2015-04-12 42 -78

Location

Allegany State Park, North of Science Lake

Participants

Pedalpusher (talk)
Simon the dog
Myka the dog

Planning

I am planning on going for a hike with some friends at the Erie County Forest in the morning so after we get done there, I will head further south to Allegany for the hash. I should be able to park at a trail-head for the Black Snake Mtn. trail and follow the stream up the valley on the other side of the road to the hash. Should be about a mile from the road, close to the top of the hill. There are some geocaches close to both locations so I will try for a few of those as well.

Expedition

Our morning hike was changed to accommodate a friend who joined us in a wheelchair, so we ended up walking at Buffalo's Outer Harbor where I introduced my friends to Geocaching. We found 3 of 5 and had a nice walk by the water.

After the walk, I headed home for lunch and then I packed up the dogs to go to Allegany and the hash. Arriving in the park, I saw a ton of people fishing in Quaker lake by the dam and along the streams leading into the lake. I found the parking area for Black Snake Mtn and parked on the side of the hash. Letting the dogs out, we found a feeder creek that wasn't too big but the main stream was deep and I saw was going to be difficult to cross. I followed it upstream for a bit and noticed another feeder creek on the other side and I was sure that was the creek that would lead me to the hash. Now...all I needed to do was cross the big stream. I found a larger Black Cherry tree that fell across the stream and used that as a bridge without issues. It was too narrow for the dogs but Simon just bounded across. Myka on the other hand, had difficulty being over chest deep for her and the current pushed her around. She eventually found a wider and shallower place to cross and we were on our way.

Following the creek, we found some springs in the hillside but not much else of interest. We made it to the hash where I got my pictures and left a marker. Although, I'm not too hopeful that it will ever be found since this hash landed far from any hiking trail and pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

After leaving the hash, I knew we were close to the top of the hills and so I decided that we would follow the creek up until we found the start of it, which turned out wasn't too far. Following the creek back down, we made another crossing of the main stream at the same point and got to the car without too much trouble.

Since I was geocaching earlier, I also noticed a cache not too far from the hash(but further than the Honorable mention for the Collision Ribbon) and near the road so we stopped there for one final cache before heading home.

A final note, I am issuing a Tale of Two Challenge for Allegany.