Novice Hike FLT Series still has openings! July 11, Aug 8, and Sept 12

“Hiking 101 – A Finger Lakes Sampler” Learn to Hike Series

The Finger Lakes Trail Conference invites you to participate in the first “Hiking 101 – Learn to Hike Series”. This series of three guided hikes is geared towards the novice hiker (with little or no experience) and will cover more than 16 miles, take place in three different counties and sample some of the beautiful and varied hiking on the Finger Lakes Trail. Our goal is to expose you to the great sport of hiking. Hikes are scheduled for the second Saturday of the month from July to September. This hike series would be considered an easy to moderate level of hiking with some steep altitude gains and losses in the third hike. Hikes will vary from 5.1 to 6.3 miles.

Each hike will begin with all hikers assembling at the end point. Buses will transport you to the beginning point for the hike so you will be able to hike at a comfortable hiking speed and enjoy the beauty of the trail. Experienced hikers will guide the smaller groups from the beginning of each hike back to their cars. Hiking groups will range from “nature appreciative” to medium fast hiking “speeds”. There will be a “sag wagon” strategically placed at crossroads with water and snacks. The sag wagon can give you a ride back to your car if you become exhausted on the hike.

The series will end at Ontario County Park with a picnic for all hikers to celebrate personal accomplishments on the footpath. Enjoy food and drink, an awards ceremony (to receive your embroidered patch for completing the series) and some great conversation with friends that you met on the trail.

Registration is required and will be limited to 65 hikers for this series.
Rain or shine
Dates: July 11 August 8 September 12
Buses leave at 9:15am. No pets.

All registrations are due in the FLTC Office by July 9, 2009. First come, first serve. Cost for the entire series is $30.00 per person (children under 18/adult = $25). The hike plot for the entire series with parking locations will be sent to paid registrants.

Registration form can be found at www.fingerlakestrail.org or call 585-658-9320

For more information, please feel free to contact the “Hiking 101″ hike leader, Paul Hoffman by e-mail paulhoff@frontiernet.net (preferred) or by phone 585-335-3688.

Show Support for Paddle Waterways

Editorial in timesunion.com by William Mirabile, Link to original post

I appreciated Phil Brown’s June 15 op-ed piece, “Paddlers face murky waters: Navigable waterways are bogged down in legal limbo.”

While some illegal blockages of navigable waterways in the Adirondacks have been removed as a result of state land acquisition, others, like the one on Shingle Shanty Brook, are still there in violation of common law rights.

As Mr. Brown said, the important thing now for all who enjoy paddling on New York’s navigable waterways is to get A-701 passed in the Legislature. Paddlers should write supporting letters to Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Gov. David Paterson and Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis and anyone in the Senate who seems to be in charge.

To find out more about this public right, see the authoritative article by Ken Hamm, of DEC’s Office of General Counsel, in the 2008 Conservationist magazine. A free copy of the booklet, “Public Navigation Rights in New York State: Questions and Answers,” is available from the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks (518-377-1452) or on the association’s Web site (http://www.protectadks.org) under “Publications.”

State wants input about the future of Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville

by Maureen Nolan / The Post-Standard , link to original post

State park officials will need some extra chairs if even a sliver of Green Lakes State Park users show up Tuesday for a meeting about its future. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation says some 850,000 of you visit the park in Fayetteville annually.

The state is creating an updated master plan for Green Lakes and is asking for public input at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday July 7 at Pine Grove Middle School, 6318 Fremont Road, East Syracuse.

The current plan dates back to 1970, parks department spokesman Dan Keefe said. With about 850,000 visitors a year, Green Lakes is one of the busiest state parks in Upstate New York, he said. Last year, the state launched an effort to update the plans for all its parks.  “The goal is to do 25 over the next five years,” Keefe said.

The state will accept written comments until Aug. 7. They may be emailed or mailed to Mark Hohengasser, Planning Bureau, Agency Building One, Empire State Plaza, Albany NY 12238.

The plan is supposed to be adopted in December 2010, after a public hearing.

Green Lakes is perhaps best know for its two glacial, meromictic lakes. Meromictic means the upper and lower levels of water do not mix, which gives the lakes their vivid color.

Watch a video of Manlius-Pebble Hill students at Green Lakes.

Read about recent improvements to the park.

Should you wonder who all those Green Lakes visitors are, here is some demographic information from the state:

– Of the more than 800,000 annual visitors, 51 percent come from Onondaga County, 40 percent come from elsewhere in New York State and 9 percent come form outside the state.
– The average annual household income of visitors is $50,000.
– Most visitors have some level of college education
– The average length of a day visit is about 4 hours
– The average length of a camping visit is 7.5 days

DEC TV

Aired in 2005, these TV video clips are now available on the web. Topics include outdoor recreation, plants, wildlife, and DEC at work.

The outdoor recreation segment includes videos on camping, hiking, geocaching, kayaking, canoeing, birdwatching, cross-country skiing, the outdoors woman program, and many others.

Click here for DEC TV.

Battlefield ecology at Saratoga National Historical Park

Explore the wild-side of a battlefield! It’s no wonder Saratoga was at the heart of struggles for dominance – its natural resources are among the most valuable in the nation. The battlefield is a haven for wildlife and a blast to explore. Discover nature’s secrets through hands-on experiments with a park ranger. These free one-hour programs start at 6:30 pm on July 7 and July 14. Meet at the flag pole in the parking lot, bring water, insect repellant and be prepared to walk in wild fields. For event details call 518/664-9821 ext. 224. For more information, please contact Gina Johnson at 518/664-9821 ext. 227 or click here: Saratoga National Historical Park

Federal cash will let Schenectady County finish bike-hike trail work

By Michael Lamendola, Daily Gazette, link to original post

Schenectady County will finish connecting the state bike-hike trail between its borders by next year, using $1.7 million in federal stimulus money, the state announced Wednesday.

