Spring Equinox
Thank You for exploring with me the South Rim trail of Taughannock Falls State Park on this first day of Spring 2023.
Sundry elements
Uncategorized details from our Lighthouse Point adventures.
A humble and fertile weed.
Before the parade of mast-like iron poles was this wooden one where it was apparent there could be no light on the white tower without power.
On top and under the surface
Look closely, children
A demon greeting
The Views are the Reward
Here is the south end of Cayuga Lake on a bright November afternoon. Stewart Park is enjoyed by Ithacans year round.
Everyone is a fan of the Willows framing the lake views.
Can’t get enough of Stewart Park..
An unzoomed view, to give an idea of the distance across the water.
Pam and I have great memories of sailing this stretch from our years of membership in Cornell Family Sailing.
The east lake shore.
The West Lake Shore. This photograph captures the electric line that powers the Red Tower light. Seagulls enjoy that causeway…I’ve never seen humans walk it.
At the White Tower
The quarter mile jaunt over the causeway yields the reward of this view up the White Tower…..
…and this vantage of the Red Tower, the west shore of Cayuga Lake leading down to Crowbar Point in the distance, colored by Autumn.
The shore is privately owned, some lake houses are visible. To the right are moorings of the Ithaca Yacht Club.
A closer view of the Red Tower.
White Tower graffitti.
My thoughts exactly…
Causeway
Post 1 of Lighthouse Point provided an impression of our hike along the golf course, from there we turned onto this wooded path on the shores of Cayuga Inlet.
First view of the paired Lighthouses marking the Cayuga Inlet. The white tower is connected to shore by a causeway something less than a quarter mile in length. The red tower marks the other side. These navigation guides allow boats to safely enter the channel exiting the south end of Cayuga Lake. The Erie Canal connects to the north end, allowing access to the Great Lakes and, eventually, the Atlantic Ocean.
The 4-foot-high step up to the concrete causeway path is an insurmountable obstacle to some. I managed to clamber over.
Looking back to shore….
Rusted iron poles support the electric line for the white tower. They remind me of ship masts.
The straight shot back to shore.
Tree Atlas
November 3rd, 2022, Blessed Us with an azure sky, an Indian Summer Day. During our walks on Cass Park Shorts we’d look across to see hikers emerging from the gold course to walk the Lighthouse causeway. After decades of longing, these Ithaca residents took upon themselves the adventure of finding the path and walking it. This series of posts documents the walk and some treasures discovered on the way.
Northernmost, glaciated section of the Allegheny Plateau
For my last autumn posting this last day of November 2022 this colorful hall of trees is on the long descent of Lacey Road from Cortland to Tioga Counties where it passes close the meeting point of three counties near the Robinson Hollow State Forest, the third being Tompkins County.
We are travelling south on a northernmost, glaciated section of the Allegheny Plateau. In the 19th Century a lawyer named Calvin J. Robinson was a prominent citizen of nearby Richford.
sunlight, dappled shade
South/Southwest view from the long hill into Harford, stopping to admire the effect of sunlight, dappled shade and bright yellow, orange, red against the distant ridge sheltering Robinson Hollow. Near Harford, Cortland County, New York.
Happy Thanksgiving (USA) 2022
Driven Wells in Cortland County
For this series I travelled a short distance south from where Palmer Road intersects with Virgil Road, crossing the border from Tompkins to Cortland County, closer to Carpenter Hill.
In the 19th Century driven wells (also called tube wells) were an innovation developed in Cortland County under the command of a Civil War era Colonel Nelson W. Green who sought for twenty-two years to impose royalties on use of driven wells. I.H. Palmer assisted John W. Sugget, both of Cortland County, in a seminal patent law case they won in U.S. Supreme Court seeking the release from royalty payments from thousands of driven well installations throughout the Eastern and Midwestern United States. Their successful argument was for two years before any patent application, in Cortland County, driven wells were in use. I cannot say Palmer Road has a connection to I.H. Palmer, though it is an interesting historical aside.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 
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