Tag Archives: Big Flats Trail

Good Places to Hike, With Easy-On/Easy-Off: Part I

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Suppose you want to take a walk or a hike in our area. There are LOTS of places where you can do it. We have the Finger Lakes Trail system, state and county lands… we’re really blessed with opportunities.

*But sometimes the great places to hike are a pain to get to, depending on the time you’ve got available. So here are two GOOD places to walk or hike, outside the urban spaces, that are easy-on/easy-off trails.

*(1) Sperr Park, on Kahler Road near Big Flats, has the easiest trail… the former rail trail is straight as a die and almost perfectly level, except for a humpback where it crosses the road. Off east of Kahler Road, the Big Flats Trail runs through wooded space, and trees form a vaulted bower overhead as you stroll along. Here you might find chickadees, robins, grackles, and wood thrushes.

*Cross the road and you walk through the little park space and along the pond. I’ve found beaver and muskrat work in there, plus of course there’s plenty of waterfowl and also such water-loving birds as red-winged blackbirds.

*If you want to divert off the trail, you can cross a wooded causeway between the two ponds, then either double back, or circle the smaller pond. If you’re lucky you might spot a kingfisher, while in the west pond there are often great blue herons and other wading birds. Herds of turtles lounge on both sides when the sun shines warm.

*Back on the main trail, your walk takes you past the pond on one hand, and brush or meadow on the other. I often see American goldfinches here, and occasionally bluebirds – not to mention the geese and other birds in the pond and wetland. While this is a good walk, and an easy walk, some people might find it a strain on their attention span. Once along the second pond the terrain and the vegetation don’t change much, and you can look straight ahead down the trail about as far as the eye can see. No problem, though… when you’ve had enough, just turn around and walk back.

*WHAT’S NEARBY: Big Flats, Arnot Mall, the Consumer Square area, Harris Hill Park.

*WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: (a) You must approach from the north – the little humpbacked bridge on the south is still out. (b) Kahler Road has its own exit on I-86. (c) An existing space was developed and named for Trooper Andrew J. Speer, who confronted and was killed by two bank robbers here. He wounded them both, leading to their prompt capture.

*(2)Keuka Lake Outlet Trail, from Penn Yan (on Keuka Lake) to Dresden (on Seneca Lake) is also a rail trail. There’s a little more upping and downing than there is on the Big Flats Trail, but not much. There are several different surfaces – dirt, gravel, asphalt, boardwalk – and none are truly challenging. On the other hand, it’s a lot of fun.

*In this case there are several sites at the Penn Yan end where you can park the car and step right onto the trail. You’ll be walking along the Outlet, which drains Keuka Lake into Seneca Lake, and thence up to Lake Ontario. Pioneer prophetess Jemima Wilkinson sent disciples up to spy out the land where she was thinking of founding her own Jerusalem. Those were water-power days, and the scouts instantly recognized the industrial potential of the Outlet. So did Jemima, who came with the rest of her followers.

*The trail runs beside the Outlet, along the old railbed, which itself ran along the track of the even older Crooked Lake Canal. There are pools where you can watch ducks, and spots where you can stand to watch falls or rapids pounding away. There are also traces of the old industrial and canal infrastructure, making this to some extent a historical walk.

*You may not spot the beavers, but keep an eye peeled for their work. Squirrels and woodpeckers play in the trees, frogs peep or croak the summer long, butterflies flit around, snakes and turtles bask in the sun. Given that a good part of the trail lies in Penn Yan, at times it seems like a (narrow) public park… families with small kids, teens on bikes, Old Order folks taking short cuts to and from the store, joggers, bird watchers, people walking dogs… you name it. Some long-distance folks are really concentrating, but otherwise I’ve found it a friendly smiling place.

*Even though a mile or so of trail lies pretty much within Penn Yan, most of it’s overgrown enough that you’d still think you’re in the woods… and where that’s NOT the case, you get an interesting water-level view of the village.

