Today Frankie and I returned to the Cheningo Day Use Area, from which we'd hiked east a few weeks ago, only this time we hiked west instead. This section of the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT), from here to the next road crossing, was a bit long for us to complete given our available time today, but that didn't bother me. I completed this section in May 2017, so didn't "need" to go all the way to Telephone Road today. We planned we'd go 3 or 3.5 miles and then turn back.
The westbound trail starts across the road from the parking area, passing a small kiosk and heading down a gentle slope toward the creek crossing. We passed a group of three young men sitting together well off the trail; they would be gone when we returned and were the only people we saw all day. The FLT has been really fantastic for social distancing!
As expected, Frankie loved hopping across the big rocks at the creek crossing. The beaver have really stepped up their game since I was last here, plus it is later in the season, so the crossing was even easier than before. Then it was up the single track trail, then up the woods road. Frankie was getting hungry by then, but I was able to convince him to wait until we got back on single track, where the grade levels off before stopping for lunch -- much nicer to be in the woods than sitting on the side of the road.
After eating, we cruised along for another mile or so. When we got to the cross marking the resting place of Simeon and Ruby Lidell, just past the trail register, we decided to make that our turnaround point. Should Frankie want to come back for the adjacent section, it will be easy to recognize where we left off.
 |
| chicken-of-the-woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) |
 |
| photo by Frankie |
The return hike is mostly flat or downhill, so went fairly quickly, except for a minor mishap that had me backtracking a quarter mile looking for a dropped handkerchief. I left Frankie on the same log we'd had lunch, to eat another snack while I hoofed back to the log where I'd photographed the chicken-of-the woods. I didn't find the hanky on the ground, and was completely befuddled because I knew I'd had it before then. Suddenly I had the brilliant notion I should look inside my pack, and there it was. Derp! Totally pointless little backtrack. I rushed back to Frankie and we hiked the rest of the way out together.
MapMyRide tracked the hike (including my bonus half mile sally) at 7.7 miles with almost 800 feet elevation gain.
No comments:
Post a Comment