John went to Cornell, so we were headed into his home turf. Ithaca is at the south end of Cayuga Lake; my original plan had been to ride down the east side of the lake, assuming that would mean less cross-traffic, but John brought to my attention that riding the west side would bring us by Taughannock Falls, the tallest waterfall east of the Rockies. Seemed like a good plan. At this point we were off of any planned bike routes, navigating via RideWithGPS heat maps and dead reckoning. I tweaked the RWGPS route to stay on the west side, with a stop in the nearby town of Seneca Falls, after heading to the lakeside for some photos.
Seneca Falls was the location of the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848, and is now the home of Women’s Rights National Historical Park. I knew I had to visit to honor my friend Gina, who taught a DeCal class at Berkeley on radical women in history. The museum is free and well worth a visit. It includes a good overview of the early suffrage movement, and its own internal conflicts over abolition (later highlighted in Sojurner Truth’s 1851 speech, now known as “Ain’t I A Woman?“).
Rain was predicted for the afternoon, so after taking in the museum, we felt some pressure to get miles behind us. We headed out into a stiff headwind which we’d fight all day.
The roads in the Finger Lakes region mostly either hug the lakes, or cut across the landscape in a square grid. The lakeside roads are mostly state highways, with wide shoulders and steady traffic, while the grid streets are mostly quiet and rural. We preferred the rural roads; only problem is, when you draw a square grid across a glaciated landscape, you get a lot of ups and downs. Not a lot of elevation by California standards, but some very steep ups and downs, especially near the lakes. Good riding, though, through Amish and Mennonite farmland, with occasional views of the lake.
With the headwind and the threat of rain, we hammered pretty hard in the morning, stopping only at a gas station for food, which is where the rain started. We geared up to head out into it. The storm breaking turned out to be a blessing; without the time pressure of trying to beat the rain, we were able to relax and enjoy the ride. It never got too bad, and the vibes of the ride improved as we just took in the landscape we were passing through.
Taughannock Falls was a worthy diversion, quite a dramatic landscape, beginning to show fall colors.
John’s decades-old memory of this part of the lake was that we’d have to take one of the state highways to get to Ithaca, but thanks to RideWithGPS, I’d found a dirt path that looked rideable. It turned out to be wonderful, a rail-trail project with a gentle 1% grade all the way down to town.
We were staying at Buttermilk Falls State Park, a few klicks outside of Ithaca. Sundown was approaching; we had to decide whether to get food in town and set up camp in the dark, or go get camp set up and have camp food. Our route rolled right by Ithaca Beer Company, so the choice was easy. We had a fine dinner and chat with our downhill mountain-biking waitress while we charged our devices.
It was only a kilometer to the camp entrance, but it turned out that the actual campground was another kilometer up a stupid-steep climb, not the most welcome end to the day’s ride. (We were camping two nights, so we could anticipate climbing it again tomorrow.) The rain held off while we set up camp, and we crawled into our tents.