March 29 I hiked another section of the FLT, part of the Onondaga Trail spur.

I was planning to hike south from Tinkers Falls, and I parked in the large parking area on the West side of Route 91.  I followed the sign to the falls, 1/4 mile.  This trail takes you to the base of the falls.  There's a bench there, and the falls are very impressive.

I tried to scramble up the bank on the left side of the falls, and made it about 2/3 of the way up.  It was too steep, muddy, leaves, and I had to kneel to get that far.  So I slid back down.  I headed back towards the road, and saw a road up towards the grade above the falls, and took that.  It joined a road coming up from Route 91, a little north of the trail to the falls.  Up I went, and found the trail markers for the trail, orange and blue.  I turned right toward the falls, and found myself where I was a few years ago eating lunch.  I took some more photos from above the falls.

The water was really roiling.  The step across the channel where the water runs was about as far as I could stretch out.  Both sides were smooth rock, covered by wet leaves.  I looked upstream for a better crossing, but it was wider up there.  I went back to the narrow channel.  I could probably leap across, and I might even be able to stretch across.  But if I slipped, it would be into the water and over the falls.  I decided not to.

So I could go home, or I could hike north to Herlihy Road.  I had hiked that section of the trail several years ago, but I decided to hike it again, since I was already all muddy and wet.  Up I went.  The altimeter in the parking lot was 1305.  At the top of the grade it was 2050.  I was pretty well soaked to the skin, mostly from sweat, by the time I reached the point where the trail began to level off.  When I approached the summit, near the hang glider takeoff area on the cliff above the Labrador Unique area, I began to see the pond down in the valley.  I took a couple of photos there.

 I reached the clearing at the hang glider take off point at the top of the cliff that overlooks the Labrador Unique Area.  There are a couple of fire rings here, but it is also clearly marked for no camping.  I considered that if I should not get back with enough daylight to get back to the car, I could put up my bivy on this level spot.  If it weren't so misty, the night views of lights in the valley would probably be impressive, but the forecast called for continued rain through the night.  And that meant no stars.  In addition, there didn't seem to be a nearby source of water for cooking.

After leaving the clearing the trail turns east and over Jones Hill.  This is a very wet area, at least during the thaw.  Several old roads are crossed.  After a mile or so, a good descent to Spruce Pond, a man made pond.  There is a signboard there and then you go across the dam.  There is a clearing here and a camping area, at the end of Herlihy road.  This is an over-used area, and there were lots of empty beer cans.

Back into the woods, a turn north and a 300' climb up Fellows Hill, followed by a turn west and down a drainage to Herlihy Road.  The last 1.3 miles of this trail is from this point on Herlihy Road to its junction with Route 80.

Then I turned around and returned to my car, reaching it before dark.

Here are the maps.  I used Velcro, sewn to the top of my baseball cap, to attach my GPS.  This left my hands free to use the hiking poles.  I was happy to get a better track, and the unit seemed to get signal right through the hood of the rain suit also.