6.6 Mile Run on the Albany County Rail Trail
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Having abandoned my plan to run the Hook Mountain Half Marathon tomorrow, I decided to get in a short, "easy" run this evening and headed over to the Albany County Rail Trail... and found a few changes compared to when I was there last year.
The first stretch from the parking lot has been churned up and repacked by construction - I had seen the heavy equipment during the winter, apparently something to do with sewer lines. The rest down to Delaware Ave in Delmar was pretty much as I remembered, but major construction has been going on past there. Apparently the county is in the process of completing the stretch all the way down to the Port of Albany - good news, but it does make for a less pleasant experience while the work is going on (though in all fairness, the trail is technically closed to the public while this is happening, so I can't complain.)
I stopped at a old iron bridge over the trail - looks like this once connected the two ends of Rockefeller Rd but has long since been closed to auto traffic. The run back was "fun"... I hadn't realized how much of a downgrade there was just after the Elsmere Ave bridge.
Got back to the car a little after sunset, came home, and did a little checking on the status of the trail. Looks like the plan is to have it finished this fall - goods news! Apparently the plan is also to pave the entire thing - I have to admit, I'm bummed about that. I was hoping for a cheaper, softer stone dust surface like the unpaved sections of the Canalway Trail use, since we have lots of paved rail trails around here but almost no unpaved ones - and my battered knees appreciate the softer surface.
All the same, a paved trail is infinitely preferable to to no trail at all.
JMH
