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"Recreational Trails of Broome and Tioga Counties"


2nd Edition
Now with nine new locations!
More than 200 miles of mapped trails in Broome and Tioga Counties maintained for and used by hikers, bikers, and skiers.
By Donald S. Powell

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PREFACE

(To the 1997 edition)

I said a dozen years ago that someone should document the many hundreds of miles of trails in Broome County if they had the time available. In 1992, IBM made this possible. It soon became an interesting challenge to me to map the various trails. The hundreds of miles finally boiled down to about 80 within Broome’s borders because so many trails are transient, on posted property, inaccessible, or only a fraction of a mile in length.

We hope that this book will not only fulfill an immediate need for planning an excursion but also will aid hiking, biking, skiing, governmental, and motorized vehicular organizations in crystallizing long range goals.

(To the 2003 edition)

After six years and 783 copies sold, the demand for more books exists. I have updated all trail systems in this revised edition. The trails of seven additional state forests and eight different locations in Tioga County are now included.

If technology proceeds at its current rate there will be no need for a 2007 edition because all the trail systems will have been elegantly produced with topography and descriptions available on the internet.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Julian Shepherd for rewriting and enhancing the Forest section, Juliann Powell for the cover page design, Michele Constable for editing the text, Steve Drake for software assistance, and Richard Mecklenborg for publishing assistance.

INTRODUCTION

If you plan to hike, mountain bike, or XC ski in Broome or Tioga Counties, you will find this book a necessary asset. It includes detailed topographical maps and a brief description of 36 trail systems, Finger Lakes Trail access points, and a copy of the snow corridor map. Eighteen trail systems including 77 miles are in or adjoining Broome County. Fourteen trail systems including 79 miles are in or adjoining Tioga County. Also, four areas with well developed trails are included which are less than 10 road miles from the Broome or Tioga County borders. These are Tuller Hill State Forest, adjacent to Greek Peak; Hammond Hill, south of Dryden; and two Pennsylvania locations including #35 State Game Lands by Great Bend and Salt Spring State Park near Franklinville. These four include 52 miles of trails and back woods roads.

Trail systems chosen are ones which include more than one mile of trail that either are marked or appear to be periodically maintained by a club, a private organization, or a government agency. Within the state forests, the graded access roads and some roads that are marked officially abandoned are included. All trails are on public land or on land specifically open to the public.

Trails included range from the level twelve-foot wide black-topped Vestal Rail Trail to the remote, steep, sinuous, and rugged trails of Shindagin Hollow State Forest. The intent has been to include all of the trails available to the public in this two-county area plus significant trails very close to these borders.

Major new trail additions during the past five years have been in the following locations: Binghamton University, Aqua-Terra, Otsiningo, and Salt Spring. Trail locations new to this edition include the following: Evergreen Cemetery, Carantouan Trails, Waterman Trails, (beyond the Education Center,) and The Hickories. Added New York State Forests include Anderson Hill, Beaver Dam, Danby, Fairfield, Robinson Hollow, Shindagin Hollow, and Whittacker Swamp.

The trail write ups include "ACCESS" that describes at least one route to get there and often a comment on car parking. The road miles from State Route 17 at exit 70 near the Oakdale Mall are given. The mileage is given for each trail system. It is the one-way distance and usually includes unplowed entrance roads. The "Altitude Extreme" given means the difference in elevation between the low and the high points on the trail.

All trail maps shown in this book are 100% scale reproductions of the 7.5 minute series topographical maps published by the Geological Survey. Most topography is still up to date, however many structures have changed over the 27 years since the majority of the maps have been updated. These maps are available in the Binghamton University Library for copying. They may be purchased at EMS or Eureka at $4 each (2002).

Please take a compass with you when you make an excursion into the woods. It is best to plan your route and objectives in advance. It is of little value to look at this book for the first time once you have become lost in the woods.

Because of the growing popularity of the GPS (Geographical Positioning System), the latitude and longitude for each location, usually at the parking spot, is given as degrees and fractions of a minute to the nearest hundredth. At 42 degrees north latitude a hundredth of a minute is about 60 feet north-south and 45 feet east-west.

To plan either for or around hunting, see the APPENDIX. The seasons are listed in a handy chart form.

Volunteer! Trails are only there because they are maintained. Annually blown down branches must be cleared, encroaching plants cut back, markers upgraded, and erosion kept in check. Trails with no work or traffic simply disappear from view within one to three years.

This edition also includes what the County Government refers to as"Water-shed access areas". In reality they are referring to the dams that have been constructed along Little Choconut and others streams that historically flood. These areas do not have marked trails however they do provide an excellent area for making your own trails. The uniform slopes in the spillway areas are excellent for biking, sledding, or skiing. Snowmobiles often illegally use the areas. The County maintains them. Of the 13 in Broome County with public access, the five most easily accessed plus some levees are described.

The 550-mile Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) across New York State has been described very well in a series of published guides. For this reason only 22 miles within the State Forests are shown. Many access points and road intersections with this trail are described in the "Finger Lakes Trail" section in the appendix.

We welcome input. Please address any suggestions or errata to me at dspowell67@aol.com. or c/o Triple Cities Hiking Club, PO Box 22, Johnson City, NY, 13790. 

Click here to open Don's book !

"Recreational Trails of Broome and Tioga Counties"