Finger Lakes

Nestled in the heart of Upstate New York, the Finger Lakes comprise a distinctive network of lakes, presenting a captivating bioregion. This locale has garnered popularity as a sought-after tourist destination. Resembling elongated fingers, these lakes gracefully stretch along a north-south axis. Notably, these majestic lakes, echoing the graceful curvature of human fingers, collectively form a natural wonder evoking awe and inspiration.

Of note, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake hold the distinction of being both among the longest and deepest lakes in the United States. Each spanning nearly 40 miles end to end, and never exceeding 3.5 miles in width, they exhibit remarkable proportions. Among these, Cayuga Lake boasts the longest stretch at 38.1 miles, while Seneca Lake commands the largest total area. Delving beneath sea level, Seneca Lake plunges to an astounding 618 feet (188 m) in depth, while Cayuga Lake follows suit at 435 feet (133 m).

Sugar Hill Firetower & State Horse Camp

The final night of my Finger Lakes Trip I spent the night up at Sugar Hill State Forest, a series of 9,500 acres of state land, popular for horse owners. This parcel has two main camping areas, about 90 miles of horse trails, 3 lean-tos geared to equine users, and one nice new lean-to that is accessible solely by foot.

Sugar Hill Recreation Area

You don’t see signs like this located in downtown Albany.

Negative Coggins Test

This is all conveniently located about 15 miles from Watkins Glen, at the headwaters of Townsend and Glen Creeks that make up the water that flows through the Glen.

While I didn’t spend a lot of time going around and grabbing pictures of the Horse Camp, I did take some pictures and have some from when I visited this area during the previous summer. This was in part because the last day was rather gray, with heavy rain at times, and I was frankly quite tired.

There also is a firetower at the main horse camp area, which is filled with RVs, horse trailers, and horses during the summer weekends. This is shown below:


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Here is the fire tower:

Firetower

Here is the main horse camp, with new bathroom facilities including flush toilets. This was installed two years ago due to the popularity of the horse camp and contamination concerns by the overuse of the conventional pit privy.

Six Nations Horse Camp

Horses tied up. I took this last year, when they where still building the replacement bathroom for the pit privy, and therefore the porta-potties.

Horseys

Some wildflowers noticed along a short walk…

Flowers

A bed of fog over Kueka Lake from the Firetower from last year.

Bed of Fog

Thunder clouds approaching from the west from the Firetower. It was not of course thundering when I was on the tower. I’m not that stupid.

Thunderheads

Descending the firetower, looking east towards Seneca Lake.

Descending Firetower

Rather then camping at the main horse camp, where there where several people set up with horses, I decided to camp at the lower area, which is much less popular, but as nice if not nicer.

Horse Tiedowns

They still have lots of things for the horse owner to use.

Horse Stables

In the evening it started to rain. It didn’t bother me much, as I had the tarp over my truck and the picnic table, and thanks to the cement base under the table, there was no mud or muck to get kicked up.

Reading in the Rain

This was my camping arrangements, as seen in the morning. Not bad, especially for a free campsite.

Camping

Making some coffee in the morning. I drank an incredible amount of coffee during this week.

Camp Stove

Where I camped, after everything was all packed on up.

Site

Farms from off Six Nations Hill in the rain, looking south.

Farm

Maps from the DEC of Six Nations Horse Camp:

I drove the following route on Day 3 of the Finger Lakes Trip, in yellow. The loop is where the firetower and main horse camp is. Following the green line due south, takes you to the southern horse camp where I spent the night camping.


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Day 4 I visited Corning and checked out Big Flats, which is now unfortunately little more then suburbanite crap. Corning was kind of neat, except that it started to pour when was down there. I then drove down to Sayre, PA, and through northern Pennsylvania so I could pick up some fireworks for the forth of July. I probably could have come right back into the state, but I certainly didn’t want to be followed by undercover cops, with my fireworks (yes, I’m a little paranoid).

Rural Pennsylvania was quite pretty, except for the heavy rain and the fact that Route 706 was so damn narrow and twisty. When I got back to NY, I really appreciated how much better our state’s roads really are. I drove back via I-88, occasionally hopping back on Route 7 for some additional variety to my trip. I got home around 4 PM.


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The green line follows my return trip. It took about 6 1/2 hours, including stops in Corning and other places.

Watkins Glen

I happened to be driving through Watkins Glen on my trip from the Finger Lakes National Forest to Sugar Hill State Horse camp, so I figured I would take a walk up the trail once again. I’ve been there before, but I figured this would be a chance to get photos when the light was better.

Watkins Glen Sign

The last time I was there it was early in the morning. This proved to be a problem for photograhpy, without a tripod, because it was so dark in there. It was much lighter in the middle of the day, abit much more crowded. It also was a very humid day out there.

