CCayugaayugaayugaayuga T Trailsrailsrailsrails Newsletter of the Cayuga Trails Club Founded in 1962 “to explore, enjoy and preserve wild lands and places of natural beauty…” January - February 2009 Winter Edition Volume 49, Nos. 1 & 2 Cayuga Trails Club Annual Meeting and Luncheon by Marsha Zgola and Roger Hopkins atch your mail for an invitation to the Cayuga Trails Club (CTC) Annual Meeting and Luncheon which will be held on January 25, 2009 at the Ramada Inn, 2310 Triphammer Road, Ithaca. Social hour with cash bar will W start at 12:00 p.m. followed by lunch at 1:00 p.m. After lunch we will commence with the meeting which includes Annual Committee reports, Election of Officers and Awarding the “Oscars” for distinguished service. Lunch will include: Eggplant Parmesan, Honey Basil Chicken, Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Grilled Vegetables, Tossed Garden Salad w/House Dressing, Sweet Pea Salad, Three Bean Salad, Rolls & Butter, Chocolate Layer Cake, Coffee, Iced and Hot Tea. Following our meeting will be the presentation, “A Different Kind of End-to-End”, by Brad Edmondson. CTC member and Past President of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Brad Edmondson, will tell of his “Coast to Coast for Conservation” bike ride and share some of the photos he took along the way. Brad joined immediate Past President of the FLLT, Jim Kersting, and Jim’s wife Sara on a 72-day bicycle ride from Puget Sound to Wells Beach, Maine. The trip, a very successful fund-raiser for the FLLT, included visits with similar land protection organizations across the country. Reservation details will be included with your mailing. Contact Marsha Zgola for information at (607) 546-7367 or [email protected]. Please support your club by attending the Annual Meeting. Photo by Jim Connors November Highway Clean-Up Report by Vito Brancato n Saturday, November 1, a Cayuga Trails Club crew cleaned up our two mile stretch of highway on Route 366 from O Cornell into Varna, taking about an hour and a half. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and we finished as the sun was beginning its’ descent. I would like to thank Roger Hopkins, Dave Schurman, Edith Cassel, and Virgil Shields for coming out. Great job, everyone. This was our last clean up for 2008. See you in the spring when we begin our next clean up season. 2009 Highway Clean-Up Dates: Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. Virgil Shields, Roger Hopkins, Dave Schurman and Edith Cassel at the November 1st highway clean up. Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 10 a.m. Photo by Vito Brancato Cayuga Trails Club President’s Column by John Andersson he New Year is beginning! I hope it goes well with all of you and all our trail organizations. We are going to face challenges in 2009 and it will take work by many volunteers to preserve the land T access we enjoy and make the trail even better. We will see what effect the economy has on trails; luckily the Cayuga Trails Club (CTC) receives no public funds. All our funding comes from dues, sales of our Guide Book, and volunteer contributions. Since hiking is low cost recreation, perhaps we shall see more people enjoying our trails! If more people use the trails, maybe more will want to get involved with the CTC. A few new people who can find some time to volunteer would make a world of difference. It is very important for any organization to have new leadership come in to provide new points of view, new connections, and new energy. While all your Board members continue to do a great job, some have a natural desire to try something different, either in a different role for the CTC or for another organization. We do need to continue to recruit new Board and Committee members. I urge you to see if you can make some more time for the CTC and join a committee. We need you - not only to take over when current volunteers cycle out, but because there is always an increasing amount of work to be done to ensure the trails remain open! More hands make the load lighter. Volunteering can help you learn a lot about what goes on “behind the scenes”, can give you new friends and a feeling of accomplishment. I hope you have renewed your membership and signed up for the Annual Meeting (the dinner is subsidized by the CTC). I plan to see you at the Annual Meeting, or on the trail … - John Welcome New Members! by Suzanne Cohen Andrea Audi and Adam Dewbury Eric Cronise Dan Klein Kathryn Hofmeister Aaron and Patricia Ristow Mary J. Chapman Directory Correction: Peter Marks’ phone number “Thank You” to Our Trail Land Owners Please accept the appreciation of the Cayuga Trails Club Board members for your continuing permission to route local trails