Day 45 (September 18, 2017)

All night, the soothing symphony of crickets and jake brakes from I-81. Late start - not yet adjusted to trail time. Steeply up to the Hoxie Gorge Lean-to for lunch, nice spot if a little trashy. Good flowing stream.

New York State is dotted with various state forests and wilderness areas, such as the Hoxie Gorge State Forest. Many were abandoned farm homesteads that were reclaimed by the state and are mainly used for recreation, and occasionally for logging. But most land is privately held, and a lot of it's still farmed. The Finger Lakes Trail Conference negotiates easements with these landowners to give the trail a route between the bits of wilderness. So a typical day on the FLT has a little mountain, a little forest, a little farmland, and a little road.

Today's that sort of typical day, and we're quickly back in the FLT groove, hiking in the open on a beautiful day between fields. One farm has a hilltop picnic table with a view, where we pause and study maps. 

Other fields are fallow, full of asters and goldenrod.

Back in the forest, we find wild parsnip and apples, maybe the remains of a century-old garden and orchard. This land has been through a lot over the years.

The afternoon is hot and we're eager to make camp and cool off. We find a pleasant bluff above a little stream and dine on the heaviest meal in the inventory, cous-cous and tuna, very fine!

Day 44 (September 17, 2017)

The route of the Finger Lakes Trail south of Cortland has changed since we last hiked (happens a lot with this trail) and now a couple of 2014's miles walked into Cortland no longer "count." Ah well -- a late start after a pretty good hotel breakfast & we grab a taxi to the spot where we left the woods 3 years ago. The driver warns us of alligators spotted in the area. 

At the trailhead, we're greeted by our bullet-ridden silhouettes.

The initial road walk takes us along the Tioughnioga River to a bridge where eight hearty youths are launching kayaks. They refer to us as "normal people."

East of the river the trail heads under the interstate, into the woods and up a hill. That's enough work for us on the first day out, with heavy loads and out-of-shape shapes, so we make camp amid some tall pines. For dinner, veggie chili over yellow rice, with a secret ingredient scavenged from a Turkish Airlines flight -- a packet of olive oil with lemon:

Accented by young dandelion greens, it's deep and complex, like a mole, delicious!

3 Years Later

Resuming this hike after 3 years! Lots of changes in the world. I can't drink Yuengling anymore, for instance. We've been busy... had a few other hikes in the mean time, including one long one in Europe. But starting tomorrow we're finally back on the Finger Lakes Trail heading east to the Catskills.

I've been reviewing the old blog entries and they're a bit wordy and whiny. Yes, there are annoyances and the highway is loud, but there's a lot of joy to be generated too, so let's focus there.

Today we were the loudness, zooming in a Greyhound right past Tuller Hill State Forest (where we left the trail in 2014) up Interstate 81 to Cortland. We'll take one last civilized dinner at the Green Arch (as is tradition!) and tomorrow, hit the trail!

The pool at the Cortland Hampton Inn is warm & familiar. Third best pool on our hike so far, after Carmen's Hotel in Canada and the Villager Motel in Watkins Glen.

The Green Arch has new owners but is still excellent. A little sad to have the old-fashioneds pre-muddled. (It used to take 15 minutes to get a drink here, but worth the wait!)