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I can confirm that the course is very muddy in places. My shoes were bright purple when I started!
On my way back pack past South Burnt Hill Pond I spotted the busy beaver, but it dove into the water before I could snap a picture.
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In the 30 minutes and 1,000 feet of elevation gain it took to drive from Ithaca to Blueberry Patch it dropped 10° and a steady cold rain decided to thwart my effort. I was underdressed for the run—no rain jacket, hat, or gloves—but thankfully I’d packed a long sleeve as an afterthought so I didn’t get out there and have to bail on the Challenge run courtesy of good ol’ hypothermia.
I started running and felt really good (for once) so after about two miles I decided to keep up the effort and try to run a solid time. The trails were underwater in spots with copious mud throughout—nothing I’ve never dealt with at the FLNF—and it reminded me a lot of lap 3 in the 2019 FL50s. No cows staring me down either because the pastures are bovine-free between October and May.
All was well through 6 miles when RunGo, which I relied on to follow the route, led me the wrong way down Burnt Hill Road and the rain made my phone lock up so I couldn’t view the real-time map but could still hear the voice cues telling me I was off course. I fumbled around a bit trying to remember if I was supposed to follow the FL50s course here or not and finally realized you take a partially hidden right turn back onto the South Slope Trail and go another half mile before rejoining the 50s route.
When I reached the fourth and final pasture gate I realized how difficult it is for one to unlatch and relatch a steel carabiner on a chain when one is out of breath and can’t feel their hands. The rest was smooth sailing and when I got home I looked at Strava and adjusted my Webscorer time for the part when I was off course and touched up the RunGo cues so others hopefully don’t have the same problem and wrote some Cormac McCarthy-esque run-on sentences about the whole experience.
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Way to adapt and use your trail running skills! By the way, I recently read my first Cormac McCarthy book (No Country for Old Men), so I feel like Captain America: I understood that reference!
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Great book, and the movie adaptation is spot on.
Sorry about that! Those directions were very much based on the maps rather than on-the-ground testing. @Jamie gave me a couple of corrections and I wonder if I inadvertently moved a turn point such that it switched from the out to the back, something that’s too easy to do in RunGo.
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I ran the first and last sections of the course last Sunday: It is still muddy in spots, but drying out. If you’re running for time, plan on getting wet and muddy. (Unless you want to tiptoe around the puddles!!)
Tom
It would seem like it would have to be a recent change because that section worked for me when i ran it. The only Run Go issue i had was transitioning south from Burnt Hill rd to Interlocken trail on my way south (where it meets up with the pond), and it telling me i was off course when i wasnt.
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I knew it would be wet but dang, might log this as a swim/run! If you are looking to do this course for time I’d wait for a dry stretch. If you want a therapeutic stomp in the mud, go for it. I had a blast!
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Wonderful! We were there today and concur. At least the parking lot was dry.
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Since I moved out to Ithaca I’ve always wanted to get out to the finger lakes national forest, but didn’t get there until my run today. As reported, it was very muddy. I decided to just plow through and accept the muddy, wet shoes. I almost got my shoe stuck a couple of times, but overall this was a very lovely run and course! Also, the directions were great!
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I really wanted to get in a challenge course on my long run Sunday. I was debating between Ludlowville or Blueberry Patch. I saw that @amy-dawson was at Blueberry Patch yesterday, so I asked her about the trail conditions. She gave me the best advice: ‘embrace the muck!’
It wasn’t long before I had to take Amy’s advice. A few times I thought my right shoe was going to get sucked off my foot. Then I was afraid I would slip and land on my butt in a pile of muck.
A bug flew up my nose at which point I decided I’d rather eat a bug then have it go up my nose. Would it burrow into my brain?
I saw fish in the pond along the Interloken Trail off of Burnt Hill Rd.
I also snapped some pictures of the beavers’ work to share with my Dad.
I was scaring up the toads as I ran by. Most of them were pond side, but a few hopped across the trail into the pond. I hoped that I wouldn’t accidentally kick a toad as it hopped in front of me. I didn’t.
After taking the pictures, I forgot my embrace the muck mantra and started tiptoeing around the mess. I have no idea what I was thinking but was soon back to tromping through the mud.
The last quarter of the trail was pretty tough for me. I was tired as I haven’t been running trails. I made it through without losing a shoe or falling on my butt; so I’m calling it a win.