*WHAT’S NEARBY: Penn Yan, Keuka Lake, Yates County Fairground (west end), Dresden, Seneca Lake (east end).

*WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: (a) There are stretches where uncivilized people have used the slopes leading down to water level as a junkyard, so at least if the leaves are down you may see litter, tires, appliances. (b) There are spots where the trail crosses a street or road, but the traffic’s not heavy. (c) Yates County History Center has some very interesting exhibits on Jemima Wilkinson. (d) Apart from a couple of outhouse/latrines, there are really no “facilities.” There’s a seasonal ice cream shop at the Dresden end – hikers find it very welcome!

Rails-to-Trails… Seize the Way!

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As we’ve looked at in the past, our area owes a lot of its growth and development to the railroad. They aren’t what they once were, and arguably they don’t need to be. But as their tide has receded, they’ve left their mark on our shore, in terms of rail trails.

It’s one of those ideas that seems blazingly obvious once somebody puts it on the table. Take now-disused rail beds and turn them into trails for hiking, biking, and walking. They may offer a transportation advantage, and they certainly provide an opportunity for fresh air and exercise in the great outdoors.

On top of that, the trails tend to be straight, smooth, and level – just what the railroads want. That makes rail trails especially welcome to the older, the younger, the visually impaired, or anyone who has trouble with balance.

The 2011 Rails-to-Trails Conservancy guide book, “Rail-Trails Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York,” lists four trails right near us. Working outward from Corning we find:

1)The Painted Post Trail (roughness index 2). This is a very nice paved urban trail, just over a mile long. Because it slides through the neighborhoods of Painted Post – crossing over North Hamilton and under Victory Highway – you almost always meet others, from elderly folks enjoying a stroll to young families leading (or pushing) toddlers and teens or adults tossing Frisbees to dogs. There’s a historic cemetery on the way, plus the old DL&W depot, now Town of Erwin Museum, and one terminus is in Craig Park. The last time I was there, a couple of months back, construction blocked my way west from the depot.

2)The Big Flats Trail (roughness index 2). If you’ve had enough of the mall for a while, stop by Sperr Park on Kahler Road and spend some time on this lovely partly-paved trail. You’re just off I-86, just outside Consumer Square, and parallel to an active rail line. But it’s such a quiet, lovely walk. East of Kahler the trees overhang and reach each other, so it seems like you’re walking through a green tunnel. West of Kahler you walk along the park with its two ponds, keeping eyes peeled for waterfowl, and then through brushy fields and meadows with plenty of sky overhead. Sometimes you even see a sailplane. Big Flats Trail is 1.7 miles long.

3)Lambs Creek Hike and Bike Trail (roughness index 1 – the smoothest). This trail runs three and a half miles north from Mansfield, Pennsylvania (starting near the IGA). I’ve been on parts of this trail, but it’s been quite a while. It parallels the Tioga River, and the northern terminus is a a boat launch in Lambs Creek Recreation Area.

4)The Keuka Outlet Trail (roughness index 3 – the roughest). Wow! Who can say enough about this seven-mile trail between Penn Yan and Dresden? With just a little more walking on the east end, you can hike from Keuka Lake to Seneca Lake. At Penn Yan you can start by the ball field, go through a little park, cross the Outlet, walk under Main Street, and cross the Outlet again… meantime taking in the way the lovely stream and the ancient industrial architecture complement each other.

The guidebook includes such not-too-far-away trails as Ontario Pathways Rail Trail (Canandaigua to Stanley) and Genesee Valley Greenway (Cuba to Rochester). Missing from the book are our Catharine Valley Trail (Horseheads to Watkins Glen) and the Lackawanna Rail Trail, from Eldridge Park to Water Street and the Chemung River. (This one is neat because part of the time you walk a berm or causeway, looking down on Elmira.) I’ve done some or parts of all of them, and they’re all great. Hike, bike, stroll, amble. They’re not hard to get to, and they’re not hard to manage. Carpe viam (seize the way)!