No Waterfall Left Behind! (The Ithaca TR )

“Note to self, when leaving an area and following Treebeard back to camp, DO NOT be surprised when the 8 mile return trip is 36 miles has lots of u-turns, and takes you by lots of street with funny names... Thanks for the ride Tree.....
JC”

“Yes, but look at all the things you saw that way that you otherwise would have missed.”

“28 miles later... treebeard finds the campground LMAO. classic. we thought he was taking us some place where no one could find the bodies.”

“Okay, okay, enough picking on treebeard. He did have a serious problem since he comes from Brooklyn. It would have been a cinch for him to find the way if there had been delis on all the corners where he had to make turns. Give the man a break. Jeez!”

“yea, like geo said! he comes from brooklyn. he's a SPECIAL guy.”

“hey anyone want to challenge me to a firewood contest let me know...who was that that challenged me a few months back....

Well whoever it was musta thought twice after BOBO and i got the goods outta my truck for the fire Sat. night...




oh BTW my list of TTers i have met increased somewhat during this trip...ithink something near 30-fold....FIREFLY i got to give a big thanks for the generous offering...Tango it was great talkin with you after thinkning i would have the distance record for that trip...Scorch well thanks for the gas money...i used that on tolls before i got outta "New England" wherever that is...BTW after extending my driving time to something like 18 hours to cover 1028 miles i have to slap myself for stoppin off in Maryland for a "quick nap" got home at 2;30 AM monday morning...

Crash Bang it was good meetin you after following your progress on the AT...MOONERGIRL it was fun getting to know "both sides" of you...if anyone figures out Who i could be just let me know...but i dont think i have to worry about that now do i...and BTW if you guys were gonna make fun of the accent you coulda at least made sure i was somewhat soberish...dont wait until im zoned out...”

“Roam pretty much summed up our day 1 (Friday). Some of the falls were a bit more obscure and took a little effort to find, including a little brake check of Roam's car (heh heh...)

On Day 2 (Saturday), Pennsy, Tango, NJPacker, Roam Around, Helinka, Wounded Knee, and I headed over to Seneca Lake to check out the legendary Watkins Glen (and boy did it deliver). It took us a good 3 hours to walk about a mile and a half because we kept stopping every 100 ft or so to take pictures. I gotta tell ya, I'll agree with Roam that Salmon Creek had the largest falls and Taughannock had the tallest, but Watkins Glen takes the cake overall. That place was like something out of a storybook. Anyway, at the far end of the park, we ran into "The Geobeets" at the concession stand and hung out for a while before heading back along the Rim Trail. Nice views from the rim of the gorge.

From there, we headed over to the nearby Havanna Glen, where we actually had to pay to get in (in NY, if you stay at a state campground, the other parks waive the entrance fee they usually charge); apparently this was not a state park, but probably just a county or town park. However, it did not disappoint -- the falls were spectacular, and the ultra steep rim trail offered some nice views from above. Unfortunately, this was also the spot where my camera battery started to kick the bucket, so my pictures from here on in are very limited. :(

After Havanna, we drove back over to the Cayuga Lake/Ithaca area for a quick final stop at Lick Balls Falls (LOL). The tall 80 ft falls were actually 1/2 mile off the road along the Finger Lakes Trail (much of which is now being incorporated into the North Country National Scenic Trail (NY to ND), which I thought was really cool. We snapped a few pics there and really took a liking to the Finger Lakes Trail (to the point where Pennsy, NJPacker, and Roam Around bought out the local EMS's supply of guides to the trail -- I'll just have to get mine directly from the Finger Lakes Hiking Club).

Afterwards, we headed back to camp to rejoin the others, where my story once again merges with Treebeard's.

