Favorite non-blue line area in NY

Outside of Catskills or Adirondacks, what's yer favorite.  Be vague, be specific... I don't care.

I've been to a lot of the state forest areas in the Finger Lakes and CNY and the area around Canadice Lake is among my favorites.

Two regional ones i like are :


1 the Donnerville Forest in N. RUssell ,Ny. I USE to xc  up there trail rose for a mile then  crossed an upland marsh and continued over to the Town of Claire dump. 7 mile run , 14 round trip .There are 2 separate really nice spurs that were great long twisting downhill runs to the Grasse River great spot s for lunch . This used to be really fun until the damn ATVs started to crown up the trail

2. Wellesley Island in the 1000 Island Park, there is a cool nature center there with beaucoup trails for hiking and or xc skiing , skiing mostly intermediate xc , on pre cambrian. Ridges and other pack forest undulating terrain and ponds .. Nice day of skiing

There is great A frame lodge , circular granite fp again , a great stop for lunch there also great viewing and learning center if there are non skiers in your group  best of all its free !!  Only cost the 1000 is bridge toll at the end of rt 81 to the Island

 Well, Plattekill is technically not in the Catskills, it is in CNY, so I am going to have to go with that. When the snow falls, I frequently visit Gilbert Lake state forest, and or Glimmerglass for XC skiing. Both have very beautiful pine forests.

There are not a lot of state parks in CNY, so I'm guessing you have probably been to them since you say you have been to a lot of the parks in CNY.

Woodstream is a cool place too!

MikeK wrote

 the area around Canadice Lake is among my favorites.

Oh, you mean Letchworth State Park. Dude, you're WAY out West, I thought I was out West.  I've been there too, but only in the summer. Actually did a week bike trip out there and back from Oneonta once.

Ethan Snow wrote

Woodstream is a cool place too!

Spam alert!!  

Ethan Snow wrote

MikeK wrote

 the area around Canadice Lake is among my favorites.

Oh, you mean Letchworth State Park. Dude, you're WAY out West, I thought I was out West.  I've been there too, but only in the summer. Actually did a week bike trip out there and back from Oneonta once.

No I meant more right in the vicinity of Candice Lake - Canadice/Hemlock State Forest, Harriet Hollister Spencer Recreation Area, Hunt Hollow Ski Area.

Both HHS and HH are on the ridge immediately to the east of Canadice Lake.

From paddling to biking to skiing, all those are my favorite outside the Adirondacks (or Catskills).

I don't necessarily mean state parks - there are wildlife management areas, special management areas, state forests, etc... there is actually a fair deal of public land in CNY, but it is somewhat fragmented.

Ethan Snow wrote

 

There are not a lot of state parks in CNY, so I'm guessing you have probably been to them since you say you have been to a lot of the parks in CNY.
 

LOL

It is a bit funny (to me) that you say that Ethan...

I did a weekend backpack trip south of Cortland in the spring a few years to Kennedy State Forest and surrounding areas.  I was driving around on backroads looking for a particular trailhead and an old guy in a pickup slowed and rolled his window as we were about to pass.  I thought perhaps he would know what I was looking for so I rolled mine down and stopped.

I told him I was looking for state land...  his response:

"There ain't no state land around here!"

This was about 10 o'clock in the morning, and I'm pretty sure he was drunk... but anyway, being from Southern NY his behavior wasn't foreign to me.  But I also knew he was full of shit because I had a map of the area right next to me.

Anyway, I found the trailhead I was looking for, it wasn't very easy to find... had a good weekend.  Camp might recognize some of these areas:

Finger Lakes Trail ---- goes thru my back yard

That pic of the fawn is one of the coolest I've ever seen. Did you take that?

Are you trying to be funny? that's not state land, that's Greek Peak.

Looks like any forest In Southern, and central NY.

I'm not trying to say that there aren't good places to adventure in CNY, just saying that they aren't a lot of them, and they are not as unique. I like Glimmerglass, and Gilbert Lake because they are actually reminiscent of the ADK.

campgottagopee wrote

Finger Lakes Trail ---- goes thru my back yard

That pic of the fawn is one of the coolest I've ever seen. Did you take that?

Yup - Greek Peak of course where those ski trails are.

My wife took it.  She found it in a bunch of brush where the DEC had clear cut a few acres of land for habitat research.  I think she heard it crying and walked over and saw it.  Then she came back and got me and the camera.  We didn't get to close because we didn't want to stink up the area and spook the mother.

Anyway, it was a perfect hiding spot.  We would have never known it was there if it wasn't crying.

Ethan Snow wrote

Are you trying to be funny? that's not state land, that's Greek Peak.

Yeah Greek Peak is surrounded by state land.  I just happened to hike up to the top and past on my little trip.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/regions_pdf/kennedy.pdf

Lots of chunks like that in CNY.

Ethan Snow wrote

Are you trying to be funny? that's not state land, that's Greek Peak.

 

Hey, Einstein --- the Finger Lakes Trail goes right thru the state land that borders Greek Peak

MikeK wrote

campgottagopee wrote

Finger Lakes Trail ---- goes thru my back yard

That pic of the fawn is one of the coolest I've ever seen. Did you take that?

Yup - Greek Peak of course where those ski trails are.

My wife took it.  She found it in a bunch of brush where the DEC had clear cut a few acres of land for habitat research.  I think she heard it crying and walked over and saw it.  Then she came back and got me and the camera.  We didn't get to close because we didn't want to stink up the area and spook the mother.

Anyway, it was a perfect hiding spot.  We would have never known it was there if it wasn't crying.

That's cool

Hopefully the lil fella survived and those damn coyotes didn't get it

Ethan Snow wrote

, just saying that they aren't a lot of them, and they are not as unique.

Green are state parks

The while thing looks green to me. I forgot about Homer Folks state forest right in my backyard.

Heres a nice video of it:



It's really small though. I mean, there are lots of little places, but you can hike across them with flip flops in like a half hour.

I have Physics, and Calculus homework to do... Two weeks of class left.

Byebye

Ethan Snow wrote

 just saying that they aren't a lot of them, and they are not as unique.

skimore wrote

Green are state parks

Ethan, are you talking about an alternate universe NYS?

campgottagopee wrote

That's cool

Hopefully the lil fella survived and those damn coyotes didn't get it

Well it's been a couple years now... so if the yotes didn't get it, you probably did

We were following some yote poo trails this past weekend and we happened to find a small hoof in one of them... so they do get some of the fawns.

Ethan - don't be sour dude.  I'm just wondering what areas outside our big parks people really like.  Small or big, some of them are nice spots.

This is a spot I really like, but I can't tell where it is... it's one of my secret spots:





It's at the bottom of a Hemlock gully on a flat spot by a small waterfall.  It can't be seen from any trails and it's somewhere in Southern NY

Let me put it this way, every time I venture off into some unknown forrest in CNY, I generally run into a redneck with a gun who is very put out that I was on his property. IMO, most of CNY is made up of shitty small towns that are relatively close together, and most of the land in-between them is private farm land. But, like I said, there are a FEW nice places, and nice State forests, but they are not abundant. I think maybe we are talking about a different CNY. I am talking about the divide between the ADK, and the Cats, while I think you are talking about the finger lakes region which I can not speak for.