September 18, 2023
I have never been so glad to see a “Road Closed” sign on our route
Watkins Glen to Ithaca-route change, grazing geese, Robert H Treman State Park, racing a thunderstorm into town
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The photo above is my attempt at a retake of one taken by the Andersons in their Return to Rome Pt. 1 journal. It was THE photo that convinced me to come to the Finger Lakes region.
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7 months ago
In Scott’s photo above, Shequaga Falls appears to be falling right into the middle of town. When I saw it, I knew that I had to see that.
Scott and Rachel were here in mid-summer; we are here in the fall after a relatively dry summer, which accounts for the somewhat anemic look of the falls in my photo. Up close it was maybe a bit more impressive.
Maybe…? At least our rides look impressive.
Well, in person it was worth it. One local lady told me that in the spring, you can feel the spray from the falls 2 blocks away.
We changed our route to Ithaca to shorten it up a bit, partly to try to beat the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms and partly because we are all a bit tired. Amber was able to do a RWGPS route using heat maps to avoid too much highway riding.
Leaving Montour Falls, we turned east and immediately began to climb up a steep ridge-8 to 10% steep for a little over a mile. We then climbed more gradually for the next 4 miles for a total of 1000 ft. of elevation and then the roads leveled out to gentle undulations through mostly forested land that eventually opened up into cleared fields of corn and hay and some fields left to go wild.
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Our revised route took us up another 500 ft. climb and we knew there was another potentially very tough one coming up.
Soon we were descending down a long, steep, winding road that was clearly part of the notch that precedes the last climb. Looking forward I could see a linear clearing extending straight up the equally steep hill ahead of us. The closer I got the steeper it looked! At first I thought it was a utility pole clearing but soon it became obvious that it was the road we were on.
Wow! We all were glad that the road was closed.
Fortunately there was an alternative route that went around this hill and right past the northern entrance into Robert H. Treman State Park. Since it was only about 1:30 and we were less than 8 miles from Ithaca, we turned in to take a look.
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From the parking lot we hiked in about a 1/2 mile through another beautiful and almost magical river gorge.
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7 months ago
The trail went on for another few miles and past more falls but we decided to ride to the southern entrance to the park and hike from there so we returned to our bikes.
As we rode down to the southern entrance, I couldn’t help but notice a line of dark, threatening clouds blowing our way. At the entrance we checked the Accuweather radar which indicated a series of strong thunderstorms were moving directly toward us.
So we decided to postpone our little hike and rode quickly towards Ithaca to try to beat the rain. We descended further down into a valley and into town, through newer developments, over a creek and into downtown. Soon we could see the Hotel Ithaca, a prominent high-rise. Yay, we beat the rain and our rooms were ready for check-in.
Here is Amber’s video for todays ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa0k4R31Bck
We are in Ithaca for 4 days; tomorrow is a rest day. Laundry and exploring downtown are on the list to do. Then we plan to do some some day rides and hiking.
Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 308 miles (496 km)
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