Foray Walk Locations
Walk 1: Early Bird Walk, Thursday 1:30-4 PM
The Cayuga Nature Center, directly across the street from the camp where some activities are taking place, also hosts several miles of trails through about 100 acres of open forest and old field. We won’t get on a bus for this one, but we will meet briefly at the bus pickup location and then start off into the CNC trail system.
A northern temperate broadleaf forest region, the trails transition through several habitats in quick succession giving many options to the savvy mycologist!
Walk 2: Visit to the Bigfoot Capital, Friday 8:30-11:30 AM
This is a great walk to drive yourself if you miss the bus space, and with that option you could choose to spend the whole day at this very large and diverse site without exploring all of it. The bus will drop us off where a few trails come together for us to disperse along. The trails range from mild open tractor paths to moderate single file woodland trails, and there are many more within ~2 miles inside the park if you’d prefer to avoid the crowd. Trails are pretty well documented on most major hiking apps.
Many Beech Hemlock stands are peppered with some occasional mixed deciduous blocks and some older forestry conifers in one section.
And yes, this is the location of many pre-industrial bigfoot sightings and more! Learn more about the spooky history of the site on this podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-2-visitors-on-connecticut-hill/id1646285012?i=1000602731892
Walk 3: Watch for Cliffs! Friday 8:30-11:30 AM
At the bottom of the hike is a cliffside view of the lake. Be careful, and do not approach the edge of the cliffs.
Cross a small Meadow under restoration to follow a creek down to a mature Oak Hickory forest . A moderate hike, expect around 2 miles to complete the lollipop through the most mature woodland section. This preserve only opened a couple years ago, and is the least well known site. We expect plenty of park firsts especially if the weather is dry and we have to look at small things.
Walk 4: How Do You Pronounce That? Friday 1-4 PM
One of the easiest and most accessible walks with some great views, the northward option being especially flat and open leading to perhaps the photo-op of the weekend. The southern branch does have a few stone stairs and some short inclines, the northern route crosses on a bridge but is mostly flat to very mild. Most hikers will take a 1-1.5m option, a 3 mile loop from the parking lot is a lovely hike but would be pretty tough to complete at a mushroom hunters pace in the time we have on site.
The two trail options offer strikingly different habitats to choose from, a classic mesic beech hemlock fragment, and a more Xeric oak rich mixed successional forest. The park sees a fair amount of other people, primarily on the lower trail we’ll be looking down on for water recreation.
Walk 5: I Can See My Tent! Friday 1-4 PM
Directly across the lake from the camp, with binoculars, you might actually see the camp’s lakeside face. From where the bus parks, head uphill into a conifer section where some mature planted red and white pine intersperse Hemlock and some Beech remnants or head downhill towards the lakeside in search of Chalkland Webcaps. ~1.5 miles round trip to the lakefront.
Walk 6: Step in the Same River, Saturday 8:30-11:30 AM
You can't step in the same river twice the song tells us, and despite the water always changing, always flowing you can step in the same creek many of Cornell’s mycologists once did. This preserve offers a trail that cuts up into an Oak Hickory hillside or out through a spruce pine plantation to mature forest and on to Six Mile creek. Dip your toes in carefully, the slate can be slippery; and then return the way you came for a 1-1.5 mile round trip depending on how you wound your way to the lean to at the trail end.
Walk 7: Down into the Hollow, Saturday 1-4 PM
A 1.7 mile loop out and around a bog. Possibly the most rigorous hike of the weekend, bugs can still be pretty active this time of year near the bog but the glacially carved hollow protects a robust baygall community. The persistent moisture makes this a solid backup in case of a dry event, and the unusual habitat offers opportunities to help bolster the weekend species count.
Walk 8: All the Country Squares, Saturday 8:30-4, All Day
We will have a landing area setup at a primitive group camping site in this park, with a local expert hanging generally around the parking area / pavilion pathway to help advise you. The park roads follow many of the original allotment lines, and are arranged into ~1m sections. Many trails converge at or within a few hundred yards along the road from the parking area. Even more are within another 5 minute drive, and you’re welcome to drive your group rather than take the bus if you’d like a little more control of your schedule or to try a trail a little further from the bus drop. Halfway between the site and Camp is the town of Trumansburg should you need any supplies or want to explore some local atmosphere.
Bonus Walks
Our land management partners have been very generous with their time and space. You are free to revisit any of these sites on your own with the bus group, or after the bus group has gone.
If you go into the nearest town Trumansburg for any supplies, you’ll find yourself next to Smith Woods a small park we can access. This old growth remnant is currently managed by the Paleontological Research Institution and has a very diverse understory worth walking through.
Should you find that you still want to get out on your own, or have trouble making the timings of a foray work when you want to get out in the woods; come see one of Walk Leaders especially David McCheyne and we can recommend an alternative trail in one of the parks a group is visiting or even a different hike visiting one of the properties being conserved by our partners that we would love your help surveying for fungal biodiversity but parking or property size made a lesser choice for the bus groups.