the Way of the Turtle

A BIT O' WALKING SOUTHEAST OF ROCHESTER
1.5 Mile Walk at Twin Cedars Environmental Area
A Brief Visit to Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area
1 Mile Walk Along the Sandy Bottom Nature Trail
Friday, July 3, 2009

Originally Ann and I were going to go down to Watkins Glen to hike through the gorge and then stop at Finger Lakes National Forest to pick up my shirt and let them know I wouldn't be running. But as I was driving out to Rochester late Thursday night I thought about spending 4 1/2 to 5 hours driving today, plus possibly having to walk through Watkins Glen in the rain, and decided it made more sense to stick a little closer to home. One again Footprint Press came to the rescue and gave us a couple of good ideas for new places to visit, this time a bit south and east of Rochester.

Our first stop was at Twin Cedars Environmental Area down in East Avon. This is a natural area with ponds, woods, and trails adjacent to the DEC's Region 8 Headquarters. After a brief visit to the nature center (which featured a huge number of stuffed animals and birds) we headed off on a fairly hilly trail up onto a drumlin (a hill left behind by glacial action) through both shrub fields and woods. Lots of wildflowers and a couple of cool shady pine groves to walk through... very nice. At the end we came down off the drumlin and walked along strip of land between the two ponds. We saw more red-winged blackbirds than I could count, as well as a duck and ducklings in the smaller pond. From there we took the lower trail along the base of the drumlin back, with a short wet side trip down to the shore of the pond, where we heard but never actually saw a kingfisher. Overall an interesting spot but nothing spectacular.

From there we headed down to Honeoye, which suggested an additional place to visit - Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area, where the annual Frozen Assets snowshoe race is held in early January. I'd never been there when there wasn't snow on the ground, so it was good to check it out when everything is green. We drove up into the park, making our way past a pair of idiots who apparently thought the middle of the road was a fine place to park to enjoy the view, and then came back down just as they were leaving, which left us room to pull over and get out to take in the spectacular view out over Honeoye Lake. Seeing the park in the summer has given me renewed motivation to get down there sometime to either go for a run or hit the trails on my mountain bike.

Our last stop was at Sandy Bottom Park at the north end of Honeoye Lake. As we were driving to Honeoye I was concerned we'd be getting some rain from the dark nasty looking clouds but they apparently avoided the valley and we had some gorgeous sunny weather instead, along with a glorious view across Honeoye Lake. The nature trail was pretty cool - a lot of it was a long boardwalk out through the wetlands around Honeoye Creek, where we got to see our second kingfisher of the day. At the end of the board walk, the trail was a bit flooded... Ann wasn't thrilled (she hadn't brought her water shoes) but went along with my wish to finish out the loop, which included another boardwalk to recross the creek and then a long muddy snowmobile trail back to the park.

I suspect we'll be back down this way before the summer is over... Ann expressed some interest in possibly kayaking Honeoye Creek, and the Freeman's Take a Paddle - Finger Lakes also lists Honeoye Inlet at the south end of the lake as an interesting paddle... with the possibility of sighting river otters (a group was released there back in 2000 in an attempt to re-establish them in the area.)

JMH