The county will begin work this year and complete it in the fall of 2010. The federal money will create and refurbish a 4.7-mile section of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail between Washington Avenue in the Stockade and Balltown Road in Niskayuna.

The bike-hike trail is part of the 500-mile-long Canalway Trail System that runs between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. Currently, the path from the west stops when it reaches Schenectady County Community College, then continues from Washington Avenue east into Albany County. The gap has existed for 20 years.

“We will have a uninterrupted bike trail from Rotterdam right to the Niskayuna-Colonie town line, clearly marked, easy to follow,” said Gary Hughes, Schenectady County legislator, D-Schenectady.

The county previously obtained federal funding to connect the Rotterdam portion of the trail through SCCC to lower State Street in Schenectady. The new connection will follow Union Street through the Stockade, turning left on North Jay Street through Little Italy to Union College. This portion of the trail will be on-road with special signs for hikers and bikers.

The next section of the trail, covering 3.4 miles, is off-road. It will be rebuilt as a wider trail with improved intersections and better drainage and connect from Union College to Balltown Road in Niskayuna.

The grant will also improve curbs, making them handicapped-accessible, and improve intersection crossings.

The county is also moving ahead with plans to use a $628,000 grant to create an urban bikeway connecting two city parks with the bike-hike trail near SCCC.

The new trail will create a park connector route for walkers and bikers traveling from Central Park through Vale Park, through downtown Schenectady and to the bike-hike trail that runs along Schenectady’s riverfront.

Touring NY E-Zine

Click here for the Touring NY E-Zine, a magazine on fun things to do around New York State. The outdoors related articles include:
Biking in Spafford Forest – A Pleasant Surprise by me
Bob Builds Boats in Fulton by Janet Clerkin
How I Joined the Bucket Brigade by Kirk W. House

Mandatory Bike Registration Unlikely in Ithaca

Yeah! Common sense prevails. Here’s an update of the Ithaca bike registration issue:

By Krisy Gashler • IthacaJournal.com, link to original article

A Common Council committee looks unlikely to support the idea of mandatory bike registration for anyone riding through the city.

While a subcommittee is still working on revising city law governing bicycles, the unpopular mandatory bike registration component will most likely be removed before the law returns for Common Council approval, Legislative Committee Chairman J.R. Clairborne, D-2nd, said.

“Everything is still on the table, but right now the momentum is toward not pushing the mandatory registration component,” Clairborne said. “The majority of people we’ve heard from have not been supportive of the mandatory requirement.”

In May the committee unanimously supported a law that would have required any person riding a bicycle anywhere in the city to register their bike with the Ithaca Police Department or face a $10 fine.

Registration itself would have been free, and the fine would have been waived once the bike was registered.

The intended purpose was primarily to make it easier for police to reunite people with their lost or stolen bicycles. The police department stores an entire garage full of recovered bikes, but it’s difficult to return the bikes if they’re not registered, Police Chief Ed Vallely said this month.

Bicyclists overwhelmingly opposed the idea, saying it would discourage bicycling and tourism, and could result in unfair, targeted enforcement by police.

Sue Freeman has written 14 guidebooks on outdoor recreation in central and western New York and manages the New York Outdoors Blog. While voluntary registration is a great idea, Freeman said, “never in all my research of central and western New York did I hear of a mandatory registration.”

“Ithaca obviously has some great bike trails in the area, and a lot of people go to Ithaca for vacation,” Freeman said. “I just couldn’t imagine somebody going there and biking down a trail and getting harassed for not being registered. It’s just so anti-visitors. It’d be easy enough for local people to register, though somewhat of a hassle, but to require that anybody who comes and bikes in that area be registered seemed absolutely like overkill to me.”

Clairborne emphasized that the law was never intended to apply to visitors, but acknowledged there was no language in the law exempting them.

Mandatory bike registration for city residents already exists in Ithaca’s city code, but it was removed from the code for revision and further study in 1992, City Clerk Julie Conley Holcomb said last month. It has not been actively enforced, she said.

Clairborne said in the uproar over the new mandatory registration idea, he’s asked bikers, “‘You do realize this is on the books right now? It does require mandatory registration, but it’s not been enforced regularly.’

“People kind of acknowledged that and said, ‘No mandatory registration,’” he said. “The public definitely has spoken very loud and clear.”

A Happy End to my Frigidaire Saga

Anyone who has been following my blog since January of this year (2009) probably remembers my post entitled “Frigidaire Sucks – Don’t Be Stupid Like Me.” It detailed my frustration with 2-year-old appliances with rusting front panels and a Frigidaire/Electrolux customer service department with a “not our problem” attitude.

I didn’t go quietly into rustville and now, 6 months later, I have new, unrusted appliances once again. I added an addendum to the bottom of the original post describing the resolution. If you’d like to read it, click here.

Fun on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal

How’s this for a great summer staycation?
Head to Waterloo and tent down at the Waterloo Harbor Campground.

Then spend a few days kayaking on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal which runs 20 miles between Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake. It’s part of the NYS Canal System. Then rent an Aqua Ball – human powered water ball and roll your way across the water.

Rentals (kayak, Aqua Balls, and water scooters) are available from a new watersports facility called Fuzzy Guppies.
Sounds like fun to me. (OK, I’m prejudiced. Fuzzy Guppies sells Footprint Press guidebooks.)