After our Michigan trip, Basil and I spent a day at home and then headed for New York state. The whole area is buried under snow now, but before Basil and I left we took a short ride on a new-to-us trail near Rochester, and got to experience autumn in yet another part of the country.
Having, unusually, failed to get a picture of the trail designator, I’m not sure exactly which one we rode on. We passed through Irondequoit, and for much of the trail, paralleled a highway, which may or may not be 404/104. Tech failures of various kinds mean that I can’t confirm much of anything about this trip right now. (No kudos to Garmin Connect, which hates my Linux computer.*)
Parts of the route, therefore, were less scenic than they might have been, though there wasn’t much traffic in the afternoon, before the end of the work day. This section of the trail system was built on an old rail bed; I don’t know if Monroe County cyclists use any part of it to commute to work.
We had only a short window for our ride, but this is my favorite time of day. Or perhaps I should say “my favorite light of day” since evening comes early in winter in northern geographies, and it’s appearance that matters to me, not the temporal designation: long shadows and oh, those golds!
We turned around here, partly because I wasn’t sure where the trail went at this point, and because I had no lights on Basil. I’m assuming these roadways are flooded with vehicles during commute hours, but they certainly look oddly unused in these photos. Build a highway and they will come?
Turning back meant a short course on a smaller street, and encountering this sign, the counterpoint to another regional one we saw in Northern Michigan. There are streams, lakes and bays everywhere here; it’s nice to see that waterfowl are looked after.
That’s the bike path, to the right — just a strip of nicely-done asphalt, making it an easy route for riders of all abilities. The sign, set confusingly exactly between the highway and the path, says “NO PEDESTRIANS OR BICYCLES”, which, presumably, refers to the highway. Otherwise, there would be no point to the path at all, right?
We did pass a small glen, still bursting with greenery and flowers, and enjoyed the evergreens all along the highway. Basil and I much prefer urban street-scapes or scenic views to riding along multi-lane roads, but any trail is OK with us, and much better than no trail at all.
*Dr. Diarist, a Computer Guy, is on the case, but not until he’s sorted out a massive re-organization of the essential equipment that makes our technical lives run. Shoemaker’s children and all that. It’s all good; gotta have an infrastructure!
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