Thanks to John’s hike planning and his influence with the weather, we enjoyed a great hike along the  top of the Letchworth Gorge and in the forest and gulleys above the gorge.

The hikes were mostly on well maintained dry trail, which was newly blazed and marked with mile markers.  Near the end of the tourist’s hike, we did run into some wet mud, which Duffy thought was great.

The Climbers carpooled from the Mt Morris Dam parking area to Access Pt D on River Rd.  From there, they hiked about 5 miles back to the Dam.

The Tourists carpooled to Hog’s Back Overlook, and hiked south to Access Pt D.  At the halfway point, we met the climbers and got the keys to their cars, for the ride back.  The Tourists started with a good view of the gorge at Hog’s Back, and then went by four more vantage points, with each view getting more interesting. Duffy was very good about not chasing any animals over the edge of the gorge, because Pati said she wasn’t going down to rescue him.

Meanwhile, the Naturalists left from the Dam and hiked out past Hog’s Back and then turned around and returned to the cars.

This was definitely a winter hike, with no undergrowth or leaves blocking our views.  We all enjoyed the various trees that we passed, including this old man’s face taken by Char. Be sure to look at Tony’s pictures posted in the Springwater Trails group on Facebook..

Following the hike, ten hikers met at the Charred American Grill in Mt Morris for burgers and beer – including a delicious Black Bean Burger that Pati enjoyed.