No Waterfall Left Behind! (The Ithaca TR )

“Does this rain ever let up? Not for more than 5 minutes, speaking for us. NJpacker is on his way to Jersey. Crash Bang is here with us and we are pooped. After such an incredible weekend, it's hard to put a TR together when the brains are scrambled eggs! I will post early tomorrow morning and instead, work on the pics tonight, so I can have them ready to post also. Good night, folks!”

“Did you leave Mapes in jail?”

“can't wait to see the pics. unfortunately i didn't take any.. didn't have my camera.”

“Here's a preview pic.

”

“nice pic lz”

“I ran into some absolutely vicious rain in Southeast NY while driving back...

Anyway, my camera battery is recouperating recharging itself as I type so that tomorrow night it'll have enough juice to send over some 200+ pictures of waterfalls on 9 different creeks to my computer. Vee shall see how many turn out good enough to brag about...

That should give Treebeard some time to post the lead-off TR...”

“Nice. So who all was there?”

“I am off to work...and looking forward to some great trip reports to read !!!!...I'm glad y'all had fun...now.....details...details.....hugs...”

“My trip report is on the other page. Just so that you all know. I won't copy it to here, because



we are all WAITING for Treebeard's report!!!

But I did leave out the part about how every hike was punctuated by torrential rain. This just made the waterfalls more awesome.”

“Made it home, er back to the hotel in Greensboro, NC, about 12:30 last night. Didn't have bad rain at all UNTIL a little North of Roanoke, VA then it poured!

To answer DUB, well - it'd be easier to just say there weren't any west coasters there.

We had a blast - Treebeard did an awesome job setting this one up, thanks again brutha!”

“Very nice pic.”

“who's that little man at the left top of the waterfall waving over to you, z?”

“ScorchFire - Some random person.


Sunday ended up being a really good day for photographing waterfalls with the overcast skies. Some of the shots I took I was able to set the shutter speed down to 1/4 of a second.”

“Yeah, none of those stinky West Coasters were there.”

“At least we had two representatives from our neighbor to the north.”

“CANADIENS ROCK !!!!

Doug's marinated venison was prepared with alot of love (not that kind).

Helinka shared some excellent beer with me and I'm bummed we didn't get a chance to get to hike together.


We are the Champions, My Friends! And we'll keep on cooking.... 'till the end.

Waaaaa, I wanna go swimming!”

“Lots of interesting posts and comments, esp Lyndy's report.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures.”

“OK Folks,

all the pics are still not uploaded and titles and captions need to be done, but I'm kinda at work and will have to finish tonight. Still... pictures are worth something like, alittle pulled pork, wouldn't you say Jack.Canine???


Chef Bobo - 2004 Ithaca Cookoff Champion!”

“Phew! What happened? There I was and here I am. Did I grope anybody? Do I need a lawyer?

Great trip organized to perfection by treebeard, and I will begin work in organizing next year's convocation somewhere in sunny wet West Virginia. There are a lot of considerations that have to go into this, so it will take some time until plans are finalized.

Okay, some TT awards:

Drunkest: Pottymouth
Most embarassing moment: Pottymouth
Greatest distance traveled with a kayak that was not used: Pottymouth
Hello Mr. Ranger: Pottymouth
Pottiest mouth: Pottymouth (THAT was sure a big surprise)
It's a sweep!

More to come later. I have a busy day ahead of me.”

“Ok I came in 10th place in the cooking contest(out of 9 entries) . There I said it!! I believe my quote was"Once again I showed up to a gun fight with a knife." The food was outstanding, Bobo didn't just win he creamed us! Buttttt, he will not repeat, that is a promise.

Glad all are home safe so far and I will work on pictures a little later tonight.

What a crew, what fun, we are the champions!!!

JC”

“That's our Pottymouth!”

“10. Canadien Beer
9. TT'rs from EVERYWHERE
8. The Goodyear store was open on Sunday
7. The roads are wide enough for me to pass Pennsy on the shoulder!
6. Big campfire circles are cool
5. Eating cookoff food, need I say anymore about that?
4. Seeing Bobo leap from a springboard!
3. Best bargain on a trail guide EVER (8 bucks for Finger Lake maps and guide)
2. Getting yelled at by the Park Rangers.

And the number one reason the Ithaca Car Camping trip was awesome:............







