Monday, May 28, 2007
photo slideshow
Today was supposed to be a running day, but instead Ann and I headed over to Powder Mills Park east of Rochester to do a short hike and feed the fish at the fish hatchery there.
Powder Mills Park has an interesting history... in the latter half of the 1800's, the property was used as a mill site for making blasting powder. The owner, Daniel Rand, designed his powder mill specifically to avoid the catastrophic explosions that caused havoc and death at other blasting powder mills, and in the 58 years of the mill's operation, there were very few accidents and explosions. In 1910 the mill was shut down so that operations could be moved to Pennsylvania (closer to the coal mines that used much of the blasting powder produced by such mills) and 19 years later Monroe Country purchased the property for use as a park. (As always, special thanks go to Rich and Sue Freeman and their excellent book Take a Hike! Family Walks in the Rochester Area for both the route we hiked and the historical info related above. See Footprint Press for more about their excellent guide books.)
Ann and I headed over to the relatively easy trail to the Daffodil Meadow, though we didn't expect to see any daffodils this late in May. The trail winds throught the woods along the Irondequoit Creek, and other than a bit of traffic noise it's quite peaceful. While there were very few daffodills in bloom, there were lots of phlox, and the weather hasn't been warm long enough yet for it to be too buggy. On the way back, we took a trail that looped along the edge of a swamp, and spotted several wood ducks with ducklings, as well as several woodpeckers. As the trail made its way back toward the fields, we also spotted a fox moving through the brush.
Near the entrance to the park is a fish hatchery run by the Reidman Foundation of Rochester. The hatchery gets 24000 fish for free from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and raises them for 8-9 months until they can be released into the Irondequoit Creek. The fish raised are primarily various species of trout. Fish in the "corrals" range from a few inches long to over a foot. Best of all, for a quarter you can get a handful of food pellets to feed them... I stocked up on quarters before leaving for that very purpose! We fed the fish in corrals and then went over to the larger pond to feed some more (and also get pestered by the geese and their goslings, who are not averse to an easy meal!) While we were there, a blue heron down to the far side of the pond and snared several fish for a quick meal, before flying off again. It was fascinating to watch him stalk fish near the shore and snatch them out of the water to gulp them down! (It's times like that when I wish I had a better camera with me...)
So all in all, a nice little hike with lots of cool wildlife. I may try to compile the trail maps from the Freeman's book and go for a run at Powder Mills Park this summer... it seems like it could be a nice alternative to Mendon and Black Creek.
JMH
