Lick Brook Figure Eight Loop

A friend told me about Lick Brook after she and her family hiked there this spring.  They are big hikers, and like me, are chipping away at the Adirondack High Peaks and the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT), so the recommendation definitely carried some weight.  I looked it up online and knew Erwin would be interested as well; waterfall hikes are his absolute favorite.  We were both surprised to hear of this hidden treasure, as Ithaca is well known for its waterfalls (Ithaca is gorges) and we've hiked all the state parks down there, multiple times.  Lick Brook is literally right in the thick of it: it is located between Robert Treman State Park and Buttermilk Falls State Park.  In fact, it is possible to hike between those two state parks, by passing right through Lick Brook Gorge.  And part of the trail system through Lick Brook Gorge is the FLT, which carries the North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT).  As a huge fan of these long-distance trails, this was just an added bonus.

Anyway, this hike has been on my to do list all summer.  However, we have been busy and just hadn't gotten around to it until now.  This turned out to be incredibly good luck, as we've had a ton of rain recently.  I read that some summers the falls dry up completely, and I saw a photo from just a few weeks ago where there was barely a trickle.  Today the waterfalls were flowing beautifully!

We started the hike at the FLT trailhead on Route 13, and followed the white blazes east through the floodplains adjacent to Cayuga Inlet.  There are some spectacularly giant sycamores in the forests along the trail.  Soon the trail crosses a railroad track.  There are blazes under the railroad bridge, but water levels were high in the inlet and we could not have crossed safely today were it not for the railway bridge.  We scurried quickly across and admired the interesting graffiti.  

Once across the bridge, the trail continues through successional old field habitats at the toe of the forested slope, then turns shortly into the woods and soon arrives at the base of the lower falls.  We took the spur herd path out to the base of the falls to check them out.  Very cool! 

confusing tick trefoil (Desmodium perplexum)

great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

After a lot of loitering and appreciation, we managed to tear Frankie away and continued our hike, turning onto the steep Sweedler Blue Trail that scrambles up close to the creek.  This route is extremely steep, but is definitely worth it because there are additional falls along this route that would be missed altogether by sticking with the main white-blazed FLT, which follows much gentler contours.  We planned to come down that way, making a figure eight hike (or more accurately, a set of stacked lollipops, since we hiked the FLT spur from the lot both in-and-out, along with a section in the middle between the two loops). 

looking down at a second waterfall, located above the lower falls

We took another spur herd path down to explore a little glen along the way, and ended up eating lunch here.  Frankie had lots more rock throwing fun before we continued up the steep trail. 

bulbet fern (Cystopteris bulbifera)

some diversion involving stuffing debris in a hollow log

upper falls

Shortly after the partially screened view of the upper falls, the blue-blazed trail rejoins the white-blazed FLT and continues eastward close to the stream, which carves through the bedrock.  More waterfalls!  The bulk of the steep climbing is done by this point, although the trail continues to roll up and down and gradually gain more elevation. 

Shortly after the register sign, the trail crosses Town Line Road.  There is additional parking here and most other folks out hiking today seemed to use this area to access the trails.  We continued straight across the road, picking up the Thayer Orange Trail and following it until the intersection with the Thayer Blue Trail, which we took back to Town Line Road.  This upper loop passes through very nice forest, and we found black trumpet mushrooms, but it is not nearly as dramatic up here due to the easier grades.  Here, Lick Brick is more of an ordinary stream rather than the showy gorge it becomes down below.

black trumpet mushroom (Craterellus fallax)

As indicated above, we took the main white-blazed FLT all the way back, and it is definitely worth making the loop.  This trail is indeed more gentle, and follows another smaller creek for a while.  The most charming section runs along a narrow ridge top that drops steeply on both sides. 

 

giant chickweed (Myosoton aquatica)

This is a great little hike!  MapMyHike tracked it at a bit over 4 miles, of which approximately 2.3 miles was along the main FLT/NCT, and the remainder along the spur trails associated with the Sweedler Preserve and the Thayer Preserve, both managed by the Finger Lakes Land Trust.  It's still hard to believe we never knew about this amazing place.  I will definitely be back again!