Finger Lakes Adventure, Part 1

Yesterday a group of three headed out to the Hi Tor wildlife management site just south of Canandaigua Finger Lake. We were lead by RP; he was familiar with the site we were to hike. After a brief discussion, I put full faith in the trail he was about to take us on.

We started at the trailhead, a snow-covered makeshift parking lot. A long, steep, and arduous ascent greeted us. RP commented that what he liked about this hike was that the hard part was first. We paused about halfway up to catch our breath. My heart was pounding and my chest desperately trying to pump out as much oxygen as possible from the cold air. We continued and I start to lag behind, opting to go at my own pace for my own health.

At the top we sat for a bit overlooking a gorge. I found a long stick with huge walking stick potential and set it where I could find it on the way back. From here we walked on towards a creek crossing. We came upon three climbing ropes tethered to trees, one of which laid across the trail like a trip wire; on the creek bed below were two climbers, one spotting, the other climbing the 50-foot face of ice; icicles were perched near the top, probably weakening as the day warmed. The forecast called for highs well above freezing.

The first test of my faith in RP’s trail was a creek crossing about 8 feet from where the creek dropped 50-feet to the gorge below. The creek had a layer of ice above it. When RP stepped out onto the frozen ice, it cracked but did not break. On the other side was a steep hill we needed to crawl up. With roots and saplings as foot and handhold we made it up and followed the creek upstream.

The sight was beautiful. Ice and snow, with streaming water tunneling through the ice. The sides were layers of carved shale. The creek bed was visible in parts and testament to the power of such a small creek to make this semi-hard shale bed appear as gently sifted sand. We came to areas that many would consider impassable, but RP trekked on and we followed cautiously but somewhat blindly.

While trying to forge the creek, RP broke through the ice and was soaked ankle deep in the icy cold water. We followed along a safe route and stayed dry. We had to cross the creek several times as the side we were on proved to be too difficult to pass. The next forging presented my first introduction to the icy cold water. I was standing on a rock, waiting for RP to safely cross, when the rock I was standing on gave way and collapsed into the water; it was a chunk of ice with the shape of a rock I was standing on.

Brrr! I quickly began wiggling my toes back to life and the fear of frostbite started to creep into my mind. We came upon a handful of wonderful frozen waterfalls. The second to largest one, at about ten feet, provided a dangerous and exciting passage. Shifting along an ice-covered ledge about four inches wide, while grasping an overhang, we headed towards a wall to the left of the waterfall. RP had found a passage there that involved climbing this wall on the layered crumbling shale and then sliding across some ice at the top of the waterfall’s crest to surer footing.

At this point, I started to wonder where we were heading and what path we were taking back. It is one thing to climb up slippery ledges; it is another to go down them — gravity adding, hectically, to your momentum. We were heading towards the biggest waterfall on this creek, an impassible 20-plus feet frozen beauty. From here we would go back the way we came until we found a hillside we could climb up and get back to the main trail along the top of the gorge we were in.

We came to the final waterfall, tried briefly to make it up the slope nearby but it was too steep and the large sheets of shale and rocks were too loose. We headed along the creek, retracing our steps until we came to the falls where we climbed the wall. We knew this was where we had to go up, but no one mentioned it; we just started going up the hill.

It was steep; we crawled up almost vertically, with moist leaves and loose dirt giving way the whole way up. It proved to be the most arduous leg of this hike, maybe because we had been hiking for several hours, or because it required tremendous coordination of upper and lower body strength. I was the last one to the top; I had taken a venture more to the left of the other two, thinking the numerous trees would provide better footing, but it was too steep and I could not get past a small mound that was nearly vertical.

When we got to the top, we rested, then found the well-groomed trail, and headed back to the trailhead. I picked up the potential walking stick and broke it down to a suitable size. I tried but failed to whistle and hum at the same time, a feat RP had mastered before and Ry turned out to be a natural at. A lot of strange sounds were heard from Hi Tor that afternoon. Back at the car, the snow-covered makeshift parking lot was now a muddy mess. In the car, I sat in the back and toyed with a nap while RP and Ry discussed the issues of our generation.

No comments yet.