9 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
By the time I managed to get on the road again, there wasn't much time left for riding... but I stopped at the Rotterdam Kiwanis Park and did a short pedal west along the bike path into Rotterdam Junction, and then along the extension of the bike path on the west side of town. Given all the rain we've had recently, the water in both the old Erie Canal and the waterways alongside the bike path was higher than usual for mid-summer.
I had pretty much given up on spotting any beavers tonight when lo and behold, the same one I saw a couple of weeks back appeared, swimming in the old canal west of the Junction. I watched him for a while - he didn't seem particularly bothered by my presence - and then headed back toward town. Stopped when I heard an odd sound in the canal and spotted a second, larger beaver. This one ducked under with a loud crack of his tail on the surface of the water, guess he wasn't as comfortable around people as the other one. But best of all, two beavers means there may be hope for even more... maybe the locals won't welcome that but I do.
Made a brief jaunt east after passing back through the park and headed up onto the bridge over the Mohawk River, where I was fascinated to see dozens of spiderwebs in between the bridge railings and even a few spiders.
At that point it was getting dark enough that I decided it wasn't worth risking more riding, so I headed back to the car and continued on my way back to Rochester. Still, s short ride is better than none at all...
JMH
