A Short Walk at Palmyra Aqueduct Park
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Rain, rain, rain. A fairly dreary day. One plus to the weather - the rain weighed the branches down so that we were able to see the hawk's nest in the woods behind Ann's house, and caught some glimpses of both the hawk and the chicks. In the afternoon Ann and I headed over to her parents' house to take her dad out to dinner. At the end of Ann's street we were surprised to see a trio of rather unusual ducks grazing at the edge of a yard on the corner.
Before going to see Ann's dad, we stopped at the Blue Cut Nature Center and walked quite a few of the trails. The variety of terrain is rather striking - first we walked through a field (where I was able to get some very nice pictures of a goldfinch) and then we followed a somewhat overgrown trail down to the wetlands. The water was fairly low, so we were able to go out a short ways onto the mud and spotted both a flock of ducks and a deer off in the distance.
From there we headed into the woods, first through an evergreen forest where the trail made its way between tall pines (or maybe spruces) and then into a deciduous forest. Unfortunately, the bugs took a strong liking to Ann, despite the bug spray she'd used, and we cut the walk short and headed back to the car, passing through a very nice picnic grove along the way.
After dinner we headed back to Rochester with the beginnings of a fairly colorful sunset off in the distance. Since it was still early we decided to stop at the Palmyra Aqueduct Park to check out the waterfall - when we stopped back in March it was dry due to the canal being drained for the winter. There was still enough light to see fish being swept over the top of the falls... and also some fairly large fish that managed to escape going over. And we were able to watch the ever more colorful sunset over the canal before continuing the drive back to Rochester.
JMH
