I spent the weekend hiking the first 4 of the Finger Lakes Trail Passport series. You can find the details of the series on their website (http://www.fltconference.org/trail/). It's a great way to spend the weekend on some gorgeous hikes.
Each one varies in length, averaging around 3 or 4 miles. Not a lot so I was able to knock them out pretty quickly. It was also the first weekend I hiked with my dog, and he did a great job keeping up and got into the rhythm pretty quickly.
The first two were in Letchworth State Park, and were sections of the Letchworth Trail, a branch of the Finger Lakes Trail. You can't beat the views of the gorge and waterfalls. I've hiked the full trail before, and it's a great day or two. One note – if you do decide to hike the full trail Letchworth Park prohibits wild camping. You have to register for and stay in one of their official campsites.
The next two trails were many miles down the road. The first is near Swain, NY, and the next in Bully Hill State Forest.
Near Swain, much of the trail follows a long-abandoned railroad bed. This makes it a pretty easy walk, but the branch for the passport can get a bit swampy. Be prepared with plenty of insect repellant.
The next near Bully Hill is a very easy walk. It's one you'll want to take slowly to admire the creek you follow, and the old stone walls that once outlined farmer's fields. The fields are all long gone, overgrown with new (100 year old) forest.
At some point I'm planning on hiking the complete FLT, but this summer's goal is to complete the branch trails. Only two more to go. :-)
