Central & Western NY Outdoors
 June 2007 

     

 ~~~ IN THIS ISSUE ~~~         

ADK's Outdoor Expo

The East Coast Greenway

Everest Base Camp Exposition

Medical School Goes Out

What's Orienteering?

Victor Hiking Trails Hikes for 2007

Bulati Project is All Wet

No Trespassing at Big Falls & Deer Lick Falls - South of Zoar Valley

Andrew Skurka Hits the Trail Again

Coffee Walk Tours ? The Expert Guide Series

The Genesee Valley Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club is hosting the 10th Annual Outdoor Expo on Saturday June 9th from 9:00 - 4:00 on the beach at Mendon Ponds Park.

The Genesee Valley Chapter has organized this event with YOU in mind! Just come see what you can do in the Rochester area!

Demonstrations, discussions and activities will be offered all day on a wide variety of outdoor related topics. This is the perfect opportunity to connect with people who share the same interests as you, all in one location! The annual Expo attracts hundreds of people who attend more than forty workshops on various aspects of outdoor activities.

Attendees also view and inspect outdoor gear and try out canoes and kayaks on the Hundred Acre Pond. There will be over 50 local outdoor clubs and local outdoor retailers present.

        The East Coast Greenway

Today you can thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. In the future you'll be able to thru-ride the East Coast Greenway. The ECG is being built as a bicycle version of the Appalachian Trail, stretching 2,950 miles from Florida to Maine - all as off-road trail - some day. Today, about 20% of the trail exists and another 30% is in the development pipeline. Heck, it took 60 years to build the Appalachian Trail so this won't happen overnight. But, it is in process and it's a worthy goal to support.

Visit http://www.greenway.org for maps showing existing and future trail segments in each state it crosses, to learn more about this effort, and maybe even to offer your financial assistance.

      Everest Base Camp Exposition

Nepal has suffered greatly during the last 5 or 6 years of civil unrest.  Local sherpas would be  extorted to pay protection from the Maoist only to have the police harass them for supporting the Maoist.  However this last spring the Maoist laid down their arms and signed a peace agreement with the government.  The new stability has allowed trekkers to return in greater safety to the wonderful Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal.  If you have ever thought of visiting Nepal, now is an opportune time to help restore its economy and to visit this wonderful land.  See www.packpaddleski.com for more information.

 

 

The University of Rochester is committed to helping train a new generation of Doctor. As part of the Medical School, a Wilderness/Travel Medicine Elective is being offered.  The course runs over 5 indoor and one weekend session including wilderness medicine such as high altitude sickness, reinforcing the importance of creating a balance of life in the medical field, and wilderness sea kayaking skills.

In April, 8 students joined Dr. Tanzman and Rick French of Pack Paddle Ski on a wonderful weekend to culminate the program.  The calm weather mirrored the transition from harried med students to peaceful paddlers.  Refreshed the students returned to meet with the dean to propose an expedition to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and study the medical practices in Tanzania.

Do you enjoy problem solving, puzzles, running, hiking, map reading, navigation, or nature study? Orienteering combines all these skills and more in an exciting sport for the entire family. The following article by Heather Williams provides a good overview:

?Orienteering uses a detailed map and a compass to find points on the land. It can be enjoyed as a walk in the woods or as a competitive sport. A standard orienteering course consists of a series of control sites that are marked by circles on a map. They are connected by lines and numbered in the order to be visited. The control site circles are centered on the feature that is to be found; this feature is also defined by control descriptions (sometimes called clues). On the ground, a control flag marks the location that the orienteer must visit. To verify a visit, the orienteer uses a punch hanging next to the flag to mark his or her control card. Different punches make different patterns of holes in the paper. The route between controls (the flag or the site) is not specified, and is entirely up to the orienteer; this element of route choice and the ability to navigate through the forest are the essence of orienteering. Most orienteering events use staggered starts to ensure that each orienteer has a chance to do his or her own navigating, but there are several other popular formats, including relays and events in which the orienteer must find as many controls as possible within a specified time.?

People are drawn to the sport for many reasons. Some enjoy the thrill of the hunt. Finding a control deep in the woods provides a unique sense of accomplishment. Many enjoy the experience of navigating off of trails. With experience, the fear of becoming lost is replaced with confidence in the map and compass. Orienteering can take you to little-known areas of local parks and forests. A sense of wilderness is felt where none was expected. Nature is experienced directly, without the filter of trails, roads, and other man-made objects. For runners, orienteering offers a challenging and scenic alternative to asphalt and traffic.

Orienteering began in Scandinavia in the nineteenth century and was brought to the United States in the 1940?s. Locally, the Buffalo Orienteering Club, Rochester Orienteering Club, and Central New York Orienteering offer active schedules of meets and training events. Summer-long or permanent courses are available at several locations, including Chestnut Ridge, Letchworth, and Mendon Ponds Parks. These can be completed at your own pace. In the winter, cross-country ski orienteering meets are held. Check with your local club for upcoming events. Beginner instruction is always available.

      Victor Hiking Trails Hikes for 2007   

One Saturday each month, the folks from Victor Hiking Trails set out for an outdoors adventure. It's generally a small group of explorers and they welcome anyone to join them. Check the message line at 585-234-8226 for details on each outing. All hikes meet at the Victor Town Hall (85 East Main Street, Victor) rear parking lot at 9:00 a.m. unless otherwise noted.

June 2 - National Trails Day.

• Meet at Fishers Fire Station on High Street at 8:00 a.m. for a continental breakfast. Hike will begin at 9:00 a.m.

