Spent MLK weekend hiking about 18.5 miles on the Finger Lakes Trail. It is a great place in winter but parking is always an issue. With the lack of recent snow, we could hike without snowshoes and have decent off street parking. I picked up Dan and we met Will at the DEC Fishing access point parking area which would be our ending spot. We arrived a few minutes before Will. Left my car there and then headed towards our starting point. We stashed a few food/beer drops at road crossings close to our campsites.
Our route started at the junction with the Onondaga trail using a spur to Chippewa Falls. The spur is now part of the main FLT due to a recent land acquisition and some new trail construction. This eliminated about 3 miles of road walking. The trail to the falls was well worn and easy to follow. The falls were impressive.
The stream dropped considerably on a very steep section. The new trail would switchback down the hill. Glad we had poles with us. Would have been easier if we put on our microspikes, but we didn't. At the bottom of the hill and across the road we picked up the first food/beer pack and continued on up an old farm road into the state forest. A lot of side trails and woods roads were here so we paid close attention to the markers which were new and plentiful. Eventually we reached the intersection with the old trail which was now re-marked as a spur trail. this would lead us to our first campsite, the Paradise Garden lean-to. The lean-to was situated in a beautiful hemlock hollow with a stream close by for water. Ample firewood was easily accessible. We had hiked 5 miles today and with our early start we had plenty of time at camp. Tomorrow would be the longer day of 10 miles. We appreciated the warm-up and the rest.
We had inner kind of late due to not stopping for lunch and eating it when we arrived at camp. Dan and I were sharing dinners. He had the first one, our usual venison with potatoes and green beans. It was tasty as usual. Since none of slept well the night before, we all hoped to get a good nights sleep this evening. We did make it past nine before we turned in.
I restarted the fire with the embers in the firepit and soon had water boiling. I was hoping to get going early with the miles we had to hike but it wasn't to be so. Not sure why we started so late. We hiked back up to the main trail and continued on our westward direction. Quite soon a few other day hikers came by the other direction. There was fresh snow, just a light dusting but it made following the trail a little easier with their tracks. A few ups and wons and changing forest to farmland to old farm lanes as is typical on the FLT. As we bypassed private land and fields it sometimes felt like we had hiked in circles. There were a few spots where markers were sparse, but staying the course would always lead us to another. We stopped for a break and lunch and it was apparent Will was getting tired. I was surprised I was not. Probably a result of a low pack weight. I did not bring many luxuries this time.
At the last road crossing we picked up the food/beer and headed down into the hollow. The new lean-to was somewhere past the creek. It was farther than we expected and the worst part was there was no water at the lean-to. We would need to hike almost a quarter mile for it. The new lean-to was nice except for the firepit was not conducive for the type fo fire we would need for cooking and warmth. It did not have decent ariflow and would easliy get choked down with too much wood on it. We made it work, but it was work. My turn for dinner, I made rice&beans with smoked sausage. I had pre-cooked peppers and onions to hasten the process. It ended up more as a soup which was ok. I always need the water in winter. It was a slightly earlier night than the previous but not by much.
I again was the first one up. I slept great. A restarted the fire and had water on. Only a few miles left to the car so no need to rush. There was a weak signal at the lean-to, Will got a text from his wife about his car. Apparently some bozo wrote "SOS. Help Me." in the snow on his car. Some hikers called it in and the police were following up. Good thing he had texted his wife when we got to the lean-to so she said we were all ok.
The hike back to the car was almost all downhill. A nice stretch of woods and then a short road walk on a seasonal road thorugh the hollow to the main road and our awaiting car.
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