A River Burbles By It

Tonight Sam and Susan and I went on a hike on a trail in a local park about a mile away, the mathematically named "Linear Park." I knew it was there, but only learned recently how beautiful it is. The main trail runs by a creek which is generally not too deep and about 20-40' wide, with a 30' overall elevation drop providing sections of rapids and white water. Due to the elevation drop, it was the site of many mills in bygone days, and you can still see some remnants of their foundations. The Iroquois referred to this section of the creek as Sgoh-Sa-Is-Thah, meaning "smashing water against rock." [Click on the pictures to enlarge them.]

My officemate John tells me he goes there to fly fish and generally catches trout. This was confirmed by a fisherman we met last night who was clambering among the rocks by the shore, saying he'd caught a foot-long trout and it'd just slipped out of his hands and was hiding among the rocks. (He was catching & releasing, so that worked out well.) The sign at the entrance to the trail says that the stream has river trout, yellow perch, pumpkinseed sunfish, brown bullhead, carp, and even salmon. The salmon come from the Northern Atlantic, make their way to the great lakes and from Lake Ontario they pass through Irodequoit Bay to Irodequoit Creek. John says that in October when they are spawning, quite a number of large salmon (e.g. 3') can be seen heading upstream.

It's a short hike--maybe half a mile--and quite pleasant. (That's just the maintained part of the trail. I'm told you can go further if you are willing to bushwhack a little.) It's reasonably well kept up, with several little bridges. Just right for a little boy! Sam had a great time running along the path and over bridges and clambering over logs. When it's little warmer and there's more time, I expect we'll do some wading. Tonight as we left the sky was deep peach in the West and the trail was growing dark.

Sam and I went without Susan last night, and discovered a little waterfall set off from the path, which we named "Mommy Falls" in Susan's honor. (It's on Honey Creek, a much smaller creek which joins the main one around there.) The wasterfall is hidden well enough that you have to be looking in the right direction at the right time. And there are other side trails which don't follow the water which we will have to explore on future trips. Maybe this weekend!

This is truly the joy of Western New York: so many great trails and waterfalls and creeks, just waiting to be found.

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By the way, Sam's taking his nuk removal like a trooper. He's asked for it several times, but not fussed too much. He clearly misses it a lot. We all do, since now Sam has a much harder time going to sleep. 10:15 p.m. the last two nights, 10:45 the night before, and always after a struggle. But, surely in time he will learn to fall asleep without it. Surely.