Skaneateles conservation area trail review
Date of Run: 6/8
Time: 6:00 pm
Route: Outer Loop of trails
Distance: 6ish miles
Elevation Gain: 750’ of gain
Terrain: Mostly single track with some overgrown sections of brush but also had some open single track trails through forested sections. The trails consisted of mud, grass, pine needles (my favorite), roots, and rocks. It also includes some pretty good elevation. I found the trails well maintained and well used. Other than the single track there were also some double track that looked like ATV/snowmobile trails.
Weather: Hot and Humid!!
Gear: We had some rain earlier in the day and not having been on the trails before I opted for my Altra Lone Peaks RMS. They worked well and on a drier day I could have gone with the regular Lone Peaks without any trouble. You’ll definitely want something with a moderately aggressive tread to tackle the trails. Other than the shoes I had a t-shirt, shorts, buff, hat, and hand-held water bottle.
Summary:
I joined Syracuse Trail Runners for their weekly run and tour of area trails. It was a small group but luckily a couple of them knew the trails pretty well and lead the group. We stopped every so often to make sure nobody missed the turns, which would be easy to do because there are a bunch of trails that didn’t seem to be marked and other than the trailheads, I didn’t see much, if any, signage. Although I noticed the trails were marked (colored medallions) there are a lot of twists and turns so it would be easy to take a wrong turn and get confused about which direction you were heading. I’ve only been here once so it would be unfair to say that the trails aren’t marked well but I wasn’t blown away by them being very well marked either.
If it’s your first time out here, make sure you’re prepared with a map and extra time. You’ll need both to navigate the trails since there are several “cutoffs” that could easily take you off your route. Plan extra time too because there are some sections you’ll want to walk due to technicality but also to take in the beauty of the park. The trails are main trails seemed to be marked with colored medallions but I didn’t notice a ton of them, if I hadn’t been following a group, there is no doubt that I would have wound up lost and frustrated with the experience.
Since we’d had some rain earlier in the day, the trails were muddy, which made the steeper downhills tough to manage. Most of the roots, rocks, and bridges were all really slick.
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