Cornell and More

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Ithaca was one of our favorite places to visit when we used to live in western New York. We have already been here during our stay in the area this summer but that was a couple months ago so we were due for a return visit. This time we planned to head to the campus of Cornell University. We have spent a great deal of time there. Not as college students but as participants in a program called “Natural Areas Academy” back in 2013 shortly after we retired. This 10 month program consisted of 20 sessions about various natural and environmental topics usually led by retired Cornell professors with expertise in a given field. Topics include sessions on invasive species and bugs, landscape design to help with specific goals, trail maintenance and numerous walks through some of the more remote areas of the Cornell Plantations properties. The program was right up our alley and it gave us a much greater understanding and appreciation of all sorts of natural things.

Our goal for this visit was to go to the gardens and arboretum section of the campus and just reacquaint ourselves with the grounds after being away for so many years. We also had a few Adventure Labs and geocaches in the area that would help direct our exploration. We arrive at the Botanic Gardens to find the parking area has been enlarged and is much easier to find a spot than in the past.

Overlooking the Herb Garden

Mural on Nevin Welcome Center

Sculpture in Gardens

We start our tour wandering around the herb garden adjacent to the education buildings. There were still lots of things in bloom and we really appreciate all the identification labels to help us learn about new plants or re-familiarize ourselves about ones we used to know.

Flower in Front of Lewis Building

It wasn’t too crowded so we were able to slowly work our way around the gardens and soak in all the beautiful plants and flowers. Clearly there is a large staff or volunteers that keep this place in tip-top shape.

Butterfly

Vibrant Bloom

Just across the road from the herb garden is the Mundy Wildflower Garden. The north side of this area is bounded by Fall Creek which flows into Cayuga Lake a couple miles downstream. We could continue on to the east and get to our next destination - the Arboretum.  But it was lunchtime and our sandwiches were back on the car so we head back, have lunch then drive over to the much larger Arboretum.

Narrow Bridge Over Fall Creek

We had more stages of an Adventure Lab plus a couple more geocaches along the one mile walking path. This part of the gardens is rather hilly so it’s more of a workout but there are some decent views from the Newman Overlook. Besides all the mature trees, there are two ponds and quite a large collection of statues and other pieces of artwork to peruse.

View at Arboretum

Houston Pond in Arboretum

Unique Artwork

We really wanted to get over to the main campus area but it was a Friday so school was in session and we figured parking would be impossible. As luck would have it, the parking lot next to the Welcome Center, near Triphammer Falls, had a few available spots. We were impressed that when we went to pay at the kiosk in this lot, the system recognized our plate number from paying for parking at the gardens and still had a 45 minute balance that gets credited to our parking spot. I guess there are some advantages to the newfangled parking meters we are seeing all over the place. The falls are quite pretty and there is a nice view of them from the pedestrian bridge over the creek.

Triphammer Falls

Another View of Falls

We did quite a bit more walking around some of the campus. A large percentage of the buildings on campus are quite old or at least look old. One building that always caught our eye is a much newer one. Milstein Hall was built in 2011, so it was very new when we were spending time at Cornell. It isn’t necessarily the prettiest building but it seems to have a nearly impossible cantilever design that appeals to the engineer in me. About 50 feet of building the extends over the road below without any support columns on the far side.

Cantilevered Building Over Road

We let an Adventure Lab help tour us around the campus. It is definitely a very pretty setting made even better by how hilly it is. There are some very nice views to be had while walking around. Of course, the hills also make for a very tiring walk. We likely got quite a few miles in during our visit. We crossed a different bridge to get back to our car which gave a completely different view of Triphammer Falls.

Sage Hall

McGraw Tower

Overlooking Western Side of Campus

Morril Hall

Triphammer Falls from Thurston Ave Bridge

While we were walking around campus, I had gotten a text from a friend seeing if we were available to meet up with a few other former colleagues from Kodak for a happy hour at one of their houses. It was a rather impromptu event since it was happening the next day. I guess that’s the advantage of not having many set plans on our schedule so we were able to attend. Since the advance notice was so short, only a handful of us were able to make it but it was so much fun seeing these folks after so many years.

Nancy, Jack, Michelle, Mary Ann, Bob

One of our goals while we are back in western New York was to check on all of our geocaches and perform maintenance where required. We still had five more hides to get to but fortunately they were all within a five mile radius of one another so we figure we can get to all 5 of them during the same outing. We first stop at the Lehigh Valley Trail parking area in downtown Rush about a mile from our old home. This was one of our most frequented trails since it was a very nice rail trail and so close to home. There is an Adventure Lab that is placed along this trail but we know we have a very full day of hiking and biking to finish our maintenance goal so this will need to wait.

