a hike was to do our best to beat the heat.  So I picked out a hike that wasn't tooooooooo far away and sounded like it wasn't super exposed.  This out and back hike in the southern part of the Finger Lakes National Forest was a different part of the Interloken trail that we've used a few times in a loop with the No-Tan-Tako in another part of the Finger Lakes National Forest. The first mile or so of this hike had a lot off wet and muddy sections.  We've had rain showers for about 4 of the last 5 days.  There was almost no obvious climbing or descending on the whole 8 miles we did, just short little ups and downs that didn't seem very noticeable.   Some people on Alltrails said this was more of a solitude than a view hike and for the most part that seemed accurate.  There were 2 sections where to trail opened up enough to be in direct sun.  One...

This is a trail loop we've done a new times.  It isn't a super long drive from home, it's not a popular trail and most interestingly, you get to head out on one trail and, if you choose, come back on a different trail with different scenery.  The other times we've gone to this trailhead we walked out the forested Interloken trail until it crossed a gravel road at the southern end of the long pasture that it starts at then came back on the No-Tan-Tako trail which nearly comes together at that same point.  Since our friend Fred was with us on this trip, we were a little more ambitious and went farther south than the first gravel road we usually turn around at.  This time we made it to a surprisingly nice pond, Teeter pond. Having a friend hike with us was a nice and unfortunately rare plus to the day.  It has been pretty hot here in the last week so I'm very glad we made the effort to get out on this gray but reasonably mild day.  

Alltrails is our trusted digital companion that we use for almost every hike and have for years.  Usually it lists a lot of different trails and in areas with a dense trail network there are often multiple combinations that people have submitted that give you different lengths, routes and elevation gains.  At this trailhead, there is only 1 trail on AllTrails and it is the No-Tan-Tako trail.  I guess in isolation it’s an ok trail.  It mostly cuts through a long scrubby field, passing through a number of cattle gates and other agricultural looking land.  But the Interlaken trail starts at exactly the same trailhead (maybe 20 feet away from the No-Tan-Tako sign) and takes you to exactly  the same place as the other trail.  This makes it a matter of picking a favorite or, as we have done here, making a loop of the 2 trails.  I’m just surprised the No-Tan-Tako trail was the one chosed to put on AllTrails.  The Interlaken trail runs through an att...