Canals, Rivers, Bays, Lakes...and Train Stations?

   Although our next day in Rochester was technically a rest day for me, Sue and I set off at a more relaxing pace, heading north along the Genesee River, with a turnaround destination of Irondequoit (uh·RAHN·duh·koyt) Bay and Lake Ontario. The previous evening, we had attended a Red Wings minor league baseball game at the stadium downtown, so we were really starting to know our way around.

   We were disappointed to find that the Pont de Rennes bridge was closed, not only denying us one of the best views of the Upper Falls (photo below) but also our planned crossing of the river. However, we did get to continue on past the Genesee Brewery, which is interesting enough, even to a guy like me (malt beverages and Celiac don’t get along). I do have fond memories of my father’s bright green “Genny” Cream Ale cans when camping.

   We descended to the Genesee Riverway Trail (GRT), crossing the bridge over Middle Falls, which have been obstructed by hydroelectric works. A short distance ahead, we did get a very nice view of the Lower Falls.

   Climbing up out of Maplewood Park, we met Lake Avenue at the impressive Eastman Kodak plant, now an empty shell due to the rise in digital photography and the company’s failure to adapt. The trail here became a paved lane up alongside the sidewalk, keeping cyclists safely out of the busy four-lane traffic on Lake Avenue.
   We missed our intended righthander down into Turning Point Park, as (we found out later) the GRT sign directing us that way had been hidden behind a tree. Continuing down Lake Street we eventually reached a familiar street name and met back up with the GRT further along our planned route. In a few minutes we reached Rochester Harbor, once a commercial shipping port but now mostly a location for pleasure boat marinas, restaurants and family activities, like swimming and fishing.
   After pedaling out the 2/3-mile Charlotte Pier, we took a photo in front of the light tower. Some folks call it a lighthouse, but it is definitely not that (unless you mean it houses a light).

   Circling back a bit we crossed over the harbor on the Pattonwood Drive bridge and eventually met up with the Lake Ontario State Parkway Trail. The going was a bit slow along the lakefront, as dozens of families were making their way down to the beach, but soon we were into the woods. Here the trail wound up onto the bluff and the community of Sea Breeze.
   We could hear the screams from the girls riding the roller coaster at the local amusement park as we coasted down to the swing bridge at the mouth of Irondequoit Bay. We knew the bridge was left open during the summer, and were frustrated to be denied an opportunity to ride out the causeway and down the east side of the bay back to the city. The constant parade of boats through the bay outlet made us a little more understanding of the situation, but we decided that a stop for some ice cream was needed to really make us feel better!
   Ducking under a nearby pavilion for a short period helped us avoid being hit by some of the biggest raindrops we’d ever experienced – they were cold, and they HURT! This shower was brief, but it was a bad omen.
   We grinded back up the bluff and hooked up with Culver Road, which would have had us straight back into our Park Avenue neighborhood. Halfway there and crack, BOOM…”Uh, let’s take some shelter!”
   For the next half hour, we were standing under the front awning of a closed restaurant, watching some of the heaviest rain and some of the dumbest driving through flooded streets we had ever seen. When things calmed down, we took a slow trip through back streets in order to avoid being drenched by the puddle spray of passing traffic.

   Monday had really shaky weather predicted (and delivered), so it was a forced rest day, but Sue and I had big plans for Tuesday. There were some possible storms in the early afternoon (never happened), so we woke up early and pedaled out together through the city and met up with the GRT right near the Blue Cross Arena, home to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. The “Amerks” (est. 1956) are the second-oldest team in the league, behind only the Hershey Bears (1932).
   We found the GRT on the west bank to be more pleasant than the east, not only because the riding surface was better, but also because you were in closer proximity to the water. It reminded me a lot of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Banks section, right on the river with skyline views. We were soon reversing the ride we did earlier in the trip, down the former Erie Railroad corridor, but this time we continued over the Erie Canal crossing and turned west to follow the waterway.
   Even if I hadn’t read some of the more recent history of the Erie Canal, it would have been immediately obvious, riding now high above its walls on the trail, that this wasn’t the original canal that used mules on towpaths to pull flatboats of cargo and passengers across the state! The original canal was completed in 1825 and was about 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Its commercial peak was about 1855, and it continued to be competitive with railroads for commercial traffic until the early 20th century.
   During this period the modern “barge canal” was expanded to 120 feet wide and 12 feet deep, and over half of the original route was abandoned. The canal used to come right through Rochester (photo below) on an aqueduct. In the 1920s the bridge deck was converted for road traffic and now carries Broad Street across it. The Erie Barge Canal crossing with the Genesee is now three miles south of the city.

