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On Saturday I went with a few people from SAOAC up to the Adirondacks just south of Old Forge to hike up Woodhull Mountain and see the firetower. (Someones YouTube Video) The total distance from the parking area is about 15 miles, but 10 of it is along and old railroad bed, so the easy thing to do is bike the 5 miles in/5miles out and only hike the 5 up and down the mountain. It wasn’t that noticeable but on the bike ride in, there’s just enough of an incline to make it a challenge. Once we reached the bridge over a creek, we left the bikes chained to a couple trees (though quite frankly I don’t know if anyone would hike in 5 miles hoping to find some bikes). The trail itself was a fairly gentle climb I thought, only one big tree down across it that we had to go around. It seems to be a pattern so far this year, that there will be a tree down about a tenth of a mile of the summit of any mountain I climb. The firetower itself is in good shape. They use the cab for a repeater station, so even though it was unlocked, there’s no windows so we only went up the the last landing. After, we walked the short distance to where the former observers cabin would be. Found an old Clorox glass jug hanging in a tree with some mystery liquid inside, it didn’t smell like bleach. Once we descended, on the ride back we headed over to Remsen Falls, just a short 1/2 mile detour. This is a handicapped camping area, with the proper permits and clearence ahead of time, you can drive back there and have a picnic or stay overnight. Overall, with the detour to Remsen, 16 miles in just about 5.5 hours. So far I’ve completed 9 out of the 28 fire towers of the Fire Tower Challenge. More to come as the summer progresses. Click on the pic below for more pictures…

On Wednesday, I once again met up with some of the SAOAC crew and checked out Hopper Woods, in the Valley section of Syracuse. Here’s a link to a PDF with more of the history of the area. We went up into the woods and checked out the waterfalls, a homeless camp, a teepee and someones attempt at a cabin without a roof. Depending on which trails you take in there, it can be either an easy walk through the woods, or a strenuous hill climb. Click on the pic below for more…

On Tuesday I took a walk/hike along the Cazenovia Gorge, on a former railroad bed that closely follows the Chittenango Creek. It’s part of the North Country Trail, a 4,600 mile trail that goes from New York to North Dakota.  It’s fairly flat, you don’t notice the elevation change during the 2.5 mile portion I did. I went out and back for a total of 5 miles, and on the return trip, some fog was rolling in giving me shots like the one below, click on it for more. I also found a geocache, I wasn’t looking for it, just happened to notice the box sticking out a little bit from it’s hiding spot.

On Saturday I took a small group out to a small park south of Jamesville Beach that myself and someone else stumbled across a couple weeks ago, the Lafayette Nature Trail and Ropes Course. What was interesting is I can not find any listing of this place existing online. And from what we can figure out is the Ropes Course was closed due to costs. The trails there aren’t very long, it was a stretch to get 1.5 miles out of it, but the difference in the types of enviroments was distinct. Afterwards, I headed over to Pratts Falls County Park for a spring picnic with SAOAC. About 100 people showed up, there were games, hiking, and more than enough food. A good day to be outside overall.

On Saturday I went way north in the Adirondacks with a few people from SAOAC to hike up Mt. Adams, one of the more difficult firetower hikes, but most enjoyable. It’s called an “Indiana Jones” hike because it starts out going across a swinging bridge over the Hudson River, then crossing Lake Jimmy on some planks. Only issue, Hurricane Irene took out the bridge, and the water level in Lake Jimmy was higher than normal. So the boots came off and we forded both areas. After that it was just an “easy” 2+ miles up the mountain, only took me about 3 and a half hours to reach the top. The interesting thing is the observers cabin is located near the base of the mountain, not on top like some of the others. Some light rain, just hard enough that you had to decide to wear a rain coat or not. I decided it was a good idea. Once I reached the firetower I only went up enough to get above the tree line and get some pictures, since the others had already been up top and were heading back down.

Afterwards, we went about 1/2 mile further down the road to check out the abandoned mining village “Adirondac” (aka Tahawus) . The notable buidling here is what we called the Teddy Roosevelt house, it’s where TR was staying when he found out President McKinley was shot. On the way out, we stopped at the old blast furnance. I’d seen pictures but hadn’t realized just how large it is. There’s one picture among the ones you can see by clicking on the one below where I’m standing in one of the archways. All in all, even though it was a long, wet day, it was a fun trip overall.

On Saturday, I set up a hike with SAOAC for people to get out and see how their endurance was after not doing any long hikes over the winter. I set up two loops, one of 5 miles and one of 9 miles, I did the 9 miler. We did this at Happy Valley, which I posted about earlier. It has almost 9,000 acres so there was plenty of room to do a long hike without needing to double back or go over the same route more than once. Even doing 9 miles we only covered 1/3 of the area. Here’s my earlier writeup about the area. The 9 mile hike took just a little over 3 and a half hours. Afterwards, we stopped at the Grist Mill outside of Parish to grab a late lunch before heading back to Syracuse. Click on the pic below for more….

On Wednesday, over 50 years of Wheeler history went up in flames as the former home of Bill & Kay Wheeler (my Grandparents) burned down. No reports yet on what caused it. Originally built in 1910, it was purchased by them in 1954, and they lived there until Papa passed away in 1991 and Nana moved out in 1999. My Aunt Colleen owned the home till 2007 when she sold it to the current owners. Many of the Wheeler children have fond memories of the years growing up visiting and playing in the house and yard. Click on the pic below for more from the fire and aftermath….

On Saturday, I went along with about 23 other people from SAOAC to check out several waterfalls along Route 12 in the Adirondacks. A list of the ones we saw…

• Upper Pixley Falls
• Talcottville Falls
• Whittaker Falls
• Shingle Mills Falls
• Lyons Falls
• Kosterville Falls
• Agers Falls
• Fowlerville Falls

For a lunch break after Shingle Mills we stopped at The Pine Tree Inn, one of those hidden gems in the middle of the woods. If you’re ever in the area, plan on stopping there for lunch.

Click on the picture below for more pics…

On Tuesday I once again led a small group from SAOAC to do an after work walk at the Erie Canal Park outside of Camillus. The section we were doing is approx 2 miles from end to end without crossing any roads. Part of the highlight is seeing the restored Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct. There are also several displays and exhibits on the grounds to check out, along with a museum (which had not opened for the season yet). Click on the picture below for more pics…

Monday was a nice day so I met up with the Crazy About Life group to do a walk around the lakes at Green Lakes State Park. It was just about 2.5 miles around both lakes (Trail Map). Lots of people out there fishing, walking and running. Click on the picture below for more pics…