The Rim Trail to Little Rock City is really a combination of several trails put together to make a 7 mile loop in the forests behind Ellicottville. About 4.5 miles in, the trail intersects with the Finger Lakes Trail which meanders through the most spectacular of the rocks of ‘Little Rock City’. A special shout out to the volunteers from the Foothills Trail Club who spent several days exploring the area in order to mark the trail through the best of the rocks! The 6 of us who participated in the hike were thoroughly impressed with this area. We did not climb the rocks but instead gushed our appreciation with “oooo”’s and “ahhhh”’s.
We had perfect conditions for hiking that day: some sunshine, some clouds, not too hot, no humidity and, best of all, practically no bugs! There is a huge variety of plant life in the forest understory which, thankfully, has not been destroyed by deer. Yet. We made a promise to visit the trail again in spring when the wildflowers will be in abundance. In addition we came across a sunny section with an abundance of milkweed and monarch butterflies, even finding a good sized caterpillar almost ready to go into his chrysalis.
Best of all was the time spent with new and old friends. It seemed to this writer that there were very interesting conversations happening amongst us all!
— Submitted by Cheryl Peluso