   Commercial traffic on the Erie Canal declined drastically by the latter half of the 20th century due to competition from trucking and the 1959 opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Today the canal is used almost exclusively by recreational boats.
   Sue and I had done about twelve miles together when we split near the North Gates section of town, and I continued south on a railroad station search. My main goals were two Lehigh Valley Railroad stations (there aren’t many of them left), and two others that just happened to be along the way.
   My route wasn’t too different from the triangular route I did a few days earlier, but it was going to stretch out a lot further west and a bit further south. I was going to use some of the same roads and trails along the way, so my chances of getting misdirected were slim. I had a cue sheet taped to the top tube of my bike, and I had zoomed in on some of the intersections, using Googlemaps, just to familiarize myself and make sure ahead of time that the crossroads were marked!
   I pedaled through Westgate and eventually connected with Route 33A, then turned south, zigzagging over to use the Genesee Valley Greenway to reach Scottsville. The first of my stops was a neat little brick structure that was once the Scottsville Station, serving the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh railroad, but it is now a private residence.

   The next destination on my list was my main reason for riding out here, as the station was once at a location, Pittsburgh and Lehigh Junction, that is modeled on my home railroad layout. The junction was just to the west of Caledonia, where a branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossed the Lehigh Valley mainline. The little wooden station was built there in 1891, and when passenger service ended in 1961, the structure fell into a state of disrepair.
   The folks at the Genesee Country Village and Museum moved the station and restored it (though not in the correct two-tone gray colors) on their grounds, just north of the junction in the hamlet of Mumford. The Village grounds are the largest living history museum in New York State, and are billed as the third largest in the country.
   I had become so used to all the turns made while navigating the city, or the secluded forested trails I had been riding, and the long, rolling stretch of Route 383 that I rode out to Mumford seemed like it was never going to end. I honestly thought I was going to reach Buffalo soon!
   I had heard that the museum was closed to the public on Tuesdays but also saw on Googlemaps that there was a kind of back dirt road entrance I might be able to use, so I hoped for the best. Turns out it is the day the yard crew does maintenance on the grounds, so the front gate was open, and nobody minded at all when I pedaled through.

   Returning back through Mumford, I turned south on Main Street and caught the BR&P station, just outside of town. Very similar to the Scottsville structure, this station was currently a flower shop.

   I received a bonus station to my list when I headed through the center of Caledonia and spotted a former New York Central station there. Yes, another different railroad that served the area – are you getting a sense of the redundancy of rail lines that helped lead to the industry collapse in the early 1970s?

   I knew that long stretch back east to the trails was in the cards, but I had no idea of the HILLS that would be involved. Now, these really weren’t anything like what I experience regularly around home, but after days of pan-flat riding, they were a real changeup. One stretch of South Road, which led almost directly over to the Lehigh Valley Trail (LVT) at Wadsworth Junction, had a couple steep rises and falls that were almost roller coaster-like!
   Five miles along the trail, I was back at Rush and ventured into the station/restaurant to refill my water bottles. I was ducking off the trail here anyway, to head southeast on Route 15A about five miles to Honeoye Falls. The Lehigh Valley station there really had the look of a Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad structure, as that company was more known for its use of concrete for all of their buildings and bridges. This station was now a home to an artist, as the gardens had sculpture on display.

   When I thought about it later and looked at a map, I felt stupid that was only about fifty feet from a good view of the falls when I turned away north on Main Street (Route 65) and headed out of the village. I didn’t feel so bad later when I saw an image online of what I had “missed” - even Rochester’s Lower Falls were much more impressive!
   In a short time, I reached a trailhead back to Rochester Junction on the LVT, and I took the Rochester Branch north back towards the city. I couldn’t tell if it was a lack of maintenance or if this more grown-in trail had just been holding a greater amount of water from the recent rains, but the dirt track was very mushy, and there were a few moments when my back wheel lost traction and spun out a bit.
   It was interesting to me to experience the route the railroad once took “out of the woods” and back into more urban surroundings, but the trail kind of fell apart awkwardly once it passed under the New York State Thruway. I negotiated some piles of rocky fill near a business park development, which was a real contrast to the pleasant winding path through the fields of Veterans Memorial Park in the town of Henrietta that I had experienced just a few moments later.
   Unfortunately the trail came to an abrupt end at the busy office park and mall area around Hylan Drive and the interchange with I-390. With nearly seventy miles under my belt for the day, I wasn't about to look around for a scenic route, so I just sucked it up and made my way over to Route 15 for the return “home”.
   I was a bit surprised that there were no bike lanes on the street when I neared the University of Rochester, but perhaps, with the network of trails on the river side of campus, the on-road slot seemed unnecessary? Maybe it's just because the intelligent college student knows better to stay away from the busy state highways.

One more Rochester article to come…