A Halfway of Sorts - Day 143

  I made a fun discovery in the middle of the morning. I reached the southern end of the Bristol Hills Branch Trail (that Marie and I hiked in 2020). I took a picture of this sign then, but it wasn't particularly meaningful to me then. Now it is.

See that it's 191 miles to the Onondaga Branch? That's where I leave the main Finger Lakes Trail and head north toward the Adirondacks. And 186 miles ago, I was at the Pennsylvania border. These numbers have probably changed a bit since the sign was made, but essentially, I'm halfway across the main FLT. Not halfway across New York, but it's still satisfying.

Today was gorgeous. Sunshine! Not too hot! Marie hiked out with me for 3 miles this morning. We made it past the Hickory Hills shelter, new since I was last here.

Then I went down to a valley and up the hill on the other side. This view is from Kershener Hill back across to Hickory Hill.

The next treat was Mitchellsville Gorge. This is a special place, but it's nearly impossible to get good pictures. It's a deep gorge with a creek in the bottom, and the edges are covered in thick hemlocks, so it's always dark and cool.

I managed to get one poor picture of one of the waterfalls down in the depths.

By the time you get to the bottom, the trail and the creek meet, so I ate lunch here.

The last climb of the day was a doozie. It's a 900-foot climb, and the hill doesn't even have a name. For that kind of effort, I want it to have a name. However, the treat from those heights is views of Keuka Lake, the first of the Finger Lakes that you can see from the trail. Photos just don't show it well because your brain is able to filter out the trees when you are there. But that big blue puddle is the south end of Keuka Lake. And it was blue today because of the sunshine!

And, we were social again tonight. Irene drove down from her home to see us!

Miles today: 15.1. Total miles so far: 1890.9.

See Cochrane & Company