the Way of the Turtle

10 Mile Run at the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve
Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Another great afternoon/evening for a run, though it did get a bit chilly as the sun started to go down - I ended up very glad I'd stuffed a vest into my waistpack. I was a bit surprised at how few people there were at the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve, and many of the folks who were there were fishing... in the several hours I was there I only passed half a dozen walkers.

I started out running east on the old towpath down to Clute's Dry Dock and could tell it was going to be a good time early on, since there were lots of birds around and even a couple of turtles out in the water (both snapping turtles and smaller painted turtles.) The birds were mostly the usual suspects (chickadees, robins, red-winged blackbirds, grackles, canada geese, and mallards) with the exception of a pair of blue-winged teals, and I saw at least one great blue heron as well (not that they're unusual, but currently we don't have as many in the area as we do during warmer weather.) I was very surprised at how low the water levels were, especially after all the high water we've had over the last few months - this was easily the lowest I've ever seen the water in the preserve.

I looped around on the service road back to the main entrance and Whipple bridge before following the towpath west toward the ruins of old Erie Canal Lock 19. I was a bit surprised that I didn't see more waterfowl, but maybe it's still early in the season... time will tell. I did spot a group of deer running through the fields and woods on the far side of the water, and a painted turtle swimming in the water at the bottom of the old lock. From there I headed down the service road, with a brief stop at the parking area at the site of the old Vischer ferry (1790-1922, according to the the sign there) and brief site of a bridge across the river (from 1900-1902.) The river was also very low, possibly because the canal hasn't opened yet.

Continued on down the towpath to the rocky outcropping across the river from the Lock 7 dam. The eagle was perched in a tree on the island below the middle of the dam, and I'm pretty sure I spotted a couple of herons arguing over territory at the base of the dam. Eventually I got chilly enough that I decided to head back (well, I also wanted to get back to the car before it got too dark.) On the way back I spotted a group of mergansers in the river. It was pretty much full dark by the time I got back to the Whipple bridge, but the path is easy enough that I never needed to break out my headlamp, though I did slow down a bit in some of the more root-filled sections.

I'll have to try to get back out here during the next month or so... once the warm weather kicks in the bugs are deadly and I won't be able to run here until late August.

JMH