Tramp & Trail

Write-up: Lu Blanchard
Leader: Lu Blanchard
Co-Leader: Meg Higgerson

The 100th Anniversary Hike took place on April 24, 2021 and the day could not have been nicer. (Our Tramp forefathers were watching out for us!) We met at the top of
Elm Street, in the Parkway parking lot and a fine gathering it was. Our members really got into the spirit of the 1920’s with bloomers, pack baskets, cloche hats and the like. WKTV was there with a reporter and a cameraman and they interviewed Meg Higgerson, 100^th Anniversary Committee Chair; Bobbie Scarpino, President; Lu Blanchard, representing Abigail Dimon; Linda Cox, Abigail Dimon’s great-niece; and two hikers joining us for their first time, Terry R. and Lisa L. Meg had all 50 strong line up behind our new banner for pictures and a “champagne” toast! Five of the members who hiked the Glen in 2005 also were present, Mary Cameron and Bill Wilson who led the hike, David Drew and John Gilbert. They didn’t hike with us this time, but it was good to have them come for the pictures and toast. Madonna and Don Fellows, Jean and Emil Misiaszek, and Nancy Agen also hiked in 2005 and did hike this time as well.

It was a first in a couple of ways. First time a leader was lost! Lu forgot her pack at the Parkway and went back to get it only to find that Bill Higgerson had picked it up and taken it to the other end of Valley View to wait for the hikers. Trouble was her car keys were in it, and her phone was home, so she couldn’t tell the others that she would have to catch up with them instead of driving around to meet them at the Parks Maintenance building. The info that she had gone back never made it to the front of the line, though, so Kathy and Meg were frantic trying to call her! Oh what a way to start!

It was also the first time most of us had seen Cascade Glen or the lovely property now owned by Mohawk Valley Water Authority (MVWA). The willows were beautiful and the reservoirs were full. We didn’t see much wildlife with this many hikers, but the antics of the hikers made up for it! The stream through the Glen was still strewn with shale and the effects of the floods of 2019 could be seen by the huge trees spread around the glen. The MVWA graciously gave up permission to hike into the property and it really was a special feeling to know that we were retracing the steps our founders had taken on their inaugural hike. In the words of one of our Tramps who couldn’t be there, “This is so much fun!”

The toast was, “To all the Tramps who led the way, who blazed the trails and seized the day. To all the Tramps now here today, and all those not yet born to play.
We salute you! Mazel Tov! (Good Luck)”

 

More Photos

Write-up: Sue Manier
Leader: Sue Manier
Co-Leader: Meg Higgerson

21 Tramps hiked the Link Trail that begins off of Chenango Street in Cazenovia on a cool spring day. Walking a short distance along the trail we crossed a small stream that with a short hop we tried not to get our shoes wet.  Continuing along the stream is a wooded field with well-constructed foot bridges. The group hiked 5 miles up to the entrance of the Stone Quarry Art Park. There we walked around enjoying the outdoor landscape and sculptures. On the way back we stopped at the Madison County Distillery for some liquid refreshments. It was nice to share some liquid comradery after a year’s hiatus.

Thanks to Sue and Meg for a great hike and Jim Wasielewski for taking the pictures.

(If you have Amazon Prime you can view a film about the Stone Quarry Art park.)

Write-up: Lu Blanchard
Leader: Lu Blanchard
Co-Leader: Bob Kane

As often happens with our hikes, the weather turned out much better than forecast and instead of morning rain and temps in the low 40s we had morning clouds which gave way to beautiful blue skies and sun with temps in the mid-50s. All I could think of while hiking is Gail H.’s comment on hiking on Sunday – we’re already in the blue-sky cathedral- could a church be any better?

There were five of us who explored the newly refurbished Foxy Brown x-country ski trail. According to a DEC sign, “the trail was named after Adirondack hermit Foxy Brown, whose real name was David Brennan. He moved to the area approximately in 1890 from Boston, NY(sic). Foxy Brown worked logging operations around Lake Pleasant and Speculator, then known as Newton Corners, before settling in the backcountry about 6-miles north of Piseco. He built himself a little log cabin at the lower end of an old logging flow on Fall Stream, where he lived for about 25 years….”

We were very pleased with the improvements to the trail-especially on the one stream (where an intrepid Tramp went through the snow bridge on a long-ago hike while x-country skiing with Harold and group, making for very wet and cold feet) which now has a beautiful bridge complete with a push-out, with benches no less! We took the opportunity to have lunch here. It still is a wet trail, but in the worst places, bridges have been added and a lot of cut-back has been done. There are still stands of balsam which would be lovely to walk through in the heat when the fragrance is at its peak. The trail also goes through a lot of hardwood stands that in the summer would be very cooling. Today we welcomed their openness which allowed the sun to shine through!

We heard very few birds, one woodpecker, one possible winter wren and saw even less wildlife. However, the amount of scat on the trail was evidence it is there. At one point along the western side of the trail it looked like a pack of coyotes had used the trail with multiple dumpings on about a 100-foot stretch. (Sorry, poop is cool when it happens on the trail and isn’t dog or human!) I’d suggest people get out and enjoy this trail and all the work that was done. Thanks to Mary Pat, Dianna, Kathleen and Bob for going on the hike with me.