XC Skiing at Bear Swamp

Snow is hard to find around Ithaca this year, so a bunch of us decided to go searching for some powder elsewhere! We had a lovely day of cross country skiing at Bear Swamp State Forest, just southwest of Skaneateles Lake. Here's a map of the trails! The crew included Rob, Ben, Sarah, Emily, Rick (Emily's dad), and me. We departed from COE a little after 10am (after waiting for Ben to polish his rental skis...). The drive from Ithaca was approximately an hour.

About 5 minutes into the trip it was clear that I am by far the slowest XC skier ever. It probably didn't help that I went with a bunch of experts... The moments between falling on my face were quite enjoyable!

Most of the trails were really nice and fluffy with snow, but towards the end the trail followed a creek which was not frozen. This resulted in some very ice-laden skis which made it feel like we were snow-shoeing instead of skiing.

On the ride home we chatted and munched on some chocolate bars that Rob brought - yum! Also, this was my last day of adventures with Emily before she graduates and moves back to Colorado! I'm gonna miss this girl! Hopefully I'll have some Colorado posts in the near future...

Memorial Day on Skaneateles

We put in around 8:30am at the south end of the lake at Scott Park. During the short paddle down the inlet, we were welcomed by the fumes of burning garbage, but luckily that passed once we got to the lake.

Skaneateles is known for its steep cliffs and crystal-clear blue-green water. I must say, it complemented my purple boat quite well! The houses along the lake are hidden fairly well, so paddling here feels more secluded and ‘nature-y’.

We could see fish swimming more than 10 feet below our boats. I took this picture underwater:

It was a scorching hot day, so we spent a great deal of time playing around in the water. Ben helped me and Rob work on balanced braces and hand rolls. We found some flat rocks along a steep bank of the lake without houses on it where we stopped for lunch and went for a *short* dip:

Here are a couple pictures from our general shenanigans. We made music with our boats and random words.

Then Rob towed us back the last 1/2 mile because we felt he need to be woken up after eating too many peanut butter m&ms.

Date: Monday May 31st, 2010


Distance: 12.3 miles

That completes approximately 97 miles in a month (which is very close to 100).

All that’s left to the east of Cayuga is Otisco! To the west we still have Conesus, Hemlock, Canadice, Honeoye, and Canadaigua. Sadly, they’ll have to wait until the fall. Until then, stay posted for kayak adventures in New Hampshire!