Linear Park Legends

These shots are of the Irondequoit Creek in Channing H. Philbrick Park (formerly Linear Park), in Penfield, NY. If you park in the main lot off Route 441, a nice little 5K can get done by running the length of the trail down to the Tops parking lot, then back up. You'll need to run up into the wooded part of the trail east of the parking lot to get the distance in.

There are some interesting artifacts and features in the portion of the Irodequoit Creek that the trail follows. Most can be attributed to the mills that used to operate on the Irondequoit Creek in this area. The fast water currents on this portion of the creek were ideal for this purpose. A friend of mine told me that the partially exposed tunnel seen in the upper right of the second picture above was used as an escape route in the Underground Railroad, and that the tunnel makes it's way up to a house on the hill behind the creek.. An intriguing possibility, although it is just as plausible that this was some sort of spillway or tunnel used by a mill. (Click on the pictures to enlarge.)

Support Your Local Brewery

At the St. Paul Street end of the footbridge near High Falls you can find this great old building, which is part of the Genesee Brewery. In the town I'm from, Utica, NY, the local brewery, FX Matts, is kind of the center of the community. Most big events, like the Utica Boilermaker and several festivals and live music are tied to the brewery and Saranac beers. In Utica, the local brewer is for the most part, treated as a local treasure. When I moved to Rochester, old Genny was kind of neglected by most people here, and seemed on the verge of being overrun by crappy national brands. Since the 90's, they have tried going "microbrew" with the Dundee and High Falls lined...with limited success. Recently, a large brewing company purchased Genesee, and plans on trying to bring it back above the radar. I would like to have seen it stay with local ownership....but at least its still made here. Support your local brewery!

A Fair Port on the Erie Canal

Fairport is sort of my home base away from home. I must have accumulated at least 500 miles running on the streets and canal towpath trail in the Village of Fairport....as well as watched hundreds of trains go through the CSX main line crossing in the center of the village. (My son had a fascination with trains in his toddler years.)

These photos are from an early morning run in July - just before hitting the farmer's market. The bridge in the canal shot actually lifts straight up for tall boats to pass, and the smokestack in the far right is from the old American Can Company plant which was an early anchor industry for the town. The other shot is of the massive can factory which stretches for several blocks along the railroad tracks.