1. Gorges are Gorgeous!!!!!”

“Thanks MSilver! Me and NJPacker compared notes on my two best hiking buds, you and RichB. Actually lots of people have hiked with you two lately, except me. I have to get into hiking shape and back into the loop. Too much studying. Anyway we all missed you two and talked about all the great trips we had done with the Scranton contingent. I drove by there on the way home and it is so close that I think that this winter I will have to drive there and then we can take one car to winter hikes west of you guys. That way you can wait for me in the comfort of your home rather than at a trailhead, while I drag in always later than I said I would be.”

“sounds like yall had a great time, hopefully next time one of these happens, ill be able to tag along.”

“And great pictures! Glad everyone had fun. It looks to have been an awesome trip! I'm jealous!
Beautiful Waterfall picture Treebeard. thanks for sharing!

I like the top ten list.

That Bobo Takes the party with him where he goes. My kinda guy.

But really.... whats more..... everyone from TT pretty much takes the party with them where they go!”

“I should have taken today off! Hard to get movin. Must have coffee.

I will get my pics up tonight.”

“you woulda LOVED this place.

theres waterfalls everywhere, and they are all terrific and different and BIG!!!!”

“Yeah Pottymouth was a wee bit drunk on Friday night. When, at 1:30AM she and a few others decided to go skinny dipping, I tried to talk them out of it, fearing the headlines of a drunken drowning for the Sunday edition. The rangers however, knew exactly what inebriated people do near rushing water on a full moon and were there to head them off. Some may say that I am a spoilsport or worrywart but I just would have felt terrible if someone had an accident. I already witnessed a broken arm during a bridge making escapade over a rushing creek, that started out being a lot of fun. And we all were stone sober at the time.”

“Great pics, Bobo!

Here's my fave so far:

Treebeard feeling no pain, and mapleleaf disgusted about it”

“Nice picture, bit.

That dude's eyes look like two piss holes in the snow.”

“that pic pretty much sums up the trip.

LOL

hey next time im going over the fence. let them try to stop me. damn evil park rangers!!!”

“Mapleleaf and the Swimming Hole of Doom.”

“Good morning, pottymouth!


That's big talk.....”

“Here's (part of) my TR!

Waterfalls, Gorges and Spirits!

Keeping this brief will be difficult, but let me start by saying that this was one of the most fun times I have ever had on a camping trip, period! All the elements of a great time were there. I estimated a head count of about 41 people total.

Day 1

NJPacker, who could be one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet, came all the way to Staten Island to pick up Stormbringer from the Treehouse, as we were packed in too tight to fit the extra passenger. We had son, Landstalker and his yet unnamed friend, Jesse with us. We set out about 10 AM and had a really nice ride up into Western New York State. Monitoring the rain and seeing that only some minor squalls were come upon, we were confident that we may get away without the torrential downpours of the past week. The only mishap was a flying life preserver that escaped from the hatch in Maple’s kayak. It literally went under NJ’s truck and got wedged under the car of some guy traveling behind him. I was perplexed when this other guy pulled off and pulled it out from under his car. We arrived at about 3 PM that afternoon. Geobeet was there with son, Paul, wife Elise and children Zac, Jake and Allison accompanying them. Pennsy was off hiking with Tango at Enfield Glen in the park we were staying in. Phantom Soul and Wounded Knee also arrived amidst this time period, as did Kelly (a relative of Winter Solstice’s ) and her children,. WS arrived later with her twins. Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent setting up. We wanted to swim, but the thunderboomer from earlier in the day axed that idea, as the lifeguards were pulled form duty. Later on, Lyndy S arrived with 4 children. By the time we got set up and Pennsy and Tango came back, we all got acquainted and dinnertime set upon us. Most of us ate, although I suspect that a few drank their dinner. It was dark out and of course the order of the evening was to enjoy each other’s company around a campfire. So, being that Snafu had not shown yet with his Home Depot size trailerload of forestry, Pennsy and I decided to make an ice and beer run to Wegman’s in Ithaca. We stopped for a quick view of Buttermilk Falls, and that was just a quick, pull-off-the-road teaser for what the weekend was to bring. We got back and made a fire and before you knew it, along came Snafu, loaded to the gills with a truck full of wood. The rest of a beautiful evening was some great conversation around the fire and a lot of laughs. Roam arrived under th cover of darkness, slithering into camp like a snake after its prey! :)

