the Way of the Turtle

RUNNING THE TRAILS, RUNNING THE RAILS
7 Mile Run in Fishers, NY
Saturday, May 6, 2006

Lehigh & Auburn Trail map (Victor)
Fishers Park trail map
Lehigh Crossing Park trail map

Last October I ran and biked the Black Diamond Offroad Duathlon in Fishers, NY, and spent 4 miles on the trails in Fishers Park and 10 miles on rail trails, dirt roads, and a bit of pavement in the surrounding area, all in 45 degrees and the rain (and naturally I had a blast freezing my backside off.) I've wanted to get back there again either for some running or some riding, and today was my opportunity. I needed to get in a short (90 minute) run, on the way to Ann's house, but still have time to get showered and change once I arrived so that we could head off to her nephew's annual Boy Scout fundraising dinner. The trails in the Fishers area seemed ideal - fairly flat, and I knew them well enough that I could be pretty sure of keeping to my 90 minute time limit.

Fishers Park is small but riddled with trails that run though both the woods and some fields. The two other major trails in the area are the Auburn and Lehigh Valley trails, both on abandoned rail beds. The Auburn trail was once the Rochester and Auburn Railroad, and runs from just north of Fishers down to Victor. The first time I rode it (3 years ago, maybe?) it was mostly singletrack and quite rough-and-rugged... in other words, lots of fun! Since then a major portion of the open trail has been widened, leveled, and given a base of compacted stone dust. A connecting ramp has also been built, connecting the Auburn trail to the Lehigh Valley trail at an old railroad trestle. The Lehigh Valley trail runs from Victor all the way to the Genesee River and the Genesee Valley Greenway just south of Scottsville, and was once the route of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which was built to take advantage of the lucrative coal freight business (also known as "black diamond", hence the black diamond logo on the trail markers and the name of the Black Diamond Duathlon.) The Lehigh Valley trail has also been widened, leveled, and given a nice stone dust base. I must admit to having mixed feelings about this - on the one hand, I'm pleased that resources are being used to keep these trails open to the public. But I do miss the old trails, which were wet, muddy, rocky, bumpy, in places overgrown, and generally a lot more interesting and fun!

Anyway, I parked at Fishers Park, geared up, and headed off for one of the Auburn trailheads. First surprise - had to run up a hill to get there! Ah, well, that was a good workout. Hit the trail and headed along a "unimproved" section, including running through a mammoth tunnel under the Thruway. Crossing through Fishers again, I started a long and at times slightly boring run down the section we rode in the Du. A little ways before the end, I ducked through the woods and ended up in the Lehigh Crossings Park, for a brief change of scenery and terrain (fields and dirt road instead of stone dust trail.) Then it was back on the Auburn trail, and up onto the Lehigh trail, for more basically flat, straight running. Finished up with a short stretch of road and then a run through Fishers Park, and managed what was probably about 7 miles or so in an hour and a half. Not a bad run, all told.

The trails are a bit dull at times, but the scenery can be pretty, and there were very few people out when I was there. I'll have to go back with the ATB this summer and ride the rail trails some more. There's a park with some fairly extensive mountain bike trails just off the Auburn trail in Victor - it could be fun to go for a ride and/or a run there sometime, too!

JMH