the Way of the Turtle

14 Mile Ride Through Genesee Valley Park & Along the Erie Canal
Saturday, July 4, 2009

Dropped Ann off at Chil-E Fest so she could spend a few hours getting points for doing the EMT thing and then headed over to the Public Safety building parking lot to get a ride in around Genesee Valley Park and down the canal path. Lots of picnics/parties going on in the park and a few boats on the river... the water was moving pretty quickly but was lower than usual, they must have opened the spillways downstream to prevent flooding. The usual contingent of gulls was absent but there were two herons on the river, which was pretty neat.

The grass along the canal path is woodchuck heaven... can't really say how many of them I saw tonight, from light-furred youngsters to one huge old fella. I managed to sneak up on a couple of them a get some good pictures, which was fun. Further along there was a worker getting ready to block off the path - turns out it was for the Brighton fireworks, which would be launched out of one of the Brighton parks just off the canal. So I hustled down to Lock 33 and back before they closed me out.

The almost full moon was shining above the park as I was finishing up my ride... since it wasn't too dark yet I had a nice view of the mountains and craters when I zoomed in with my camera. It always amazes me to think that I'm looking at lunar features that are miles across. Just before I got back to the car I surprised a deer that Ann sees pretty regularly... it took him a while to decide that I was a potential threat, but once he did he headed off into the brush.

It felt good to be out riding again... something I'm looking forward to doing much more of this summer (it it will just stop raining on days when I can ride!)

JMH