Clove

In several sections of Watkins Glen the trail cuts through caves to get around mountain faces, then emereges out to the most beautifully lit green areas.

Green Cave

The trail follows the edge of the Glen, crossing it several times on beautiful stone bridges.

Bridge

The trail is beautifully designed and a pleasure to walk, although on a humid day like today, it was pretty hot, despite being largely in the shade.

Stairs Turn

The trail goes under several waterfalls, and after the week’s rainy days, it was pretty wet in spots.

Drip Drop

And almost magical scene in Watkins Glen. This whole area somewhat spirtual feeling, especially on the backdrop of such rich greens.

Stay Dry

When you reach the top of the glen, the waterfalls become farther appart and less steep and the creek is relatively flat.

Year of Peak Employment by County

At the top of the Glen is this old railroad bridge. It appears the line is actively used; it would be neat to capture a train going over the Glen. Maybe someday.

Railroad Bridge

Here is a map of the trail I walked in Watkins Glen.


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Here are maps of Watkins Glen.

Finger Lakes National Forest

For the second day of the Finger Lakes Trip I spent a night at the Finger Lakes National Forest, a series of rather large leased public pastures interspersed with forested areas and ponds. National Forests are managed by the US Department of Agriculture, and this area in particular came under USDA jurisdiction in the 1930s when the Federal government bought out unproductive farms. This land was destroyed by the overuse of deep plowing for crops without proper management of soil erosion and fertility. It has since been well restored, thanks to controlled grazing and the creation of various wetlands.

I left around 10 AM from Balsam Pond, and headed out Route 23 to Cortland then down to Ithaca via Route 13. It was a beautiful day for sure, and there is some truly amazing country out around Pharsalia. I stopped briefly at the Cortland Walmart to buy a tarp and some windshield wipers — both badly needed as the rain would come later in the week. I also stopped down at Stewart Park in Ithaca briefly and snapped a few photos before heading west to the area of the Finger Lakes National Forest.

Here is the route I followed. The red line follows the route of my pickup on Sunday. The orange route is the auto tour I took on Monday. The blue point is Balsam Pond, the many red points are where I stopped to explore the National Forest.


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Entering Forest

Hiking along the orange trail in the northern part of the National Forest. Other trails allow horses, just not this one through the forest.

Palmer Pond and Turnpike State Forests

The northern portion of the Orange Trail passes this beautiful pond. There are places for tent camping along it — the USDA Forest Service is less restrict then DEC about camping, you need only be 50 feet away from water to set up a tent. They do not allow you to set tents up in cattle pasture during grazing season, for obvious reasons.

Pond

A beautiful orange butterfly was seen nearby that pond. There was an amazing amount of wild and domestic animals around when I explored things. There also was many deer, birds, and other things, to say nothing of both beeves and dairy cattle.

Butterfly

Many times the trails crossed into cattle pastures. To keep the cows from getting out, they had big reminder signs. It’s amazing that people could be so stupid to let the cows roam lose by accident. They don’t use cattle guards in this National Forest like they do out west, instead cows are fenced into pasture and off roads.

Close the Gate

Howdy says the cow as you pass it on the trail. I think he liked my black stetson. They don’t see enough of them back east here.

Black Angus

Mind where you step on the trails.

Clouds Hang Low Over County Route 21

There are some pretty big pastures in this National Forest.

Junction Road

Later in the day, it started to rain.

Clouds

It really opened up and was raining so hard it was tricky to drive the dirt truck trails I was unfaimiliar with. That kind of sucked. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to easily set up a tent in this heavy rain, that lasted most of the evening, and unable to find the road-side sites for camping (which I found in the morning).

I decided to stay at the Blueberry Patch primative campground in the National Forest, which costs $10 a night, via the honor system. They also have a group area, where groups can stay for $10 a night + 50 cents a person over 20 people. Quite neat. I paid, in part because the basic facilities (table/firepit/outhouses/nice tent platforms), where very well maintained.

Once I got settled in, I got the tarp hung up over the back of my truck.

Tarp

And made some coffee mixed with Jack Daniels, and poured it into a styrofoam cup. It was real good and strong. It was good, dulled the pain and missery of the rain, and kept me up half the night.

Making Coffee

In the morning I drove around the National Forest to just check out some more of the lands and the beautiful pastures. This was my route around the area. Red was the drive on Sunday, Monday is in Orange. Free Campsites are marked with a tent, the $10 a night Blueberry Patch campground has a picnic icon, and the part of the orange trail I hiked along is marked with a blue line.


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Here is a map of the entire parcel from the Federal Government.