I took my first backpacking trip of the season last weekend with 2 friends and we had a great time! We did a section of the Finger Lakes Trail in central southern NY. We hiked through the Klipnocky and Bully Hill States Forests, staying one night in a lean to (my first time!)
Total of 14.3 miles and 1975ft elevation gain. We started at the top and headed south.
This is my gear for the trip (minus clothes). After I loaded everything into my pack for the trip--including 2L of water--I am VERY proud to say my pack weight was 23lb!! This is a new low for me, especially considering just a year and half ago on my very first trip my pack weight was over 40lb. On my last trip I believe it was around 28lb, and even just 5lb less I could tell a difference in how my body felt carrying it several miles.
There wasn't really any "parking" for the trail access points. I parked on the side of the road somewhere, and Courtney parked on the grass at the other end and climbed over an electric fence and started hiking through someone's farm fields!
We had perfect weather that day and great views of the hillside. Courtney signed us in at all the trail registers we came across. Evidently we were right behind "Mac" for our hike. He had signed in right before us each time, but was heading for a different lean to.
We didn't see another soul on the trail, and had the shelter all to ourselves! It was right next to a creek and that made for a very nice background that evening. We all 3 set up our beds in the shelter, then collected firewood to get a fire going.
We all brought our stoves, and cooked dinner together on our "table". Kate harvested some wild ramps (onions) that we diced up with our knives and added to our meals. Yum!
9pm is backpacker's midnight, so we enjoyed watching the fire burn while the sun set as we settled down for bed.
We took our time getting around the next morning and after breakfast and coffee we hit the trail again for another 7 miles. The trail started out with some major elevation gain!
Kate has a geology degree, and found this awesome rocks with fossil imprints to show us in a creek!
After a few miles we found a nice big fallen log in the forest for us to rest and get lunch on! Nothing better than a bbq pulled pork sandwich on the trail!
A couple of miles from the end, some rain moved in and a light showers cooled us off the rest of the way back to the car. It was neat to watch the clouds moving through the hills and valleys.
We had a great time and felt accomplished after finishing the trail in good time!
Check back soon...I have more adventures coming!
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