FLT/NCT: Lakeside Park to Whites Hollow Road

This hike would take me through Watkins Glen State Park, but not the gorge trail for which the park is famous.  The Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) follows the south rim of the gorge, high above the dramatic chutes and cascades.  At least in part, this is because the gorge trail is closed for much of the year.  It was closed today, in fact, due to "winter conditions."  Now, we did get snow last week, but it melted very quickly.  I could see down in the gorge and there was no snow or ice evident, but many years the trail doesn't open until well into May.  No matter!  Today I was here for the FLT. 

Interloken & No Tan Takto Loop

I went into this hike super excited because I would be finishing the Interloken Trail, which corresponds to Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) map sheet I1.  The Interloken Trail is the shortest of the FLT branch trails, but well worth exploring.  I started today on Searsburg Road, which was my turnaround point on my last Interloken Trail hike.  I proceeded north for 3.8 miles until I got to Parameter Road, which is the northern end of the Interloken Trail.  There is parking and a trailhead here, from which a non-FLT Forest Service trail, the No Tan Takto Trail, also heads south.  The southbound No Tan Takto Trail crosses the Interloken Trail at Seneca Road, about a mile north of my car, so I decided to return that way and make a loop.

The Kopac Trail

Frankie is on spring break this week, and I had today off, so we planned an adventure and lucked out with absolutely beautiful weather.  We decided to go down to Bowman Lakes State Park and check out the Kopac Trail, a Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) passport hike that passes by three different lakes.  I picked up passport books from a trail register last summer and Frankie has really been enjoying them: find the post and take a rubbing.  It adds a fun element because the maps don't disclose where exactly the post is, just that it is somewhere along the designated route.  I hiked the very short section of the passport loop that overlaps the main FLT last fall.  That small section included a playground by Bowman Lake, making this hike chock full of attractions for kids.  I was happy to be exploring (mostly) new trails.