Hiking The Earl Cardot Eastside Overland Trail By Day: Dining at Brazil By Night

7:18

7:19

Up early again, 6:20, some fog and cool but a swath of light off towards Tom's Point, strange because the sun still rises just off of Long Point. NPR keeps talking about what a great weekend of weather lies ahead and I would add the past four days as well.  This has been the best week of weather in 2013, an exaggeration perhaps but close.  I cannot wait to get up, to see the foggy morning, then the sun rise,  and finally, a hike, the good life.

Yesterday, as I may have mentioned we waited till about 10:00 to head out for our hike because of the heavy fog.  Even as we crossed the bridge, as we were driving to Gerry, the hills were still obscured by fog, making us wonder if the woods would be as well.  Fortunately, all the fog was burned off as we arrived at the trail head for the Earl Cardot Eastside Overland Trial, just outside of Gerry.  The first couple of legs cut through the Harris Hill State Forest, which neither of us had ever heard of. Anyways, we have hiked most of the Fred J. Cusimano Westside Trail(24 miles long) because it's on our side of the lake. This time we decided to begin hiking parts of the Eastside Trail, nineteen miles long.  We walked from V to U if you pay attention to the map, hoping eventually to  get to A, nineteen miles from A.  It was a super day for a hike, cool and sunny, and all of the hike was in a heavily wooded forest, canopies of leaves filtering the sunlight most of the way.  It's well taken care of, many bridges over streams and rivulets, some gravel in wet areas, the path often framed by ferns, creating an attractive green way.  We walked out only 1.5 miles, thinking we had gone farther but according to the map, it was not so.  We returned the same way and the round trip took close to 1.5 hours, not as long as we wanted but good enough.  One leg down, twenty two more to go.  We have never been in the Gerry area before, so it was a nice ride to the Trail Head, around twenty miles.

Evie Dwarfed by Forest

Crossing One Of The Many Bridges

Me

Harris Hill State Forest

Ferns

We got home just after 1:00, had a lunch of BLT's and soup on the dock, and relaxed the rest of the day on the dock, though Evie had to drive to Jamestown for a doctor's appointment, mid afternoon, a bummer. Earlier in the day, our neighbor, Mary Ann Miller, asked us if we wanted to go out to dinner with her and the Scholtz's, so we picked them up at 6:15,  then stopped by to pick up their friend Charlie T. in Katawka, then drove to Westfield to have dinner at the newly opened Brazil, a restaurant which is getting high marks from our friends.  One of my breakfast buddies, Jack Voelker was there enjoying a meal, and mid way through or meal, other friends from the CI, Fred and Judy Gregory walked in, a popular place.  We all liked our meals, thought they were about the best we have had in the area, high praise I would say.  I had beer braised short ribs with noodles, tender and juicy, and almost everyone else had the maple glazed salmon, also a good choice.  We had raspberry pie for dessert, talked to the owner for a bit, as well as our waitress, a local high school girl, who was learning how to serve, as the summer staff have left for college.  We didn't get home till around 9:30, watched some TV before going to bed to read.  It was full and balanced day, a morning  hike complemented by dining out with  friends, the best.

Enjoying Dinner with Friends at Brazil's On Main, Westfield, NY