Friday, July 10, 2009

2.1 Mile Walk at Ann Lee Pond Nature Preserve
Thursday, July 9, 2009

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

SORE KNEES, RAINBOWS... & ONE SLOW TURTLE
5 Mile Run in the Albany Pine Bush
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

After two weeks of no running it was time to see how my knee would hold up... so I did a very slow 5 miles over in the Blueberry Hills/Kaikout Kill Barrens sections of the Pine Bush this evening. The knee brace was annoying and no great surprise sometimes the knee hurt... actually, sometimes my either knee grumbled too, probably because I overwork my right leg to go easy on my left right now.

I hadn't planned to do the loop through the Kaikout Kill Barrens but when I got to the trailhead it looked like the trail had been cleared recently (the last time I ran it the brambles were doing their usual summer takeover)so I took a chance and was glad I did.

As I crossed the top of the tallest dune in Blueberry Hill West a lone cloud overhead started dropping some very light rain - actually quite refreshing, and I always find it amusing to run in the rain on a sunny day. Plus, as I made my way down the hill, the sun and light rain combined to create a gorgeous full rainbow behind me... needless to say I spent a while getting photos of it!

All in all it was a good evening to be out, and it felt good to be running again, even if it was pretty slow going... now I just have to see how the knee feels tomorrow to determine whether I get to keep running or go back to only walking and riding for a while longer.

JMH

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Clouds & Rainbows Over the NYS Thruway
Monday, July 6, 2009

Just east of Utica...



JMH

Monday, July 06, 2009

2.3 Mile Walk at Chittenango Falls State Park
Monday, July 6, 2009



Way back in December 2007 Ann and I visited Chittenango Falls while driving from Rochester to Albany and I said I wanted to get back during better weather when the trail down into the gorge would be open... it only took 18 months for me to actually do that...











I had originally thought to stop last week but got off to a late enough start that it didn't make sense, so I was glad I had time this week during my drive. We've had a lot of rain over the past few weeks, so the waterfall didn't disappoint - I suspect it's usually much quieter in early July. I spent a while wandering around the top, then tried taking the trail down the east side of the gorge, only to learn that it's closed due to unsafe conditions. So instead of a loop I hiked an out-and-back down the open trail on the west side... lots of steps and steep bits, but the view from the bottom was well worth it. Best of all - much of the time I had the view to myself, since there were only a few other visitors to the park on a Monday afternoon.











Back at the top I decided to get my money's worth and followed on of the trails off into the woods. It wound along the top of the gorge and up and down, at one point looking right down into Chittenango Creek and the road I'd followed to get to the park. Nothing too spectacular, just a quiet walk through the woods... when I reached just about the furthest point I could get from the parking lot, it started to rain. Lightly at first, so I tucked in under a tree and stayed fairly dry, but over the course of 5-10 minutes it rained harder and harder until finally I was getting pretty wet and decided I needed to keep moving to stay warm. So I headed back the way I'd come, getting more and more wet. Not too smart on my part - I knew that rain was a good possibility and should have gotten a jacket from the car before heading out on the trails.









Of course, the rain let up before I made it back to the car, and then the sun came out, making eveything steamy... but I decided to call it a day anyways, changed into dry clothes, and got back on the road for home.

JMH

Sunday, July 05, 2009

YIKES!
0.7 Mile Paddle on Black Creek
Sunday, July 5, 2009

A short and at times somewhat scary paddle today... we put in over in Black Creek Park and noticed immediately that the current was pretty darn strong. Headed upstream and about a quarter mile later hit a spot where the ripples on the surface indicated a lot of obstructions under the water. Spent a few minutes trying to get through... with no success. I got hung up several times, once ending up with my boat broadside to the current for a couple of nerve-wracking seconds - not good!



So then we decided to head downstream... much easier paddling, though it would be pretty hard work coming back... and about a tenth of a mile downstream from where we put in hit another area with lots of stuff underwater. Ann waited while I went ahead to check things out... turned out that section had a clear channel on one side, but a little further downsteam looked pretty nasty. So I fought my way against the current back to Ann and we decided our best bet was to get out of the creek.

From there we found a listing for a lake over in Medina, which neither of us could remember the distance to... Ann decided to go for it, and off we went. 45 minutes or so later we were still 15-20 minutes from Medina changing a flat tire on her truck... definitely time to call it a day! Lots of aggravation and driving and little paddling, but so it goes...

