CNYHikes

      Early in the summer of 2019, I set out to hike a segment of the Finger Lakes Trail  through Taylor Valley State Forest of northern/central Cortland County.  That hike through mainly deep woods brought me to the edges of the adjoining Cuyler Hill State Forest which, as it turns out, is a "link" between Taylor Valley and Mariposa State Forest, a place written about in this very blog several times before.  As I get more familiar with this corner of Central New York and the FLT, I am appreciating its relative remoteness and beauty more each time I pass through.  At this point, I still haven't ventured beyond Pharsalia Woods of Chenango County, so I've been using this time to thoroughly explore these foothills that make up the knobby terrain east of Interstate 81.      This particular hike started where the FLT crosses paved Chenango-Solon Pond Road a few miles past the small rural hamlets of Tully and Truxton.  I was able to find decent parking on the shoulder of di

           Last summer, I detailed a great hike in an area named Pharsalia Wildlife Management Area, tucked away in a corner of rural Chenango County.  Essentially in the heart of Central New York's rolling, glacially-carved, bucolic countryside, Chenango County also happens to be the home of a magnificent 70-mile or so stretch of the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) , passing through 32 state forests.  Most of this I have yet to explore, so this region is somewhat of a hiking "frontier" for me, having only reached the deep gorge-like banks of Canasawacta Creek in the summer of 2019 in my furthest east venture on the FLT .      So now that summer is closing and fall is close at hand, the weather is cooling and drying a bit (although it has been a remarkably rain-free, hot summer).  I decided to tackle a part of the trail that I've only seen once - in early winter a few years back - and recall it being rugged with more than a few hills to hike.  I was looking for a moderate ch