Interloken Trail

The Interloken Trail runs the entire length of the Finger Lakes National Forest. The Finger Lakes National Forest is the only national forest in the state of New York, and it is the smallest national forest in the United States. We left on the Ravine Trail that travels through a small scenic ravine, a very nice place for cooling off. This trail connects with the Interloken Trail after about a mile. The Interloken Trail is a flat straight trail that has very little elevation. The forest has large boggy areas. We hiked after two days of rain so the boggs were swollen making a muddy mess of the trail. We believe that the trail is muddy all year long because we traveled on wooden walkways for miles. These man made walkways carry you over some pretty swampy areas. This is an excellent trail for beginners because road crossings divide the trail into segments. You can detirmine the length of your hike by how many segments you hike. Hook up your Jack Russell Terriers at all road crossings. The national forest service has Black Angus cattle on some of the forest property. They maintain a prarie of open pastures. You will come up on a sign that states, "What's Happening Here?" and a herd of about forty Black Angus cattle. To the left is a gate which you enter and cross the flowery prarie. We were quite surprised to realize that we would have to enter the pasture with forty Black Angus to continue. The JRT's were more than ready. They were able to cause complete chaos immediately apon entering the pasture, even while on lead. Don't forget to close the gate.

We were finally away from the herd, and we hiked through a prarie field full of yellow wild flowers like in the Wizard of Oz. After leaving the prarie field we traveled past several large ponds that were full of birds and other wildlife. Bandit was the first to discover a moving rock which turned out to be a large Box Turtle. This became a five alarm fire when Nitro and Buzz discover that it was moving. We turned around at Teeter's Pond and return the way we came. We hiked on a beautiful day and except for the mud, it was a great 12 mile hike. The Jack Russell Terriers were covered in dark black mud. We have never seen them as dirty as that day in all the hikes we have ever taken.