On Sunday morning after packing up camp, NJpacker, Crash Bang, Capn Bobo, Lumberzac, and I decided to do the "local loop" (Enfield Glen) at the park we were staying at. It was probably the longest hike of all the parks, but well worth it; Lucifer Falls were very cool. About halfway back from there, the sky opened up. We drove over to Buttermilk Park to meet up with "The Trees" et al, and stopped at Wendy's for lunch before heading out. The rain never let up until I got south of I-80 in NJ on the way home (including a 3-hour "layover" at my parents' in Southeast NY), where the clouds broke up just long enough to reveal a spectacular sunset before closing back up and pouring again. A fitting end to an amazing trip -- to bad my camera battery was dead because I would have so pulled over to get a couple shots of that.

Again, many thanks to "The Trees" for such a great trip. Rock on, dudes!

(Pictures to follow soon -- I'm still organizing them by park/creek...)”

“And BTW, quit making fun of Crooklyn; us New Yawkahs have to stick together...

..but everyone knows that Queens is cooler ;)”

“Great pictures and it sounds like everyone had lots of fun. All the food looks good too.”

“Hey, cool pics and stories, guys!

Attempts at familial democracy left me feeling divided during our 60 hours spent at the long anticipated and anxiously awaited, Ithaca car camping trip. Sadly the long weekend has come and gone already and I am green with envy that the others of you saw more waterfalls, museums and each other, more than I. In retrospect, the time at Robert Treman State Park was a grand success. Sharing time with my sister-in-law and nieces whom we hadn't seen in over a year, and meeting a wonderful group of TTers who gathered together for a common good, and appeasing my teens with trips to the mall in between trails and waterfalls, was a balancing act, yet a fantastic one.

It has just dawned on my why I haven't kept combustible fuel laying around the homestead these past few years, possibly a latent memory of a previous incident...

Within the first 15 minutes of our arrival at the state park, after hellos with my relatives and greetings to our fabulously awesome trip planner/hosts, Mapleleaf and Treebeard whom I instantly recognized from TT pictures, I went to task of unloading the vehicle. Maple and Tree had already set up camp for Kelly and the girls who had never camped before and arrived earlier in the day.

The sensible first born twin busily set up her newly purchased 5'x6' "personal space" maker that had a rain fly the size of a dishtowel(Maple was incredulous at this) Whaddya expect for a $17.99 Walmart special? My daughter planned to disappear into this cubicle ASAP and remain there for the duration.

Meanwhile, my 15 year old man/child NOMEX, born 23 minutes later than his sister, was discovering new ways of getting "firestarter sticks" to ignite faster than advertised, using Colman fuel as an accerlerant. Pay no never mind that there wasn't any readily available fuel nearby to feed the fire once started.

Not comprehending how the fire was extinguished, vague images of Maple and Tree dragging their cooler of ice and water over to the scene to add to the ice water that I threw towards it. Along with a vision of Geobeet standing there holding a mini fire extinguisher that SAVED THE DAY(thank-you x one million)My shock, lends me no recollection of this. My mind was somewhere else than the scene unfolding before my eyes. Nomex was standing in flames that were licking the brances above his head. The leaves and grass were saturated with afternoon rains prevented the fire from racing to the treetops and across the grass. Unbelievably his jeans, billowing t-shirt, hair and skin did not catch on fire. My repeated screams for Nomex to retreat from the flames were ignored as he tried to douse the flames with his Timberland work boots. Maybe Geo sprayed him as well.
THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU

Ithaca has a tropical rain forest feel to it with all the waterfalls and humidity. We saw an 8-10" long snake in a bush next to the river on our way to Lucifer falls. Also lizards, spiders and other bugs...before the rains came. Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls etc. etc. I want to go back soon.

The most amazing thing besides the group of wonderful TTers gathered in a beautiful place was the lack of mosquitos and other biting critters. There was a tick on my neck one night, but my suspicion was that it hitchhiked from Cape Cod on my gear.

In a way, I wish I could say, my teens are gearing up for the next camping trip, but next time maybe I won't be so insistent. I would have liked to have gotten to talk you all a lot more, though..

Landshark and friend Jess, kept us greatly entertained at the picnic table at site 39. They had all of us in stitches for hours.