Day 2

We all woke up fairly early, as we were anxious to get the show on the road and see what this wonderful region has to offer. So, much to do and down to too few days to do it all in, already. Penns and Tango had already done the 4 mile loop within the park, so they opted to go off and explore some of the other falls and gorges (see their reports and pics). PS, Roam, Snafu and NJPacker went along with them. Geobeet went with his grandson and family to some other attractions nearby, including the falls at Taughannock. Maple, myself, Landstalker and Jesse rounded up Wounded Knee, Stormbringer and Lyndy and crew and decided to do the loop at Treman park. We started by walking past the swimming area, which was open today and decided that, when we get back, we must do this. We went up along the gorge trail and expected to do the rim trail coming back. Let me tell you, one thing about this area is that the walks are anything but boring. There is something interesting around almost every bend. Whether it be a gorge, waterfall, a natural ampitheater or something simple like a bed of tiger lilies nestled in the green near the stratified rocks, there is always something pretty to look at. We made a stop along the way, where Stormbringer stripped down to his all-too-revealing undies and swam amidst the slippery rocks by a small waterfall in the gorge. Near the end of the first two miles was the piece de resistence. Lucifer Falls – 115 feet of magnificence that you get to walk along and go up the stone steps. The pictures will hopefully tell the story. At this point we got caught in a torrential downpour, but it added a spectacular element to this wonderful place! When we got to the end of the end of the first two miles, Landstalker was a bit worn from some of the climbing and Maple’s knee was starting to give out, so we walked back the gorge trail while the others took the rim trail. Both were two miles, but we weren’t sure of the elevation on the rim trail, so we went back the way we came, knowing that it was mostly downhill.

We got back and decided to go swimming. The area was open and the sun was fighting to come back out. The water temp was 63 degrees and I was ready! I made the first plunge. There is a diving board near the small falls and it is at least 12 feet deep there. The swan dive took me a bit deep and the water was mighty cold as I went deeper. Boy, did that wake my body up! As I got to the surface, I was feeling the refreshing delight of the cool water. I tried to swim into the falls, but the current was pushing me back and I was going nowhere. I got out and the lifeguard told me that the rain had added some pressure behind the current. Maple went in and I took a few pics of her. She went along the side and rocked climbed horizontally to get under the waterfall. I followed suit and we both spent some time sitting on a rock with the water cascading down on us. A little bit of heaven here on earth, folks!
When we went back to camp, we saw many of the days’ arrivals gathering in camp and it ecame obvious that this group was growing by leaps and bounds. JackCanine and his wife, Nancy were there. Sir Pete and his wife also. Lumberzac, Capn Bobo and Gremlin were also there. Calwater3 and Wendy, his girlfriend showed up, as well as Mark-O with Janet and son, Linus to round things out. Jeez, did I forget anyone? We decided to have pizzas so Geo and I went out and ordered six pies for those that wanted it and took a walk through the Commons of downtown Ithaca. A band was playing and the place was really cool. We went back to camp, ate and got into the “spirit” of things. The campfire was great that night and, with the group pretty much in force, we really partied hearty that night!


(To be continued) Sorry for the length, but, believe it or not, this is the short version!”

“That's the best crazy Guggenheim impression I've seen in a while....”

“How could I leave Scorch and Shep out? Easy, when you have scrambled eggs for brains and all those people to remember! They arrived on Friday night too. Now, I believe that rounds it out!”

“Whatta mug in that pic! Thanks, Bit!!”

“we had pizza?
we ate?
when?”

“Like Tree said, I rolled into camp around 2:30 in the am Friday morning and promptly collapsed after the 10 hour drive. Waking up ready to go about 7:00, hooked up with Pennsy, Tango, Phantom, NJPacker, helinka and Snafu to go make the rounds.

First we did Buttermilk Falls and thought the main fall that you see from teh front area was really incredible. BUT, we walked up the side trail thinking it would just give us a view from the top, well, it keeps going, and going and going, and, well you get the idea... The trail goes up through the gorge for about 1.5 miles and around every bend is a new perspective on another waterfall! Incredible - I've never seen anything like it.

Next we drove north to Farifield Glen, more waterfall scenes, a really large nice one, but didn't seem to be able to get above it wihtout breaking all the rules and risking life and limb.

