EXPLORING
CHENANGO COUNTY BY HIKING – JULY 2016
Donald A. Windsor
The best way to
explore Chenango County is to walk it. I lead hikes every Sunday
morning, year around, for the Bullthistle Hiking Club and report them
on our Yahoo group, BullthistleHikers,
where
the many
photos
posted by our hikers can
be viewed.
Here are my reports for July 2016.
3
July 2016 – Stonepiles along the Ludlow Creek, Smithville
On a cool, sunny Sunday
morning, 2 July 2016, we had 6 hikers bushwhacking along the Ludlow
Creek in Smithville: Peg Fuller, Charity Moore, Allan Strong, Maryann
Weiss, Matthew Weiss, and Don Windsor. We covered 5.5 miles in 5.3
hours for a speed of 1.0 miles per hour. Our vertical ascent was 857
feet.
We parked on Tucker Road near
Joscelyn Road and followed the DEC blazes south and then west. We
crossed Ludlow Creek at the spectacular rock outcrops and ventured
onto the high ground northwesterly to some stone piles. We paused for
our well-deserved break and then bushwhacked northwesterly to the FLT
leanto. We then took the FLT to the small stonepiles and then
backtracked to Tucker Road. We then took Tucker east, back to our
cars.
Matthew and Charity are both
professional archaeologists from West Virginia, with an interest in
stone piles, so it was enlightening to have them along. Stone pile
sites extend from Ohio to the ocean and to Maine and Georgia. My
botanical highlight was the superb growth of Angelica along Tucker
Road.
10
July
2016 – Plank (Gorge) Road, Otselic and
Pharsalia
Otselic did not get as much
rain as Norwich, but the gorge was not dry either. On a cool, wet
Sunday morning 10 July 2016 we had 8 hikers on the Plank Road into
the gorge: John Carhart, Peg Fuller, John Nesbitt, Joyce Post, Art
Sandberg, Sharron Sandberg, Maryann Weiss, and Don Windsor. We hiked
5.5 miles in 3.7 hours for a speed of 1.5 miles per hour. Vertical
ascent was 826 feet.
We parked in the lot on Plank
Road at County Road 42, across from Perkins Pond. We then hiked
northwesterly on Plank Road down to the great washout, where it
seemed prudent not to continue. We then backtracked to Purse Road and
took that north. We paused for our well-deserved break and continued
to Clarence Church Road, where we headed easterly. At the appropriate
spot we took the shortcut to the Perkins leanto and then bushwhacked
southwesterly to Plank Road and southerly to our cars.
17
July 2016 – McDonough State Forest
Nice, comfortable Sunday
morning to be outside as 8 hikers ambled around the outer boundaries
of the Bowman Lake State Park in McDonough: Anne Altshuler, John
Carhart, Joe Jackson, Joyce Post, Sharron Sandberg, Carol Smith,
Maryann Weiss, and Don Windsor. We covered 5.3 miles in 3.0 hours for
a speed of 1.8 miles per hour.
We parked at the FLT trailhead
on Bliven Sherman Road and trekked easterly to Steere Road. We then
took that road northerly to Preston Road, where we headed west to the
abandoned Gale Road. Whereupon we then walked southerly to the
foundations of Galeville for our well deserved break. Refreshed, we
continued onward, past Bowman Lake, across Bliven-Sherman, and onto
the maintained section of Gale Road. We picked up the FLT and trod
northeasterly back to our cars.
On Steere Road we encountered
a healthy stand of Sassafras trees, one about 30 feet tall with at
least a couple dozen saplings. A large foundation was just north of
the stand. The attached group photo shows our hikers backdropped by
the Sassafras. Note the 3 different leaf forms: the fingerless
mitten, the standard mitten, and the 2-thumbed mitten. We also found
a large, about 26 inch across, Chicken-of-the-Woods mushroom in
Galeville. We paid our respects at the Steere Cemetery and at the
Gale Cemetery.
24
July 2016 – Buddhist Temple
Loop,
German
and Smithville
Most
fascinating hike ever! A Buddhist monk gave us a guided tour of the
Palyul Temple in Smithville on Sunday morning 24 July 2016. Monk
Tashi was indeed a wealth of information and a loquacious host. We
asked him a lot of questions and he patiently answered them.
We
8 hikers (Anne Altshuler, Peg Fuller, John Nesbitt, Joyce Post,
Sharron Sandberg, Robin Vanwagner, Maryann Weiss, and Don Windsor)
covered 6.0 miles in 3.7 hours for a speed of 1.6 miles per hour.
We
parked in German on Pucker Street between Burkholder and Cross roads
and hiked southerly on Pucker. We paused briefly to view the
regeneration after the forest fire on 7 May 2015. We continued to
Hollow Road and took it southerly to the Buddhist Temple. After the
tour we took our well-deserved break and backtracked to our cars.
31
July 2016 – Hunts Pond State
Forest, New Berlin
A
rainy Sunday morning, 31 July 2016, following a rainy hike yesterday,
resulted in a low turn out. We had only 3 hikers in the Hunts Pond
State Forest in New Berlin: Anne Altshuler, John Carhart, and Don
Windsor. We covered 4.0 miles in 3.0 hours for a speed of 1.3 miles
per hour.
We
parked at the park entrance and hiked on the park road. At the south
end we turned onto the snowmobile trail and went north to the
northeastern corner boundary. We then bushwhacked south, trying to
follow the elusive DEC border. Frustrated by the lack of blazes, we
bushwhacked southwesterly back to the park road where we took a
well-deserved break in the well-drenched woods. Refreshed, we then
went southerly on the snowmobile trail downhill to a low wet curve,
turned around and hiked northerly back up hill. We crossed over the
dam and bushwhacked through the tall, wet vegetation to Hunts Pond
Road and then northerly to our car.
My
most memorable encounter was the lush mullein forests. One specimen
was 12 feet high! Many bullthistle bushes were 10 feet high. Several
pasture thistles were found. The red efts were so plentiful that Anne
was very busy shepherding them off the trails. On the drive back to
HoJo we passed 3 turkeys getting rained on in a wet, grassy field.
“This is like looking in a mirror”, I mumbled.