JMH

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Fireworks at Chil-E Fest
Saturday, July 4, 2009

After my ride I quickly changed clothes then hustled down the annual Chil-E Fest to meet Ann (she was working as an EMT) for the fireworks. Lots of people at the festival (definitely not my scene!) but a very nice fireworks display - much better than the last time we went, a few years back.







I took the opportunity to test the "fireworks" setting on my camera and got some very nifty photos as well...















JMH
14 Mile Ride Through Genesee Valley Park & Along the Erie Canal
Saturday, July 4, 2009

Dropped Ann off at Chil-E Fest so she could spend a few hours getting points for doing the EMT thing and then headed over to the Public Safety building parking lot to get a ride in around Genesee Valley Park and down the canal path. Lots of picnics/parties going on in the park and a few boats on the river... the water was moving pretty quickly but was lower than usual, they must have opened the spillways downstream to prevent flooding. The usual contingent of gulls was absent but there were two herons on the river, which was pretty neat.

The grass along the canal path is woodchuck heaven... can't really say how many of them I saw tonight, from light-furred youngsters to one huge old fella. I managed to sneak up on a couple of them a get some good pictures, which was fun. Further along there was a worker getting ready to block off the path - turns out it was for the Brighton fireworks, which would be launched out of one of the Brighton parks just off the canal. So I hustled down to Lock 33 and back before they closed me out.

The almost full moon was shining above the park as I was finishing up my ride... since it wasn't too dark yet I had a nice view of the mountains and craters when I zoomed in with my camera. It always amazes me to think that I'm looking at lunar features that are miles across. Just before I got back to the car I surprised a deer that Ann sees pretty regularly... it took him a while to decide that I was a potential threat, but once he did he headed off into the brush.

It felt good to be out riding again... something I'm looking forward to doing much more of this summer (it it will just stop raining on days when I can ride!)

JMH
1.3 Mile Walk at Lehigh Crossing Park
Saturday, July 4, 2009

On the way back from spending part of the holiday with Ann's family, we stopped at Lehigh Crossing Park in Victor to do a bit of walking. I'd heard the plan was to clear the old railbed from the re-decked bridge crossing the Auburn Trail down to the park, but when we hiked up the hill and through the woods we found it overgrown with weeds and wildflowers. We walked along it for a short distance before cutting back through the woods to the field loop.

At the bottom of the hill we took the path into the woods to try and cross over to the Auburn Trail, but the rain and the beavers left it pretty wet and muddy and Ann slipped early on, tweaking her back. So we kept on through the field, spotting a fox and several butterflies as we walked back out to the parking area.

A trip back with a bike is definitely in order this summer... there are a number of new trails I'd like to explore, and the rail-trails are far enough from Rochester that I don't get a chance to ride them very often (admittedly, they're not as much rough-and-rugged fun as they were before they were graded and covered stone dust... but it's still a nice area to ride.)

JMH
Perfect Weather for a 50k... Grumble...
Saturday, July 4, 2009

Cool breezy weather on July 4th... would have been a good day to run the 50k, other than the trail probably being a mudpit in spots from all the rain we've been having. Stupid knee...

So it goes. Next year!

JMH

Friday, July 03, 2009

50K, 50K, 50K...
Friday, July 3, 2009

So no Finger Lakes 50k for me this year... stupid knee. It's particularly annoying because, based on my performance at NIPMUCK and my extended trek at Mt Greylock, I think I was in reasonable shape to complete it in a decent (for me) amount of time... oh, well, maybe next year.

So looking at other options for later in the year... two seem doable.

The first is the Green Lakes 50k at the end of August. Pluses include a course which isn't a killer (well, other than being 31 miles long...) and it's in an area I'm very familiar with. Minuses include August weather, 4 loops, and potentially a fair number of non-runners on the trail, since the park remains open.

The second is the Bimbler's Bluff 50k at the end of October. Pluses include possibly cool fall weather, the excitement of running somewhere I've never been before, and only having other runners on the trail. Minuses include what is probably a much more technical and challenging course than Green Lakes (I don't know, I've never run there!), more difficult logistics (southern CT during the school year vs central NY during my summer vacation), and a conflict with the 5th Annual Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon. (Actually, that may end up being a plus, since the first few miles of HGH have gotten more and more crowded each year I've run it, and it's reaching the point where I will probably not run it every year...)

Of course, what my knee does over the next few weeks could play a major role in any decision I end up making... though I have to admit, I'm considering signing up for both...

