Trail Conditions

I ran the Abbott Loop in Danby today and was happy to come across a volunteer from the Cayuga Trails Club building a new foot bridge over the first stream crossing on the Down & Dirty course. (This is the large crossing two miles into the race. In October there’s always enough water that you’re guaranteed to get wet; sometimes it’s like a foot deep.) It looks the bridge will be complete sometime this summer. I may look into organizing a trail work day to help the CTC maintain the trails used in the DD&D, once the pandemic subsides and it becomes safe to assemble in larger groups.

I also found a raccoon on the side of the trail a mile later, in that swampy ravine area. The poor guy was out in broad daylight and appeared to be sick or injured with no signs of rabies.

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A few “gorgeous” trail updates:

The Gorge Trails at Treman and Buttermilk are both open now, but limited to one-way traffic. Both parks have signage telling people that in order to best maintain physical distancing, the Gorge Trail is for descending traffic only, and the Rim Trail is for ascent only. Of course this doesn’t stop a lot of people from ignoring the rules entirely. The few times I’ve been on these trails it appeared they have no way of enforcing it.

The Fillmore Glen Rim Trails are fully open, but I’ve confirmed the Gorge Trail will be closed for the season (due to damage from snow and ice, just like it always is :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:).

I’ve heard all Taughannock trails are open but haven’t had a chance to check it out. The Cascadilla Gorge remains closed for now.

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First Hammond Hill run since 24-May, in between runs I was at my other home in Arnhem (Netherlands) and enjoying some mild ups and downs on ridges left over from two glaciers ago. Yes I am quarantining, only communing with myself out on the trails. Quite the change from the last run 9 weeks ago. The drought doesn’t seem to have affected the forest vegetation, and has left the trails almost all dry. Y1 to B1 to snowmobile trail to the DEC logging area west of HH Road, then down logging trails (some old, some newly cut) to Six Mile Creek in the 600, then bushwack back up a side gorge to eventually come out on HH road close to the B1 crossing, then down that killer hill from the start of Thom B. This run and the break in between reminded me of how much the change of seasons gives such variety to our running.

There is now a new footbridge on the Backbone Trail in the Finger Lakes National Forest and the previously closed section of trail is reopened. This replaces the washed out bridge on the Backbone about a mile south of the trailhead at Ball Diamond Road (the location of Aid Station 5: The Morgue on the FL 50s course.)

I ran the 50s loop over the weekend and the trails are still very dry.

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Thank you to Michael Ludgate and the Friends of Hammond Hill for working with the DEC to publish an up-to-date trail map for Hammond Hill State Forest. Hammond Hill is an easy place to get lost if you’re not overly familiar with the forest and this new map looks a lot more accurate than the old DEC map.

http://canaaninstitute.org/bikeskiblog/about/hammond-hill-map/

Up on Hammond Hill yesterday 08-Nov. Trails all dry, covered with leaves so for some of the less travelled section pay close attention. Just up the hill from the Connections camp on the Thom B finisher connector are two huge trees, blown down across the trail. Nice to see a good number of people out, all on foot except two horses, no bikes during my run.

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I was up there early in the morning and saw several familiar faces on the trails.

BTW the new trail map for Hammond Hill shows the renamed ex-“Red Man Run” (the one leading up to the parking area near the two aid stations of Thom B), appropriately renamed Ganowatchgerage Rd. – that was the Native name for W Branch Owego Creek which has one of its sources on the S face of Hammond Hill. I hope a Cayuga speaker will tell us how to pronounce it correctly.

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Anyone been out to the Virgil/Kennedy State Forest area lately and care to report on trail conditions? I might run there on Monday.

12 posts were split to a new topic: Trail conditions for opening the FLRC Challenge trail courses

Pete, this past Monday I did a 10-mile loop of the Spanish/Swedish/FLT off of Daisy Hollow Road and found much of it covered with a foot of mushy snow still — a nice hike (in shorts and a T-shirt in sunshine and temps in the 60s, but not exactly runnable). More will have melted by now, but I doubt it’s clear.
I’m going to see what Shindagin Hollow looks like today. Ann Leonard reports that Hammond Hill is beginning to clear out, but still has some ice, snow, and frost heaves.

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Shindagin trails are in generally good conditions: free of snow/ice, but some muddy and wet sections here and there, and the creek crossings on blue 6 will definitely get your feet wet. Had a lovely run there. Note, however, that, aside from the FLT, these trails were built by and for mountain bikers. It would be great if runners and hikers made a particular effort be courteous and friendly to cyclists that you encounter.

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The Gorge Trail at Buttermilk is now open for the season. The park is continuing with the one-way traffic like that did last year. Signs direct people to go up the Rim Trail and down the Gorge. I think Treman is doing the same thing again, but I don’t know if their Gorge Trail and Red Pine Trail are open yet.

@CharlieF just mentioned on the High Noon list that the Flat Rocks suspension bridge is closed temporarily.

The pedestrian suspension bridge across Fall Creek upstream of “Flat Rocks” is temporarily closed for maintenance. Hikers and runners using the Cayuga Trail, trails from the R. T Jones Golf Course, and trails from the F. R Newman Arboretum and Natural Areas along Forest Home Drive will not be able to cross the bridge at Fall Creek.”

Cornell now says that the suspension bridge has been repaired and is once again open.

Yesterday 14th Nov up on Hammond Hill – the first light snow on the very highest elevations (microwave tower). Leaves all off and over the trails, watch for hidden roots. The big news is the completion of the Friends of Hammond Hill trail improvements. Relevant for Thom B are the lower ends of Y4 and Y5 near the small creek draining parallel to Caanan Road, the mucky sections have been covered with a nice gravel bed, this should take a few minutes off everyone’s Thom B time. I crossed several groups and individual hikers, all in bright yellow, orange or shocking pink. But in the middle of the day there is not much chance of hunters, they like dawn and dusk.

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Thanks for the update. I ran that loop a few weeks ago after some heavy rain, and the trail resurfacing work made a huge difference in keeping those sections drained and dry.

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In email @JoshB noted:

You may want to point out that there is a lot of water out on the Forest Frolic course. As soon as the downhill section starts the road became a creek with water flowing down that entire section. Running up the first part of the hill and the access road under the power lines also had flowing water almost the entire way. The bottom of the trail that comes out to the power line access road was washed out and we had to walk through the woods for a bit. The creeks were all high and we took extra time to find decent places to cross many of them. There was mud too but that’s to be expected. No one should set out to get a time PR on this course right now.

I ran the Frolic this morning and it’s now covered in water and light snow. I’d consider most of the loop runnable if you don’t mind having wet feet for the full duration. The only part I found tricky was the rocky uphill from Cortright Road to the crossroads (4-way trail intersection). The rest is slow going but doable.

I wasn’t too thrilled about running this in the snow today, but the run gave me 10 or more completions on all 10 Challenge courses. I didn’t want to wait on this one since it will probably only get worse.

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A post was split to a new topic: Pete Kresock completes the FLRC Challenge… 10 times!