Already blessed with an abundance of nearby trails to enjoy, Lori and I have been exploring some of the other options in the Finger Lakes area. We’ve had a very wet summer and fall making some trails muddy messes. (At least our rainfall was uniformly distributed unlike our unfortunate neighbors in the south getting clobbered with torrential storm destruction.)
We checked out Birdseye Hollow State Forest and found the main northeast-to-southwest trail was too swampy to enjoy. The Finger Lakes Trail part going through the State Forest looked like it may have parts at higher elevations that could have drained a bit better. Sanford Lake looked promising for a short relaxing paddle and an easy launch at a nice boat launch on the south end. We ended up walking about 4+ miles along a trail section from Sanford Lake and up a dirt road through some nice woods.
Finger Lakes National Forest looks much more promising for hiking. It’s along the ridge separating Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. It’s an interesting mix of hardwood forest and open pasture lands in active use by local farmers. We sampled a few miles of the No-Tan-Takto and Interloken trails and thoroughly enjoyed them–we will be back for some more serious exploration of the extensive possibilities.
Paul Duncan 
Gotta love Fall in NY. One thing I miss for sure if the fall colors and nip in the air. Unfortunately that thing called “winter” comes right after it ….. Thanks for sharing !
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It’s all in your perspective: Winter can be a delightful time to ski and snowshoe and enjoy the crisp tidiness of new-fallen snow. Our gripe is that Winter should properly be done in 4 weeks instead of the 14 months it seems to last. We seem to be getting a head start this year–it’s been damp, gloomy, and quite cold. But at least it’s windy. Now you folks have to put up with the Great Migration from the north of those too wimpy (or too smart) to stick it out here in the tundra.
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