IT WAS GREAT MEETING EVERYONE!!!”

“Fantastic time.

I love a great old get together!”

“great pics everyone. Look forward to seeing your artsy photos roam.”

“i came
i saw
i ate
i was a firefly
i did amaretto shots
i left”

“But CB, did you conquer? That is the real question...

BTW -- pictures uploading as I type. I guess everyone else is too -- it's ridiculously slow...”

“Pennsy's Pics

Now I can go look at everyone else's. Woohoo!”

“WOW, Pennsy those pics are incredible.”

“pictures PLUS captions! Finally!!!


Thanks, all pics are very nice.”

“Great TRs. I looked at a map today. Ithica would've been a quick hop across Canada for us. Wish we could've been there.”

“Ok, I'll have to admit that my photography is no match for Pennsy or Lumberzac or Capn Bobo, but check them out anyway -- I may have gotten something that they didn't. Apparently, my camera had trouble focusing a lot of the pictures -- not sure why, but I still managed to get a lot of good pictures.

Part I: Buttermilk Creek Collection

Part II: Fillmore Glen Collection

Part III: Cayuga Lake East Collection

Part IV: Taughannock Gorge Collection

Part V: Watkins Glen Collection

Part VI: Havanna Glen and Lick Brook Collections

Unfortunately, my camera battery died on me after this, as I was not expecting to take this many pictures, and as a result the last set is limited, and all my pictures of Enfield Glen are scavengered from others so I won't be posting those. C'est La Vie...”

“freakin AWESOME pictures...”

“My favorite of my Pics -- Salmon Creek Falls (in the Cayuga Lake East Collection). Click to view full size:

”

“breathtaking...”

“i did not conquer”

“so it appears that I'm gonna have to "work late" , ahem, tonight to look at all these pics.

Nice job PS, you got the rainbow!”

“You got the rainbow

Bug zappa

Rufus T Firefly”

“Hey, I was only jivin' about the west coasters!

I'm just jealous because the west is very cool.”

“OK, I still have to name the photos and download a few more.

http://community.webshots.com/album/164679084IBIZiG”

“Lots and lots of waterfall pictures...

WHERE ARE THE FRIGGIN' PARTY PEOPLE PICTURES????? ;-)”

“You know, I don't think I took a single photo in camp this time!”

“I think a lot of people deleted the camp pictures to fit in more waterfall pictures on their cameras.”

“I like to look at TT Trip photos and attach faces to the trail names.

This was one of the biggest groups ever and few photos of the TTers are posted, and the few that are don't have many captions.

Dang! Get to posting and naming some of these TTers! ;-)”

“Thank you bit!”

“No problem!”

“captions, man! get the captions!













ya slacker!”

“I have some people pics. Loading mine to webshots. Should be ready soon.

BTW, awesome pics from you other dudes...”

“"Dang! Get to posting and naming some of these TTers! ;-)"
StoveStomper
10:12:34 AM

I'm the short fat guy with no hair.”

“LOL, I've seen your pix MarkO.”

“No you haven't !”

“I'm the tall midget with the jet blond hair.”

“Yeah, zac looks Aero Flynn.”

“ok it may be small but it's purttyy”

“Hey, its purty already!”

“Thank you Miss Mapleleaf.”

“I thought you were coming Wang. What happened to you?”

“OIW
you were voted bestest troll on trail talk.
we heart you one your one inch wanger!”

“Sorry but no can come.

I go to doctor about wang. He take picture, invite me to big medical conference. I go to that instead.

I wish I go on camping trip with Miss Mapleleaf. When doctors see picture of wang, all lady doctor laugh.


I so sad.”

“Captions are up on most of my pics, can't you folks read!

Sorry, I crashed out last night and got most all of the pics posted but the second half (Lucifer Falls hike) needs captions. Also need to work on those darn group shots, they are very dark! Wrong time of the day for a group pic, but I'll work on it in Photoshop tonight.

mmmkay???”