JMH
A BIT O' WALKING SOUTHEAST OF ROCHESTER
1.5 Mile Walk at Twin Cedars Environmental Area
A Brief Visit to Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area
1 Mile Walk Along the Sandy Bottom Nature Trail
Friday, July 3, 2009

Originally Ann and I were going to go down to Watkins Glen to hike through the gorge and then stop at Finger Lakes National Forest to pick up my shirt and let them know I wouldn't be running. But as I was driving out to Rochester late Thursday night I thought about spending 4 1/2 to 5 hours driving today, plus possibly having to walk through Watkins Glen in the rain, and decided it made more sense to stick a little closer to home. One again Footprint Press came to the rescue and gave us a couple of good ideas for new places to visit, this time a bit south and east of Rochester.

Our first stop was at Twin Cedars Environmental Area down in East Avon. This is a natural area with ponds, woods, and trails adjacent to the DEC's Region 8 Headquarters. After a brief visit to the nature center (which featured a huge number of stuffed animals and birds) we headed off on a fairly hilly trail up onto a drumlin (a hill left behind by glacial action) through both shrub fields and woods. Lots of wildflowers and a couple of cool shady pine groves to walk through... very nice. At the end we came down off the drumlin and walked along strip of land between the two ponds. We saw more red-winged blackbirds than I could count, as well as a duck and ducklings in the smaller pond. From there we took the lower trail along the base of the drumlin back, with a short wet side trip down to the shore of the pond, where we heard but never actually saw a kingfisher. Overall an interesting spot but nothing spectacular.

From there we headed down to Honeoye, which suggested an additional place to visit - Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area, where the annual Frozen Assets snowshoe race is held in early January. I'd never been there when there wasn't snow on the ground, so it was good to check it out when everything is green. We drove up into the park, making our way past a pair of idiots who apparently thought the middle of the road was a fine place to park to enjoy the view, and then came back down just as they were leaving, which left us room to pull over and get out to take in the spectacular view out over Honeoye Lake. Seeing the park in the summer has given me renewed motivation to get down there sometime to either go for a run or hit the trails on my mountain bike.

Our last stop was at Sandy Bottom Park at the north end of Honeoye Lake. As we were driving to Honeoye I was concerned we'd be getting some rain from the dark nasty looking clouds but they apparently avoided the valley and we had some gorgeous sunny weather instead, along with a glorious view across Honeoye Lake. The nature trail was pretty cool - a lot of it was a long boardwalk out through the wetlands around Honeoye Creek, where we got to see our second kingfisher of the day. At the end of the board walk, the trail was a bit flooded... Ann wasn't thrilled (she hadn't brought her water shoes) but went along with my wish to finish out the loop, which included another boardwalk to recross the creek and then a long muddy snowmobile trail back to the park.

I suspect we'll be back down this way before the summer is over... Ann expressed some interest in possibly kayaking Honeoye Creek, and the Freeman's Take a Paddle - Finger Lakes also lists Honeoye Inlet at the south end of the lake as an interesting paddle... with the possibility of sighting river otters (a group was released there back in 2000 in an attempt to re-establish them in the area.)

JMH

Thursday, July 02, 2009

11 Mile Ride on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Path
Thursday, July 2, 2009

After a very rainy morning the storms finally eased off enough that I was finally able to get out on the bike for a short ride... thankfully the only thing that bothered my knee turned out to be clipping into the toe clips/straps, which apparently I tend to do at the top of a pedal stroke (never realized that before) which requires me to twist my knee when it's sharply bent and put a bit of stress on whatever I tore last week.

Crummy weather meant there weren't too many folks out on the trail with me... a few dog walkers, a few riders, and two runners. I didn't go as far as I'd planned, both because I was getting tired (lame, very lame) and because it was getting late in the afternoon and I still had to drive out to Rochester.

Lots of wildlife in evidence - chipmunks (I've never seen as many along the trails as I have this year), squirrels, rabbits, and even a deer and a muskrat. And tons of birds - the usual robins, sparrows, catbirds, grackles, and blackbirds, but also several flickers and a mockingbird. And out on the river - several herons and a possible eagle spotting (a large dark-colored bird perched on a branch... to far away for me to get a good enough shot even at full zoom for a positive ID.)

With luck I can get in some more miles over the next few days... both because I definitely need the exercise and because the Discover Presque Isle Duathlon is less than a month away!

JMH