through your property. Perhaps your trail's caretaker has said so directly. Please know that we are all grateful for the privilege of enjoying your back woods, streams, and fields. On behalf of all hikers and CTC members, we acknowledge that, without your generosity, we would simply never have a continuous trail to enjoy in our local area. -2- Hike Reports Walk, Look and learn Hike #535 ♦ Date: October 19, 2008 ♦ Location: Arnot Forest ♦ Leader: Tom Reimers ight hikers and two dogs joined Tom Reimers on a hike through Cornell University’s Arnot Teaching and Research Forest. The E weather was magnificent! The temperature was perfect for hiking, and the sky was about as blue and bright as it could get. In addition to 2,400 acres of mature forest, the Arnot includes some 100 acres of open land (grass and goldenrod), 1,345 acres of old fields, saplings, brush, and pole timber, 170 acres of softwood plantations, 40 acres of sugarbush, 20 acres of field campus, 10 ponds, and Banfield Creek. More than 400 species of vascular plants and 135 species of birds, in addition to numerous amphibians, reptiles, and Arnot Forest hikers at one of the fish ponds. mammals, inhabit the Arnot. Approximately 100 contiguous acres of Photo by Tom Reimers. grassland are maintained to provide habitats for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. There are no hiking trails in Arnot Forest. Instead hikers followed rough, dirt roads from the upper entrance to the lower entrance where cars were spotted earlier in the day. Along the way, the group stopped to admire one of the best long-distance views for miles around. Fall foliage had peaked about a week earlier, but the vista was still beautiful. Tom showed and described an interesting hillside that was used in the 1940s and 1950s for research on prevention of soil erosion. The runoff collection structures can still be found in the dense woods, which were open fields when the research was done. Another interesting site was the extensive sugarbush where miles of plastic tubing collect sap from sugar maples in the spring. The tubes eventually empty the sap in the two “sugar shacks” where the water is evaporated to make maple syrup. Lighthouse Walk ♦ Date: October 26, 2008 ♦ Location: Cayuga Inlet Lighthouse Walk ♦ Leader: Carol Mallison t was an excellent afternoon for introducing 6 newbies to the Cayuga Inlet Lighthouse. The group of 7 members set off from the Cooperative Extension and I entered the area for Phase III of the Cayuga Waterfront Trail. As we approached the Newman golf course, we momentarily considered ditching our plans and hijacking a bunch of golf carts instead. Ahhh, but we stayed our course, walking the breaker wall out to the lighthouse, originally built in 1917 and moved to its current location in 1927. The wind and the skinny pathway proved too much for one member who waited patiently back on shore. Out at the lighthouse, we were thoroughly entertained by a sailboat taking advantage of the windy conditions and tilting wildly in one direction, then the other. Though we were sure they would tip over, the boaters seemed in full control of their craft. We also debated whether the smaller red structure is also a lighthouse, which it is. It’s the Cayuga Inlet Breakwater (Port) Lighthouse, built in 1927. Back on shore, we continued our way around the golf course, scooted Canada geese out of our way, walked past the area where fire fighters practice their skills, marveled at the dead shopping cart collection, and headed back to our starting point where the leader stayed for the club’s annual potluck dinner. -3- Mystery Hike ♦ Date: November 1, 2008 ♦ Location: It was a Mystery! ♦ Leader: Don Wilson ovember 1st provided great weather for the 4th annual Mystery Hike. Fifteen hikers showed up - all brave people because as usual they didn’t know what they were in store for. The notable absence was Ed Hart, who we all hope N will feel well enough to help lead next year’s hike. Don Wilson and Peter Marks led us through several small gorges near Steventown Hill in Danby. We found an active beaver pond, where our club president John Andersson only managed to get lost once. Everyone seemed to enjoy a little bit of bushwhacking. Elevation and time details are logged on the Cayuga Trails Club web site, cayugatrailsclub.org. National Forest Hike ♦ Date: November 8, 2008 ♦ Location: Finger Lakes National Forest, Interloken Trail Hike ♦ Leader: Jennifer Wilson and Marsha Zgola lthough a heavy, early morning downpour may have kept many would be hikers away from this demanding 12-mile fall outing, 16 hearty hikers and A their two leaders were rewarded for their weather optimism with almost nary a sprinkle on a beautiful, late fall day.