Day 19 (Sept 1)

During our short time on the Conservation Trail, we've seen the character of the trail vary widely. One mile is the most pleasant sort of hiking: a ridge along a lush creek with expertly crafted steps and bridges, a soft path through a rare nineteenth-century pine grove, or a long-abandoned orchard whose resilient fruits delight and sustain us. The next mile we're slipping down a steep ravine, navigating the huge muddy ruts of logging operations, or wandering through desiccated, rocky corn rows, all with blazing so poor that we never know if we missed a turn a quarter-mile back.

Our final leg of Conservation Trail is blocked altogether, maybe due to a landowner dispute? No telling. We're rerouted on what's dubbed the "Nature Trail Loop." Well, that sounds nice. The Nature Trail Loop goes like this:
 - Cross barbed-wire fence into active farmland with no stile. Wonder if the blaze is wrong because it makes no sense.
 - Cross other end of barbed-wire fence on rickety stile that snaps under my weight (around 16 or 17 stone with the pack.)
 - Carefully tread along a tiny strip of thorny brambles between a deep mud gully and an electric fence. Wonder if the blazes are wrong because it makes no sense.
 - Wander through a swampy pasture with no blazes, hoping it's the right direction.
 - Walk on train tracks for about a mile, not a rail trail, just some old tracks whose ties are slimy and slippery. Deb is not amused.

Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful to the farmer and railroad who've made this alternate route possible, and to the volunteers who do their best to maintain these trails under adverse and ever-changing conditions. But maybe "Farm and Rail Hazards Loop" would be a better name than "Nature Trail Loop."

Enough snark and grouse though -- we're leaving the Conservation Trail today and joining up with the main Finger Lakes Trail, and we'll see how that goes. The FLT heads east toward the Catskills and will eventually allow us to connect with the Long Path and head south into NYC. That's pretty far, but at least we're once again heading in the correct direction.

First impression is good -- there's nice blazage and signage and a brand-new register box. The last time I tried to sign into one of the register boxes on the Conservation Trail it was so old and rotten that it fell off the tree and broke at my feet. This one is in fine, sturdy shape, but inside it's got little mice peering at me. Sorry guys! I'll just move along...

The FLT does feel a little realer though, and more genuinely oriented towards through-hikers. It offers a lot of shelters and camp sites. Look, here's one already!

I'm quite fond of these things. Deb is generally reluctant to stay in them because other hikers can arrive, sometimes on the late side, and she's shy. No really, she is. But we've hardly seen a soul on this trip, and we're getting more rain tonight, so it seems like a good spot to bed down.

Just as we unroll the sleeping bags, a group of hikers arrive. Real hikers, like us! Sort of. They're only out for a few days, so naturally they have a lot more stuff, and a lot of great-looking food, and in fact even the jerky they're feeding their dog looks better than what we found at the Buffalo CVS. They seem like really nice folks, but it looks like they have a full night of elaborate campfire cooking and whisky drinking planned. We could attempt to insinuate ourselves into this, but opt instead to yield the shelter, pretending we'd only stopped there for a siesta (they don't really buy it but they're not exactly begging us to stay), and camp a few miles ahead.

On the way, we encounter another re-route that differs from the maps. But it's not bad, it's good! The trail's been rerouted off of a long road walk and and instead now goes through private land along a little stream. Along the way, nicely crafted bridges and benches, delicious apple trees, and a grove of memorial saplings decorate the brand new trail. Hopefully this jaunt will be a pleasant and shady treat for many years to come. Thanks, landowner!

No more shelters to be had, but the next section of the trail takes us through a state forest preserve, where the camping regulations are very generous. (Basically, you can camp anywhere that's at least 150 feet from trails, roads, or water.) But what about that leaky tent in the rain? Heck, been wanting to try one of these tarp rig things for a while:

Here's hoping!