Monday, August 13, 2007
Genesee Riverway site (slightly out of date)
Genesee Riverway trail map (1.5 MB PDF, slightly out of date)
photo slideshow
Though, if the truth be told, the first half was probably more of a workout for the new camera than it was for me!
I've wanted to explore the entire trail ever since we visited the northernmost section (the boardwalk across the river basin between Turning Point Park and Ontario Beach Park) back at the end of June. So today I drove over to the Public Safety building on Scottsville Rd, so that I could park the car safely, and rode from there to Genesee Valley Park and then followed the Riverway all the way to the end of the boardwalk out in Charlotte. Didn't make it all the way to Ontario Beach Park, because by the time I reached the end of the boardwalk it was already around when I'd been hoping to get home (when Ann would get home from work) so I hustled back to spend some time with her.
I made frequent stops on the ride out to take pictures with my new camera. Lots of wildlife encounters today, including:
- two green herons on some logs under the pedestrian bridge that crosses the river between the west and east sides of the park
- a spiny softshelled turtle, easily 12-14 inches long, that crawled up onto the same logs as I was taking pictures of the green herons
- a mob of mallards that swarmed me looking for a handout when I stopped in the park to take a picture of a tour boat going up the river
- two great blue herons that got into a squabble over territory near the 2nd pedestrian bridge crossing the river
- a common flicker along the wooded path between Genesee Valley Park and downtown
- three great egrets in the river basin near the boardwalk, as well as another great blue heron, a trio of swans, and a multitude of ducks and gulls
- a few painted turtles in the weeds in the river basin - didn't see many of them this time through, maybe because it was getting later in the afternoon and a lot of the weeds were in the shade
- a blue heron sitting on a log near one of the pedestrian bridge heading back into Genesee Valley Park
The camera did a great job of getting pictures of many of the critters - I absolutely love the zoom (both the optical and digital zoom functions work magnificently!) I was able to get pictures that I never would have gotten with my 35mm film camera (which is basically a point and shoot.) The LCD gets pretty washed out in bright sunlight (a common problem, from what I've read) but with 2 GB of storage space I just took lots of shots and discarded the lousy ones when I got back. I'm looking forward to downloading them to my PC and seeing what they actually look like!
I had ridden the path from the park to downtown before, so I knew that would be a nice ride. Downtown was... well, downtown. Not the best part of this ride! Carefully made my way along the sidewalks, thankful that not too many folks were out and about. The best part was the Ponts de Rennes pedestrian bridge, which offers a good view of High Falls.
From there I headed down St Paul St (more sidewalks, through a semi-industrial area) until I reached a point where the path headed down into the gorge, just above the RG&E generator station at Middle Falls. Things were a bit more scenic for a little while, as I rode down the steep path into the gorge and across the bridge over Middle Falls (most of which is diverted to power the RG&E generators.) Then I had a steep climb back to the road, passing a very nice view of the much more spectacular Lower Falls.
From there the path followed the rim of the gorge up through Maplewood Park and behind houses. There were several points marked as "scenic overlooks" but unfortunately they were too overgrown for me to see anything. Eventually the path came to an end on Lake Avenue, across from a massive Kodak facility.
Then it was time to ride on the sidewalk again, though this was a much more pleasant ride than the one through downtown, mostly past two large cemetaries. Eventually I reached the path down to Turning Point Park and enjoyed the long downhill ride to the boardwalk out into the river basin. Took my time along there, taking lots of photos as I made my way to the far side. At that point I relaized I didn't have a prayer of getting back when I'd hoped to, so I abandoned my plans to go all the way to the lake and headed back the way I'd come.
Between making very few stops, a persistant headwind, and pushing a bit to get back as quickly as possible, the ride back was a bit more strenuous than the ride out. I was also a bit frustrated because my bike computer died on the ride out - since the computer itself seemed to be working but wasn't getting a signal, I'm guessing the wire broke somewhere between the sensor and the mount. Slowed down a bit going through downtown, but overall made good time back to the car, and got back to the house only an hour later than I'd originally wanted to... not great, but better than if I'd gone as far as I'd originally intended.
JMH
Then it was time to ride on the sidewalk again, though this was a much more pleasant ride than the one through downtown, mostly past two large cemetaries. Eventually I reached the path down to Turning Point Park and enjoyed the long downhill ride to the boardwalk out into the river basin. Took my time along there, taking lots of photos as I made my way to the far side. At that point I relaized I didn't have a prayer of getting back when I'd hoped to, so I abandoned my plans to go all the way to the lake and headed back the way I'd come.
Between making very few stops, a persistant headwind, and pushing a bit to get back as quickly as possible, the ride back was a bit more strenuous than the ride out. I was also a bit frustrated because my bike computer died on the ride out - since the computer itself seemed to be working but wasn't getting a signal, I'm guessing the wire broke somewhere between the sensor and the mount. Slowed down a bit going through downtown, but overall made good time back to the car, and got back to the house only an hour later than I'd originally wanted to... not great, but better than if I'd gone as far as I'd originally intended.
JMH
