Conservation Trail - Niagara River

  We started in Tonawanda, and discovered that the CanalFest was in full swing. However, it wasn't open for the day yet, so we got a parking place.

I have to brag that in order to get there early, we got up at 5 am. And I'll tell you the end of the story too. We did not get rained on when we were hiking. But we did drive "home" in some serious rain.

Of course, this is all along the Erie Canal, and it's history is entwined with the trail and the villages along the way.

One of the most fun railroad and bridge "artifacts" is this swing bridge that allowed railroad access to Goose Island, across Tonawanda Creek. It still sits in the river in a perpetualy "open" position.

Believe it or not, it was hand operated. I liked that the mechanism is so visible. There were several of these used on the Miami-Erie Canal, but none are still standing. I only saw interpretive signs.

Our trail all day was paved urban route. But it was attractive. You can see the river beyond the trees.

There were even gardens to be seen along the way.

Early in the day, we turned to follow the Niagara River. If you squint into the distance, you can see the blue arc of the south Grand Island Bridge.

Soon we were even closer.

Yup, we walked across it.

A couple more miles and we finished for the day before 10:30 in the morning.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 321.1. Finger Lakes Trail miles hiked in 2024: 52.9

Conservation Trail, Western NY., Main St, Tonawanda to Oakfield Ave. 7.8 miles

In the afternoon I had time to finish getting the book file uploaded and accepted. Now I'm waiting for the e-proof, but if it looks good, then I'll be ordering books. We played Quiddler again in the evening.

See Tonawanda

Conservation Trail - Tonawanda

 Today was a short hike because of a lack of parking in appropriate places. That's OK. It was hot.

The trail is very urban here, but it sometimes winds through parks where there is nice shade.

Soon, we reached the Canalway Trail- the route of the old Erie Canal system. You may recall seeing these signs before. I was on a portion of this on the big hike near Rome, NY.

The canal followed Tonawanda Creek in this section. This is heavily used by pleasure craft. We saw lots of yachts, and houses built on the water. But there were people paddling, too. Beautiful walk.

You know I have to throw in a little railroad history. This jack-knife bridge (a one sided drawbridge) was built in 1919 for the New York Central to cross the creek. it could raise enough so that even masted ships could pass through. But after it was tested a few times, it's never been used again!

Very trite, I know, but this water lily was looking especially nice.

In the afternoon, we went to visit Marie's niece Melanie who only lives a few miles from here. She's a veterinarian.

She is also big into crafts. She had made these two jigsaw puzzles from photos of hers. So I had to do them, right?

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 313.4. Finger Lakes Trail miles hiked in 2024: 45.1

Conservation Trail, Western NY. Forest Rd to Main St, Tonawanda. 5.0 miles

See Not All Paved

Conservation Trail - Not All Paved

 Today's miles were tough only because it was impossibly humid. We got out early enough to beat the real heat, but it didn't really matter. About the first third was still paved trail.

After that, it was still the rail trail, but it was a grass surface. Nice to walk on! Our only real complaint was that the grassy trail had no benches. We walked and walked til we found a place we could sit for our break.

Some cute little white mushrooms looking like scarecrow hats.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 307.4. Finger Lakes Trail miles hiked in 2024: 40.1

Conservation Trail, Western NY. Shimerville Rd. to Forest Rd. 7.1 miles

BONUS SECTION: Ann's Garden

We went to host Joyce's sister's garden the other evening. It was beautiful! Come along.

She has waterfalls and ponds. This one has pink lights in the water.

This one is even larger and has blue lights in the water.

Container gardens on the steps are always nice with a number of different coleus and other things.

I really like the gooseneck loosestrife.

But the garden phlox and daisies are spectacular too.

The new one to me was a large bush called sweetshrub with big flowers. It's supposed to be aromatic, but I didn't smell it. Next time.

I'm in the very last stages of getting How to Hike the North Country Trail ready. The final check of the pdfs just happened. If I can stay awake, I'll upload them to the printer tonight. If not... tomorrow.

See Peanut Line and Stella T. Rex

Conservation Trail - Peanut Line and Stella T. Rex

 We started on the really urban part of this hike today. Paved rail-trail.

Our host, Joyce, hiked with us.

You can tell for sure that we are getting more urban. About 5 planes were coming in for landings while we hiked.

We got out early so we could be done hiking before it got really hot. In a few places there was delightful shade. We actually managed to find benches in the shade for our two breaks. It was all pretty easy, really, especially with someone new to talk with.

This rail trail was called the "Peanut Line." It was originally a 32-mile line between Canandaigua and Niagara Falls. But when that was bought in 1854 by the New York Central, the vice president called it "a mere peanut of a line." The nickname stuck. Interestingly enough, this track was wide guage, with the rails 6 feet apart. When NYC bought it, they had to change the track to standard guage. At great expense. The last section of this line was decommisioned in 1976, and by 1996 portions were being converted to trail.

After hiking, we went out for pizza.

However, in the midst of our lunch, we were attacked by Stella T. Rex! She chased Marie right away from the table.

She wanted our pizza!

I tried to rescue it.

But I really had to fight her for it!

But in the end, we made up. She let us eat the pizza.

What a day! Hiking, pizza for lunch and sweet corn for dinner. (Actually a new plant too, but I have to nail down which species before I share.)

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 300.3. Finger Lakes Trail miles hiked in 2024: 33.0

Conservation Trail, Western NY. Clarence Center Rd. to Shimerville Rd. 7.4 miles

See Murder Creek Re-re-re-re-visited See Dinosaurs Didn't Read

Conservation Trail - Murder Creek Re-re-re-re-visited

 Except for some wet weeds, today was a pretty nice hike. We waited until noon to start because it was raining fairly hard in the morning. We got sprinkled on a little bit, but not bad.

We crossed Murder Creek for the first time today at 1:53. This is the creek we crossed once yesterday. But now it was placid and grassy.

Before long, it had changed character completely to this rocky stream.

We followed it through a park, crossing again on this nice footbridge.

Walking beside it, there is an arch for the footpath in this bridge that carries Clarence Center Road.

Finally, we crossed it one more time, where it is now wider. It flows into Tonawanda Creek which flows to the Niagara River.

Legend has it that a Tuscarawas Chief loved his daughter so much that he became jealous when a young brave came to court her, and he killed them both. Murder Creek.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 292.9. Finger Lakes Trail miles hiked in 2024: 25.6

Conservation Trail, Western NY. NY Thruway to Clarence Center Rd. 6.8 miles

BONUS SECTION: Critters

It was a great day for seeing critters. Ones I could not catch with the camera include a brown thrasher, a mockingbird, and a small snake- possibly a red-belly.

This snail was easy to take pictures of. It moved so slowly, we decided not to wait long enough for it to extend its antennae all the way. But it was fun to watch. I have to wonder what a snail thinks when it is suddenly hoisted from the ground to sit in a hand that must smell really odd to it.

This handsome redtail hawk did not like us walking on the trail below and was very vocal about it.

We got an extra treat in the evening with a visit to another garden, but that will have to wait for another day. However, there was a friendly lawn bunny that was quite used to people.

A big ol' bullfrog is always fun.

The garden had ponds with beautifully colored koi.

But the best find of the day (well, I really did like the snail too) was a fledgling red-wing blackbird. It was just learning to fly and wasn't doing a very good job of it yet. Mama was close by.

This is way more than enough for one day!

See Murder Creek