Lehigh Valley Trail

Falls in Downtown Rush

Next stop was still in the town of Rush but over near Stonybrook Road Park. We had placed one puzzle cache on a a section of an old rail line known as the Old Peanut Line. Back when we hid this one over 10 years ago, we expected this trail to get developed by the town or county and we could place more caches along the 1.5 miles of trail. To this day the trail really has seen no improvements. It seems like it may be mowed once a year, but that is about it. Parking is right across the street from the Rush yard waste transfer station. They were running a huge chipper and grinding up trees and stumps. The noise was deafening so it wasn’t the most peaceful walk to the cache. I was concerned with how wet the trail might be based on some of the recent logs from cachers but there was only one section that required careful foot placement to pass thru without getting wet feet. I was impressed with how well this one has withstood the harsh winters we have here.

Chipper at Work

View Along Peanut Trail

Wet Section of Trail

Decade Old Cache

Our next stop was along a section of the Genesee Greenway Trail in Avon. We stopped at Tom Wahls for lunch before heading to the trailhead. We have 2 caches along this trail but they are 5 miles apart. We knew we didn’t want to do a 10 mile hike, so we had brought along a change of clothes and our bikes. This is a rail trail so there isn’t much elevation change. Being a Monday afternoon, there were almost no other people out enjoying the beautiful day.

Pond Along Genesee Greenway Trail

We knew if we headed just 1/3 mile more to the north, we would come to the intersection with the same Lehigh Valley Trail we were on earlier in the day. The reason we would extent the ride was to check out the old bridge that takes the trail over the Genesee River. The deck for the trail actually comes across the old steel bridge about 20 feet lower than the level the old train tracks ran. The reason for this is that these two train lines ran in different directions. The Lehigh Valley is an east/west track while the Genesee Valley is a north/south track, so one of the, needed to pass over the other. One of the old stone abutments is still standing next to the present day rail trails. An interesting aside about this abutment is that there is a geocache hidden on top of it. Years ago when we were trying to find this cache, we concluded it was at the top but there really wasn’t good enough handholds and footholds to free climb the 16 foot structure. So we had carried an extension ladder over 1/2 mile from the nearest parking area in order to make the find. I still remember the look we got when we passed another walker on the trail as we carried the ladder!

Approaching Old Railroad Bridge Over River

Genesee River View

Need a Ladder to Get Up There

We have visited the Penn Yan area a couple times during our stay this season but we decided to go back to the area to check out the Townsend-Grady Wildlife Preserve. It is situated on the northern shore of the west branch of Keuka Lake. It isn’t all the big of preserve - about 16 acres - with a few trails. But there are two Adventure Labs there and now that we have been getting into doing this offshoot of geocaching, we figured we would go check the place out. The parking area is just a grassy field but it works fine to start our adventure. There are numerous interpretive signs all around the grounds and these seem to be the basis of the Adventure Lab stops.

Joe Pye Weed

Along the western edge of the preserve is Sugar Creek which flows into the lake. There were lots of wildflowers in bloom and even saw a few butterflies flitting around. At one point the trail comes to what appears to be a new boardwalk. It’s probably 300 feet long and goes out to a small gazebo or shelter and well as a pier jutting into the water with a nice Adirondack chair to relax in the sunshine. This was a nice area to visit.

Walking Along Sugar Creek

Butterflies

Start of Boardwalk

Relaxing Spot

When we were planning our trip in this direction, we had stumbled upon another preserve that was only about 3 miles away. Botsford Nature Preserve is a 26 acre parcel with a trail that leads down to Big Gully Creek. It’s less than a half mile trail but does drop close to 150 feet in elevation. Which isn’t an issue getting down to the creek but will be a chore to come back up.

Start of Trail at Botsford Preserve

The real feature of this preserve is the gully formed by the aforementioned creek. At the end of the trail, a sign suggests visitors should stop but the water level is quite low right now so we proceed upstream.

Small Cascade along Creek

Channel Eroded by Water

It was a very serene area with the sound from the water flowing over the various small falls. We did run into another person coming out of the gully and we stopped to chat with her. From the sounds of it, this area had several feet of water running through it just a week or so earlier. I guess given the steep side walls of the gully, you definitely want to be cautious about trying the walk up the creek. We proceeded up until we ran into some obstacles that we didn’t feel like getting past so we head back to the car. It is a neat place if you can pick a day with low water levels.