After that came "Great Gully" this one took a little doing to find. Pennsy even stopped to ask some kid wearing a cape for directions, and the kid came through! Great Gully was nice, but there wasn't much waterflow in it and we didn't hike all the way up the creek.

Next came Moonshine Falls. It may have been about here that Pennsy made the hard left that almost got us all killed. Running along about 55 on the country hiway, when all of a sudden somebody hollers to Pennsy "THERES THE ROAD" Pennsy's leading and I'm following in my car when all of a sudden he stops! I can't stop and I go whizzing by him on the shoulder fo the road. Amazingly, noone in my car screamed or anything, it was all just a real calm, near catastrophic experience. This was a nice one about 1/4 mile off the road down a trail through the woods. Helinka scouted it out and came back to say she thought it was really there. (Note, we didn't really have any real directions to these things, just vauge hints) Great Gully and Moonshine are not in state parks. We treked back into the woods following a clear path and start to hear the rumble. Moonshine Falls is about a 40 or so foot cascade from an overhang into the gorge below. No way to get to the base of this one without some rope and none of us trusted the moldy looking net that was hanging from the old rusted fence. SO we took our pics from the top and went back to the car.

After the "incident" I took the lead to try and find Salmon Creek Falls in "the back of a park in the tiny hamlet of Ludlowsville" (thats all the directions we had). So we head out crosscountry and lo and behold, helinka's map reading takes us right into the "tiny hamlet of Ludlowsville" and sure enough there's a park. Drive into the park and damned if I don't hear the unmistakeable rumble of a large waterfall.

This thing was HUGE with LOTS of flow. about a 25 foot drop but its about 30 foot wide. Running so hard that the mist is coming about 15 feet off the base and creating a rainbow!

We all go downt to the base and we all got drenched, thank goodness the camera's survived.

This was the most impressive fall in terms of size and water volume.

From here we took off to go find Taughannock, the bid daddy and last one for the day. Snafu sent me up the wrong highway so we had to backtrack. Having lost Pennsy in town traffice, we actually were suprised to pull into the parking lot right behind them!

Taughannock is a really easy 3/4 mile walk up the park along a really nice little creek. The cascade is HUGE 215 feet high! You gotta see this one if you go up to the area.

At this point we all decided to go for a Chinese buffet back in Ithaca, and we had picked up Wounded Knee, Calmwater and Wendy at this spot as well.

End of Day 1”

“Can't wait for the captions.
Great Report Treebeard. Did ya all miss me at least a little?? Just a little??”

“Dang, now I have to apologize to Helinka too. She came all the way from Canadanada, and I forgot her too! Well, that what happens when you rush! She was awesome to meet and hope whe joins us on some future trips. Thanks for coming all the way down, H!”

“Gem, seriously, we missed you a lot. You would have loved this trip!”

“Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Wegmans.”

“:)

I can't wait for more pictures. It DID look like ya'll had A LOT of fun!

Even my kids would've loved this trip (looking at the pics) After my friend left I was at home, pretty much in a bad mood.

Wonder why...”

“I second that Geo!

They have some choice meat!”

“Okay, it needs to be said, so I'll say it.

I was lost somewhere in the depths of Wegmans and met up with MarkO, Hurricane Janet, and Linus. We urked and gawgled about how great the place was. They had eaten lunch there and were shopping. I was shopping for the ingredients to my cookoff dish, which I was worried whether they would have the ingredients. I needen't have worried. They were all there in abundance.

I even found the meat counter well stocked and declined to even look further at the deli for fear I'd buy a ton of food I'd never eat.

The beer department was fabulous, with some of the more popular European beers in stock and some not so popular.

As I wandered around (aimlessly at times, my lower jaw dangling somewhere below my knees), I thought to myself that Wegmans is worth a camping trip alone. Next time I go camping up there, I'm taking no food or beer. I can use the space for something else.”

“Geo, thanks for the Wegman's TR. I must admit that I made 4 trips there over the weekend!”

“hey don't forget that our little 12 year old son entered the cook-off!!
his veggie dish truly rocked!”

“No problem, Treebeard! don't take'em, I just point'em out!”

“I've got pics that I just don't dare to post. But the rest of the trip is on my camera at home and right now I am in very bad need of caffeine and/or beer.”