Trail Promotion Confab

  Today, Marie and I participated in a "non-meeting" to brainstorm ideas for promoting the North Country Trail. The NCT NY state council is really active in trying to present a coordinated effort to promote the NCT. NY has additional difficulties since only 13% of the state is covered by NCT Chapters. The rest is under the affiliates of the Finger Lakes Trail and Adirondack Mountain Club. This is not a bad thing, but it presents extra challenges.

Anyway, we met at the Finger Lakes Visitor Center in Geneva. That is Seneca Lake in the background. Ruth, Marie and I were there. Also Diane, whose name you've seen here a fair amount in the last year, and Karen who was new to me but has been a volunteer with the Central NY Chapter for quite a while.

Inside the Visitor Center, they have a great floor map of the Finger Lakes area. Of course, we think they should add the FLT/NCT in addition to all the wine trails they have noted.

We took a little walk along the Canalway Trail. On the way we stopped to study the map of the Cayuga-Seneca Canal Trail. Diane, who knows tons of local history stuff, pointed out some features.

We had a little "tour" provided by one of the Visitor Center employees. He took a nice picture of all of us, but it's on someone else's phone and I don't have it yet.

However, that evening Ruth, Dan, Marie and I walked downtown here, where there is a map of Canandaigua Lake painted on a walkway. And look what they have with it. A hiking trail!

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 347.3.

Canalway Trail, Geneva, NY. 1.6 miles

See True Blue Gumby II

Very Miscellaneous Fun

 
I guess the big event of the day is that we went with Richard and Darla to Connie's Diner in Waterloo.



The menu is impressive, but Marie and I were interested in the "Cold Plate," which is a huge, huge platter of cold salads. You can see mine in the foreground. I ate it for lunch and dinner, and there is still more left. Really good food.



One of the highlights for me was seeing a railroad maintenance vehicle at work. The machine sucks up the ballast, levels the rails, puts the ballast back, tamps it, and regrades the berm, all in one pass. And... this machine was probably made in Ludington! There are only a couple of places in the world where they are made. I had a chance to tour the plant a few years ago, but didn't blog about it because no pictures were allowed.



On the drive back "home," we followed the shore of Seneca Lake, the other big Finger Lake.



And this was another highlight- a green walking stick on Marie's tire. Yes, we made sure he moved before driving the car. I've never seen more than one or two of them at a time, but apparently they can defoliate entire areas because they eat leaves voraciously. I still think they are cool.


Tomorrow, we walk!

See The Lake that I Love

The Hills of Almost Home

This New York hike came the closest to where I grew up of anyplace on the North Country Trail. I really have no reasons to ever want to move back to NY any more, but the geology has such a hold on me that it's hard to explain. Whenever I drive back to the area there is a physical sense of peace that overtakes me when I begin to enter the hills of the Finger Lakes. This hike went through and over several of these green ridges.

This is one of the prettiest pictures, a shot of Lamoka Lake, which is one of the small, hardly-known of the lakes. I grew up between the two largest, Cayuga and Seneca. Those two lakes are each about 40 miles long and 2 miles wide. Big. Also deep. Those glacial valleys just plunge to depths of 700-900 feet, and the hills rise about 500 feet above the water. When I add the information that those lakes are only 10 miles apart, you can begin to understand the idea of "steep."

Here is a long shot of the valley to the south of Seneca Lake.

What I couldn't get is a picture that really shows the extent of either lake. Actually, that is a very difficult task from anywhere. Both lakes have a bend, and the only pictures I've seen that really show their length are aerial views. But here's a small slice of Seneca Lake as we were beginning the walk down to Watkins Glen.

This picture is a good example of the walking. The trail goes through a lot of forested land, but sometimes (due to agreements with landowners) follows the edges of farm fields. In these situations, there are views that really show the lay of the land and how a hiker moves through it.

That's all for now. I'm fairly tired... leaping from the hike to the Birding Festival. But I saw several people I hadn't seen for years. I met a man who moved here a couple of years ago who is an amazing naturalist. I've been wanting to get acquainted with him for a long time! I learned some things about birds... I'm not a great birder, but adding more knowledge is always good.

I've made a tentative plan for the actual dates to finish my hikes. Now it just depends on how soon Marie can get here. She's still uncertain about skipping a meeting.