the Way of the Turtle

6 Mile Run in the Utica Marsh & Along the Erie Canal
Saturday, September 8, 2007

Utica Marsh Council site
Utica Marsh trail map

photo slideshow

Ann headed over to the Utica karate school to help with classes (she needs to get in classes when she can, since there are currently no classes out in Rochester) and I headed over to the Utica Marsh and the canal path to get in a short run before heading to the school to help grade the brown belt testing that several Albany students were scheduled to test at.

The marsh is visible from the expressway, and the road to the parking area goes through some fairly ugly semi-industrial area (mainly auto junkyards.) I got my gear together and headed off down a fairly clear path with the marsh on one side and railroad tracks on the other. Saw lots of ducks and a few geese, and even a heron and a brief glimpse of a snapping turtle. I'd been hoping to get some pictures from the observation tower, but it had been damaged and was closed down (and I didn't look at the map closely enough to figure out that I could have taken another trail to the other tower.)

Part of the way around the marsh, the path became badly overgrown with reeds and I ended up having to walk, tucking my head down and plowing through the vegetation (and in the process ending up covered from head to toe in seeds!) I was very pleased when it cleared out again and I could get back to running!

The trail along the other side of the marsh was more wooded, though toward the end I hit another patch that was not only overgrown but also had a series of boardwalks which were not in the best repair... more slow going. I have to admit, I was kind of pleased when I finally made it out the the marsh and headed over to the paved canal path.

After an all-too-brief drizzle (it was getting very hot and humid) the rest of the run was fairly uneventful. I ran down the path to the point where the Thruway crosses the canal, and then headed back to the car. The latter was tougher than I'd expected because I hadn't noticed that much of the run on the way out was a very gradual downhill... that was a lot more obvious when I was running up it on the way back! But I finally made it back to the car, toweled off as much of the sweat and seeds as I could, and hustled over to the school to get changed in time for the brown belt test.

I don't know that I feel any great desire to run the marsh trails again, but I think it could be interesting to walk through there (and maybe check out a trail or two I missed this time around) possibly at a point in the year when some of the sections would be less overgrown. Perhaps another time when I have an overnight out there...

JMH