Dryden Is Home

Blurred Birds in Flight

Yesterday afternoon I hiked (or walked) a portion of Dryden's "Freeville Trail" from Springhouse Road, past George Road and into land about halfway to the Village of Freeville. I was joined by Dryden Town Environmental planner Dan Kwasnowski - he has walked and planned most of the trail and knew a lot of the history that I wanted to learn.

Along the way we saw a number of animals and signs of animals. I've posted a set of pictures to flickr. The first animal we spotted was a large beaver swimming in a beaver pond that was diverting Virgil Creek. We spotted a large group of blue birds swooping down along the inlet of "Lake George" and the circle around and swoop again. My bird photography skills are lacking, but you can see a few pictures of the large group and a few blue blurs. I also spotted two deer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmakar/sets/72157600051608866/

Other items to note in the photos:

• A large group (gaggle) of Canadian Geese circling over Lake George
• The brambles that are growing between the trail and the inlet
• The snow falling (it was 30 degrees and windy when we started, probably 25 and snowy when we finished)
• The large tree gnawed by a beaver
• A traditional beaver hut
• A junkyard beaver hut (where we saw the beaver swimming)
• The beautiful (and foggy) land that has giant pines on the south (left side) and a tractor road down the middle of the trail

When the Freeville Trail is completed people will be able to walk from Dryden Lake to Freeville with limited street crossings. This portion of the trail goes through mostly undeveloped land and was mostly quiet.

Saturday Morning Jaunts

Farm Stand
Originally uploaded by Walking Tompkins.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went on a wine tour with a group of friends. Thirteen of us met at my friends Christa and Kyle's house, loaded into a van and trekked to the east side of Seneca Lake. Since it was a fabulous day I decided that instead of leaving my house at 10:55 to get to their house at 10:59 (2 miles away) I would instead leave at 10:20 and walk the two miles. I photoblogged the walk for a series I am continuing called "Walking Tompkins County".

My walk was a straight shot heading northwest up Slaterville Road (also known as route 79). After I hit the crest of the hill where Crispell's Truck Stop is located I took out the camera to take a few pictures.

The first notable structure was a farm stand and gazebo on the south side of the road. In April there is very little for the local farms to sell, but come September or October there will be cars parked all along this stretch of 79. For now there is nothing more than a little hand painted sign with the word "Thanks" in white.

A bit on down the road there is a tennis court nearly hidden from view. At 65 miles per hour most drivers probably don't see this during the summer (when the leaves are all filled in).

I noticed a couple of houses down that there was a pile (or a number of piles) of wood chips. Some of them looked fresh, some were definitely from last year. I remember seeing them before and thinking I could park on the street late at night and load up my trunk with some fresh chips. I wonder if the owners will ever make use of them.

Up next I saw the familiar Bethel Grove Bible Church. Familiar in that I drive by it everytime I go downtown, though I've never actually been there. It is quite famous as bible churches in Ithaca go.

I noticed a sign for the Congregation Ahavat Yahshua on the yard of a house just in front of the Bethel Grove Bible Church. I've noticed this sign for the last 18 months off and on and never could figure out where it was when I saw it. I think they only put it out on Saturday mornings during their meetings and then hide it away the rest of the week. I must have passed it a lot last summer going to dragon boat club practice and then on the way home it was always gone. I guess now I know for sure where they meet (not that I even know what a Congregation Ahavat Yahshua is!).

The next building is the Bethel Grove Community Center (I think thats the name!) where I voted last November. Off in the distance behind the center is the housing development of East King Road. Sometimes as I'm driving down this stretch and looking up at that hill I imagine the entire hill being completely developed into these houses. It is sort of scary to imagine that many more people living in Ithaca, but I'm sure that people thought the same 20 - 50 - 100 years ago about the population then and now.

About a half mile later I passed "A New Leaf," which is an orchid, house plant and perinnials green house business that my friend Greg owns. There are a few of his plants here in my house and he's full of information on taking care of plants indoors (which is very useful given our long winters).

Next to Greg's are the NYSEG powerlines. They cut a swath through the Tompkins County countryside like no other entity. You can follow the line across the town and throughout the state. Perhaps someday with the right technology we can harness the sun, wind and geothermal energy to have enough renewable and clean energy sources to eliminate these very powerlines. That's not going to happen on its own, not overnight and probably not without the help of leadership in our politicians and governments.

The last stop on today's walk (yesterday's walk) was my friend's Christa and Kyle's house. I got there just in time to meet everyone, load up the van and get a move on! There was wine to by sampled.

See all of the walk's pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingtompkins/tags/april29/

At the end of the day I hitched a ride home with D  & B. When I have a bit more time, I'll walk some more of Tompkins County. Do you want to join me?

Hands against the wall

Hands against the wall
Originally uploaded by Walking Tompkins.

I went for a walk today (Thursday). I just had to go outside. I grabbed my camera and started walking down route 79 towards town around 12:10pm. I turned left and walked up Brooktondale Road (heading east) and when I got to Banks Road I looked at Six Mile Creek and the hill and told myself that my goal was to hike to the top of the hill.

My first distraction was to depart the road and check out the creek and the bridge. Under the bridge I found an amazing set of handprints from this past summer and some other white painted graffiti. I watched the water rush by and stopped to see the paw prints in the tiny stones at the shore of the creek.

I hit the road slowly moving south and seeing horse shoe tracks. I was only about a mile or so from my house and I hadn't ever seen any horses in my neighborhood, but there were definitely signs of horses on Banks Road. A little further on I saw why. There were three giant horses in the field behind Brookton Hollow Farm.

I continued my climb up Banks Road to Coddington Road, stopping every so often to listen the the brook that ran paralled to the road and to listen to the grasses as the wind whipped through them.

About halfway up the hill I noticed a hubcap and then four tires in the brook. I looked a little closer around the tires and noticed the legs of a deer. No deer though, just two legs with hooves and about 18 inches of deer leg. I am guessing the deer was hit by a car and the wild animals of the area pulled the deer apart. There wasn't any blood or anything. The whole scene weirded me out, but not enough that I couldn't take a few pictures to show you.

When I got past the tree line to a field I knew immediately I was near a cow pasture. The scent carried by the hilltop wind surrounded me. I pushed on wondering if the thin wire fence on the otherside of the brook was electrified. At the top of the hill I paused to take a few pictures of the valley between Coddington Road and Slaterville Road and noted that my house was not in view. I took a picture of Cornell way off in the distance and then headed back down Banks Road.

At the bottom of the hill I headed east once again towards Besemer Road. Just over another small creek bridge I found the Roe Cemetary. I climbed up the hill on the north side of Brooktondale Road and took pictures of the gravestones and read the dates and ages and poems from the stones.

I continued on my way, turning a sharp left and climbing the small hill to Slaterville Road. Throughout the whole walk I was thinking about a walker in New York City who walked on every road in Manhattan over the course of a year or two. I thought maybe I would start today and see how many roads in Tompkins County I could traverse. So now there will be a new blog topic and I've already created a new flickr account that will document the journey by foot around the county. It may take years, but it will be worth seeing what the county has to offer.

See the pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingtompkins