Sun, lake, family, mud, bugs, and one unforgettable porcupine.
I love Skaneateles in the summertime. The lake is so clear and beautiful, and by July has usually warmed up enough for me to enjoy swimming in it. Plus the 12 of us get to spend lots of time together, chatting, playing games, and relaxing on the beach. And there are often visits from family friends to add to the fun.
Family was the focus this week, but I was still able to squeeze in a couple of hikes and other workouts. The experience is so different from hiking in California and Colorado — muddy, buggy, and humid. Lee’s parents had also been talking about the tick situation, especially the lone star tick which can cause alpha-gal syndrome, and that had me a bit freaked out. I made sure I was covered from head to toe, sprayed myself with bug spray, and showered as soon as I got home after each hike.
A note on tracking: I’ve switched from AllTrails to Apple Watch/Fitness for distance and elevation tracking. AllTrails tends to overstate distances, and I’d rather prioritize accuracy. Elevation gain figures may vary from other sources.
Saturday, July 4 — Strength
60 min Total Strength w/Andy Speer + 10 min Full Body Stretch on Peloton
I was eager to hang out with family, so I did a strength workout rather than going out for a hike. It was a nice, well-rounded full body workout, and I felt pretty great considering the long travel day and short night of sleep — it was close to 1am when we finally got to Skaneateles.
Our niece Leah, who just graduated high school, had 5 of her friends over all day and night, which was quite an experience! That evening we had a great time roasting marshmallows and watching the amateur fireworks shows put on by neighbors around the lake.
Sunday, July 5 — Moderate
Hoxie Gorge to McGraw Marathon Road, Hoxie Gorge State Forest (AllTrails)
7.83 mi / 1,273 ft elevation gain
This wasn’t a fun hike. It started at SUNY Cortland’s Hoxie Gorge property, which borders the state forest. It had been raining a lot, so the ground was really wet. I was actually happy about that, since wet and muddy is one aspect of the UK C2C I haven’t been able to emulate out west. But it was super buggy, the trail was overgrown, and the AllTrails path didn’t match the actual trail.
At one point, I found myself on a super-steep, slippery, leaf-covered hillside with no discernible path down to cross the stream. I’d recently sized up my Topo Vistas by half a size, and standing on that steeply sloped hillside my feet were sliding around inside them, so I was essentially standing on the sides of my shoes. After I managed to get across, I decided to mostly ignore AllTrails and just follow the white blazes instead.
Then, at about 2.5 miles in, I emerged from the forest at the edge of someone’s farmland. I followed the edge of their field for a bit, then the path dumped me onto a country road. I followed that road, turned onto another for a total of about a mile, and finally reached a grassy path again. That lasted about 50 yards before the grass became almost as tall as I am with no way through or around. I turned around, grabbed my PBJ out of my bag to eat on the walk back down the road, and called it.
It was about 3pm when I made it back to Skaneateles and I was sad to have wasted the day on this hike.
Monday, July 6 — Yoga
60 min Yoga w/Denis on Peloton
I wasn’t ready to spend another day on the trail, and my trail runners were caked in mud anyway — no wearing them inside. I pivoted to a barefoot workout, and yoga turned out to be exactly what my body and mind needed. It was a cooler, overcast, rainy day, so we spent the rest of it playing games and hanging out at camp.
Tuesday, July 7 — Long
Morgan Hill Loop Trail, Morgan Hill State Forest (AllTrails)
11.12 mi / 2,306 ft elevation gain
See featured hike below!
Wednesday, July 8 — Lake Time
Swimming and water skiing on Skaneateles Lake
The warmest and sunniest day of the week, so we spent most of it at the lake. I went water skiing along with our nephew Jamie, and spent time helping our niece Lulu learn to ski. She made it up on her 4th try but is so far only able to stay up a few minutes — we’ll practice more tomorrow!
Thursday, July 9 — Yoga + SUP
45 min Yoga w/Zacharias on Peloton
2.07 mi paddleboard across Skaneateles Lake and back
I started the morning with a challenging yoga flow, then we again spent most of the day on the lake. Lee and I paddled across to the west side; him in a kayak, me on a paddleboard. We also spent more time on the skis and Lulu is improving quickly! It was a fabulous last full day with the family. I’m excited to go to Florida, but sad to be leaving tomorrow.
Friday, July 10 — Rest
Travel to Florida
Not the best travel day. Up at 5am, and our flight would have been fine if the plane had actually taken off. Instead, after boarding, the captain announced one of the A/C units had an issue, and eventually they had us deplane. With no further information from the gate agents and our connection clearly missed, Lee called American and wisely insisted they move us to an earlier flight out of Syracuse rather than just changing our connection — a move that saved us a lot of stress. We thought we’d have a tight connection in Charlotte, but learned that flight was delayed too, so we stopped for a cocktail before heading to the gate. They started boarding, then encountered another maintenance issue. After more waiting, we finally made it to Tampa just over 6 hours late.
Week Total: 18.95 miles / 3,579 ft elevation gain hiking + 2.07 miles paddling
Featured Hike: Morgan Hill Loop Trail, Morgan Hill State Forest
After Sunday’s deeply unsatisfying hike, I needed something to restore my faith in Finger Lakes trails. Morgan Hill State Forest delivered completely.
It turns out I was hiking on the same trail system as Sunday — the Finger Lakes Trail, which covers far more than just the Finger Lakes region: about 1,000 miles of trails including all branches. Much of it also forms part of the North Country Trail, which spans 4,800 miles across 8 states, from Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota to the Appalachian Trail in Vermont. The trail has lean-tos with privies, fire rings, and picnic tables for thru-hikers throughout.
The trail was well-maintained and well-marked with blazes, a pleasant change from my usual California trails where blazes are rare. It started with a steep 400-foot climb over half a mile, then a similarly steep descent to the beautiful Tinker Falls. I spent a while exploring before reminding myself I still had 9.5 miles to go.
Back up another steep incline, and at mile 2.8 I reached the hang glider launch. Unfortunately I’d left mine at home, so I kept hiking. Around this time I started hearing the sound of loud machinery, which continued for about 45 minutes before I finally found the source: a logging truck piling up a giant stack of logs alongside a gravel road.
A little while later I came around a corner and heard a rattling sound. I looked to the right, and there was a porcupine, shaking its quills! I’d never seen one in the wild before. I stood and watched as it walked over to a tree and slowly climbed it, keeping a close eye on me the whole time.
When I got back to the road, my originally planned route had me turning right and walking 1.5 miles back to the car. But I wasn’t ready to head back yet, and I spotted a map showing I could cross the road and loop back around instead. I took that route, which first led me past a beautiful lake, then up a mountain biking path labeled “most difficult.” Turns out walking up it is most difficult for hikers too: steep, with steeply-banked turns and moguls with no bypasses. I was genuinely thrilled when that section ended.
The final stretch took me through the woods along a stream, past a lean-to and another small falls, and back to the car.
The larger Topo Vistas felt better today, but my feet still move around a lot no matter how tightly I lace them. I’m going to keep monitoring the shoe situation, and maybe try some alternatives, heading into the Coast to Coast.
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