Walking Up Big Gully Creek

We had one more Adventure Lab in downtown Penn Yan that was setup to be a walking tour of town, so we headed there next. There are a lot of neat old buildings in town. We did have trouble getting to one of the stages because the main street was under complete reconstruction. We managed to find a way around the heavy equipment and finished up our tour of a nice town.

Circa 1896 Church in Penn Yan

Mural of Circus Coming to Town

We have visited Seneca Lake State Park numerous times during our stay. It is close by and is the destination when I go for a bike ride along the canal trail. We headed back one afternoon for a walk to explore more of the marina and boat launch area. There is a 250 foot long break wall at the entrance to the canal and marina area. There were no signs warning us to stay off, so we felt obligated to go check it out.

View from End of Break Wall

Marina Area

The next day, we had another ice cream social/geocaching event to attend. It was all the way over in Spencerport at the same place as one we attended in late April. Since it is quite a drive to get there, we come up with a plan to spend the whole day slowly working our way from Waterloo to Spencerport. We would use a series of Adventure Labs and geocaches to help formulate our travels. Our first stop would be Maplewood Park in Rochester. Chris has been to this park in the past since she once worked at the Kodak building just across the Genesee River from here. I’m not sure I have ever been here before. The park is known for its rose garden but coming in mid-September doesn’t lend to lots of roses. We explored the park a bit before moving on.

Maplewood Rose Garden

A Few Roses Remain

Unusual Building in Maplewood Park

Under Driving Park Bridge - Old Kodak Hawkeye Plant on Left

Next stop would be an historic cemetery on the north side of Rochester. Holy Sepulchre Cemetery was founded in 1871. It is a very large cemetery (340 acres) and is a prominent feature along both Lake Avenue and Dewey Avenue. Our Adventure Lab would direct us to the graves of some of the famous or infamous members of the Rochester community. I have always loved some of the buildings on the grounds. We enjoyed the tour.

Church at Cemetery

Entrance Building

Our next stop would be further north on Lake Avenue - the Charlotte section of town. We were here back in late April but now we had 3 different Adventure Labs to complete. It was a beautiful day to be up at Lake Ontario. With just a slight breeze, the water was fairly tranquil. One of the places we were taken to was dubbed the Secret Sidewalk. It is aptly named. Our first apartment when we moved to Rochester full time was only about a half mile from this sidewalk. I remember seeing signs for it when I would bike along the roads up by the lake but since there were “no bicycles” signs, I had never investigated where the sidewalks led. It turns out that between the lake and approximately two dozen beautiful beach homes is a sidewalk that is public property. It is less than a half mile in length but it is amazing.

Starting Along the Secret Sidewalk

View of Lake Ontario

The homes along this stretch of the beach are quite nice. We’re likely talking $500K minimum and going up substantially from there. They all had very well manicured lawns and flower beds. It was  astounding that in the thirty plus years we lived in the region, we never even knew this existed!

Not Too Shabby!

Cool Architecture

Well Maintained Garden Bed

Continuing down the beach towards the Genesee River, we pass the old beach bath house. It has been thoroughly refurbished over the years and is now quite nice for a building over 90 years old. It is now a community center and the upstairs hall was being decorated for what looked like a birthday party.

Old Bath House Along Charlotte Beach

Desolate Beach Today

Just before reaching the river is the old merry-go-round. The Dentzel Carousel was built in 1905. Being a weekday and this time of year, it was closed up. But if you’re in the area during the summer months, this place is definitely worth a visit to see all the ornately carved carousel animals.

Closed Carousel Building

The other Adventure Labs took us down along the river past the Port of Rochester, the old light house and a beautiful church. We enjoyed getting a chance to explore Charlotte a bit more than we usually would.

Fish on a Stick Artwork

Port of Rochester

Ernest Hemingway Mural - 2014

200 Year Old Lighthouse

Church in Charlotte

The last stop of the day before heading for ice cream was to Braddock Bay Marina.  Another Adventure Lab would give us a tour here plus we had a geocache hidden by a good friend that we needed look for. It is a beautiful area and there wasn’t much going on so we didn’t have crowds to contend with. After completing our mission there, we drove a half mile down the road to Braddock Bay Park. The plan was to find a picnic table and enjoy the subs we had brought along for dinner. As we pulled into the parking lot by one of the shelters, it dawned on us that this was the place we had our wedding rehearsal dinner/picnic nearly 40 years ago!

Braddock Bay Marina

Lake Ontario

We made our way south to Spencerport and Lugia’s ice cream. It was a cool evening by that point but we all got some good ice cream to catch up with many of our caching friends. We had about three dozen people show up so we had a nice turnout.

Group Photo  from Geocaching Ice Cream Event