CNYHikes

Last spring I ventured out to the only national forest in all of New York and explored what I have named the Foster Pond Area.  Not only has it been quite some time since I've blogged but also many months since I've visited the lovely Finger Lakes National Forest - 16,212 acres of mixed forests, pastures, and gorges sandwiched in between Cayuga Lake to the east and deep Seneca Lake to the west.  There's much to see in this not-so-well-known forest, and miles and miles of trails in which to do so.      On a sunny late winter day in the middle of March, I took the drive out to Hector, NY (a very scenic one, I might add) with the sole intent of hiking from the Ravine Loop Trail southward to the Gorge Trail.  I was a little anxious that there might still be some snow cover the further I went into the woods, but, fortunately, that was not the case and I had no issues with walking at all.  It's been a fairly mild winter by upstate New York standards so ...

Earlier this year, I blogged two of my hikes in Morgan Hill State Forest, a large area of mostly forested hills southeast of the Syracuse metro area and the small village of Tully, NY.  My last outing here ended at where the Onondaga Trail crossed Shackham Road and reached a beautiful wooden bridge over scenic Shackham Brook, and I promised to return to that spot and continue hiking beyond, further southward on that blue-blazed pathway.  So in late November, the weekend before Thanksgiving where unexpected clear skies came about, I took the drive out to Shackham Road and picked up the trail head with the goal in mind to reach at least dirt Morgan Hill Road, 1.55 miles one way from the starting point.  I got a late start for this 3.1 mile out-and-back hike and, on top of that, I was faced with earlier sunset time because of the shrinking daylight.  But it still turned out to be a great chilly fall day spent in the woods. Although much of the autumn color was gone,...