I made it back to my car. The rotten small black flies didn’t give me much opportunity to decide what to do about this:
And apparently, I left my camera on after taking pictures at the pond and took a series (223 to be exact) of photos and videos.
Here is the conversation with my family after I decided what to do about the muck.
All and all, I really enjoyed this course!
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Has anyone run this course or nearby areas recently? I’m curious about how muddy it is now!
Edited to add: based on the activity reports, looks like @johnhummel22 and @will-fox might know?
I ran on the Interlokan Trail for my final training run for the Thom B on Wednesday. It is really drying out finally. There was literally only one muddy spot in the three sections that I ran on. Beautiful.
Tom
Thank you for the intel, Tom! I think I might try to get out there on Thursday!!
I ran the course on Saturday (5/20) morning, first time ever for me. I’m happy to report that although there were many, many muddy spots, things have dried out considerably (compared to pix that were posted a couple weeks ago), and I was able to run around (rather than through) virtually all of them, with little trouble. So I managed about a 10:15 mpm average pace, considerably faster than I’d anticipated. Opening and closing the gates (about 4 total, I think) at the pasture edges was a little tricky, but I got the hang of it after the first couple. Hopefully Saturday’s afternoon rain didn’t deteriorate things too badly.
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Thank you, John. 
for my Thursday attempt!
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This was my first time running on most of these trails. The only section I had run before was the Finger Lakes/North Country Trail part. One reason I really enjoy the Challenge is that it gets me out on new runs. Given the recent dry weather, the trail was mostly dry with only a few muddy patches, not mostly muddy with a few dry patches that previous posters experienced! This is a beautiful run, although, not wanting to repeat my face plant at Thom B last weekend, I spent a fair amount of time looking carefully at the ground! Crossing the cow pasture was a little nerve wracking as the cows were very interested in my canine companion, even on a very short leash. I picked her up and walked slowly through the herd so as not to get them too stirred up. We were out early enough that there was lots of birdsong; Ovenbirds and Eastern Wood Peewees in particular, and Bobalinks in the big meadow. With about 2 miles to go, Nora came flying by in the other direction, a big smile on her face. That woman can run!
Back at the car a tick check revealed one on the dog, none on me. Get out there before the trails get more overgrown. Conditions are great now!
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FYI, saw this post on the Finger Lakes Trail: Hikers & Friends Facebook page. Please be extra careful to close the gates behind you and don’t let the cows out!
Hi, hikers! Gentle reminder that if you’re hiking the Interloken Trail to please close the gates behind you so cows in the pasture don’t get out! My husband grazes his cows in the Finger Lakes Forest over the summer and heard today some cattle got loose because a gate on the trail wasn’t secured. Believe they are back in the pasture now so fortunately there are no accidents or missing cows. Cattle typically graze from May to October in the fields so please be extra careful!
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Anne and I ran Blueberry Patch this morning. This is a beautiful course, we both really enjoyed it, and even though it rained last night it wasn’t all that muddy. Didn’t see any cows but did see a turtle, several orange newts, heard lots of birds including a Veery, also heard lots of frogs (singing?) and saw lots of evidence of horses. This is my favorite place in the trail, at about mile 7 1/4. You emerge from the woods, cross a road and go through a gate, and this open field with vista beyond is suddenly in front of you.
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I ran today’s group run at the Blueberry Patch course with a hope and trepidation. Hope that it would be a nice run in the woods and meadows with friends. Trepidation that it would be very muddy, hilly, and difficult. I’ve run Finger Lakes 50s on these trails twice; once in (I believe) 2018—the year when it was epically rainy. Hope had the full hand today, with temps in the low 60s, lots of flowers and greeny-green woods, and only mild mud. I ran in a friendly, fluid group that hung together, joined another group, and spread apart again. The last mile or two I was with a woman named Esmerelda(?) - I may have heard her name a little wrong. We took a picture in the last field with the nice view.
After the run, @adamengst and me and @Gretchen continued our carpool into Trumansburg for an inpromtu brunch at Creekside Café. Ambience was nice, coffee wasn’t hot enough, breakfast tacos were super yummy. We ventured across the street afterwards to Gimme and hung out on their fire escape patio, where we enjoyed the newt murals and basked in the sunshine.
I enjoyed my morning, and my shower and nap!
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