July 14 - Briggs Gully and Clark?s Gully creek walks
August 11 - Garnsey Road, McCord Woods and Horizon Hill
September 1 - Ring of Fire at Bare Hill
October 13 - Finger Lakes Trail, Bristol Hills Branch
November 10 - New Town of Webster Trails
December 8 - Helmer Nature Center, Durand Eastman Park and new Lakeshore Trail at Seabreeze

 

Along with school books the children of Bulati Village in Africa bring a handful of corn to school each day. This corn is ground on site to make porridge for lunch. After the rainy season the small tank of rainwater runs out. Then they bring water from distant wells.

A group of adventurers has started a nonprofit to bring school supplies next winter and to build a bigger water tank.  To date they have raised $4,0000!  During the Cancer Mt. Kilimanjaro climb next winter, Linda Artruc, a school teacher from Livonia, NY will be bringing over school supplies donated by her students. To find out more about this please see www.packpaddleski.com and hit the ?Matters That Matter? button.

The Nature Sanctuary Society of Western New York, Inc. recently purchased a tract of land that includes Big Falls on South Branch Cattaraugus Creek in the Town of Persia, Cattaraugus County, NY. According to Richard Rosche, president of the Nature Sanctuary Society, this piece of land has for many years been over-used and abused beyond its limits, as the site of wild parties, pot smoking, drug use, swimming and all sorts of other illegal activity. Therefore, visitation to the newly acquired Nature Sanctuary Society property which includes Big Falls is now limited to those carrying current membership cards indicating that they are members of the Nature Sanctuary Society of Western New York, Inc. Group visitation will be limited to those groups who have made prior arrangements with the Preserve Custodian or a Society Officer to be there and their goals and activities MUST be compatible with those of the Society.  At least one member of the group must possess a current membership card. Local law enforcement will charge anyone found on the property, without the membership cards, with criminal trespass charges and they will have to appear in the Persia Town Court and pay a fine.

Membership in the Society is open to all those who are sympathetic to the goals and aims of the organization.  Membership dues are $10.00 per year per family/address. Contact Richard C. Rosche, President, Nature Sanctuary Society of Western New York, Inc., 110 Maple Rd., East Aurora, NY 14052, 
(716) 652-8409, drosche2@verizon.net.

Likewise, Patrick McGlew, Niagara Frontier Project Director for The Nature Conservancy, states that Deer Lick Falls is also on private property. The Nature Conservancy does not want people trespassing to visit Deer Lick Falls .

Big Falls (The Falls) is described as a creekwalk in "200 Waterfalls in Central & Western New York - A Finders' Guide" on pages 175-180 (depending on the edition you reference). You can still creekwalk up the South Branch Cattaraugus Creek, Simply view Deer Lick Falls (a portion of it) from the creek, then turn around, to stay on DEC property and avoid arrest.

      
 Andrew Skurka Hits the Trail Again
          (thanks to Larry Blumburg for passing this along)

You may remember Andrew Skurka from previous newsletters. He's a twenty-something long distance hiker who hiked a "sea-to-sea" journey across the northern tier of the US, primarily hiking the route of the North Country Trail which of course includes a segment of our own Finger Lakes Trail. Andrew has been hiking and speaking out for environmental causes ever since. Now he's on a 6,875 mile hike which he calls the Great Western Loop...he'll be the first to ever attempt such a thing. By the time you read this he will be on his way.

Hello all -

Shortly after this Monday's sunrise (April 9, 2007) I will finally begin my hike of the Great Western Loop from Grandview Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Yahoo! The numbers about this expedition speak for themselves: 6,875 miles, 12 National Parks, 75 wilderness areas, 5 long-distance trails, 675 self-made miles across the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts, 1 telephone every 129 miles, and 0 hikers who have completed or attempted it. This will be the most challenging and difficult hike that I have undertaken, and in some respects also the most rewarding - over the next ~7 months I will get to experience the magnificence of many of the Lower 48's most pristine and cherished backcountry areas, including places like Yosemite, Crater Lake, Pasayten Wilderness, Glacier, Wind River Range, San Juan's, and Gila Wilderness.

Sadly, the experience of hiking the Great Western Loop appears that it will perhaps become less great in the future. If you have not already, I would encourage you to read up on the current and projected effects of global warming on the West's wild lands. Can you imagine Glacier National Park not having any more glaciers, or Joshua Tree National Park containing just 10 percent of its current Joshua tree population, or the ski season at Tahoe and Snoqualmie starting after the holidays and ending before February vacation, or grizzly bears in Greater Yellowstone again on the brink of extinction? I wish I could say that these were unfounded gloom-and-doom predictions of some hysteria-desiring left-wing amateur researcher, but by all credible accounts America's wonderful West is likely to offer a notably different outdoor experience within a generation.

For more information about the Great Western Loop, about global warming's effects on the West's wild lands, and how I think we can help mitigate these effects by becoming better environmental stewards, you can visit my recently re-launched website, www.AndrewSkurka.com. Soon after the hike begins, the website will also feature semi-weekly ~5-minute long "captain reports" via audio Podcasts; photo and video galleries that will be updated about every 2 weeks; and written updates from my (very nervous) mother, Karen.

I hope all of you are enjoying the warmer weather and are looking forward to some great trips this summer. Perhaps I will see you out there! Best, Andy

Start your summer off on the right foot with these leisurely morning walking tours to learn about Rochester area architecture and history. Meet with your group at 9:30 a.m. for coffee and pastry and then embark on a 2 hour tour. Group size is limited, so please register early. 

• June 26th, Charlotte   Walk description 
• July 14th, Mount Hope Avenue   Walk description 
• July 28th, Pittsford Village   Walk description 

 

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