This year, a quiet summer week in Finger Lakes

Last summer was naturally a bit of a toned-down summer due to COVID-19 on my vacation, as social distancing was a necessity with no vaccine available at that point to make travel and exposure to strangers safe once again. But I actually kind of liked the toned-down week, staying in the same campsite and several days spent with my truck parked, hiking around the National Forest exploring the woods and having a few drinks while reading a book, rather then the go-go nature of so many vacations past. I also intentionally camped where I wouldn’t have good cell service, to keep off the phone.

This summer I can kind of want to do the same thing, with an emphasis on what I did last year that I found memorable – exploring new places and doing new activities. That doesn’t mean necessarily traveling long distances but instead just hiking trails and kayaking places I hadn’t been to before. There are some gorges in Ithaca I haven’t hiked, and several different trails I haven’t done. They call Watkins Glen “Trail Town”, at least in the downtown where the Finger Lakes and North Country Trail Intersect, there are many trails I haven’t done. If the wind is good and calm, I want to paddle up more of the shore of Seneca Lake, and there is much more time I want to spend at the Big Bad Indian Swamp observing the birds and wildlife and fishing.