A trip down Victor way
The third Monday in April was a gorgeous, sunny and warm spring day, about the first really nice day we’ve had this spring. I took advantage of the day off of school and the glorious weather to explore four parks in Perinton and Victor.
Of particular note for this set of hikes: they were the first ones I accomplished this spring while sporting a cast on my left arm. I broke it in a karate class while vacationing in Ireland, and had just had surgery on it six days earlier. Which goes to show you that hiking is a great activity, even if you do have a disability. :)
Egypt Park, Perinton
My first stop was Egypt Park, at the corner of Pittsford-Palmyra Road (Rt. 31) and Victor Road.
Egypt Park is a popular community park with plenty of parking, some wide open spaces, a very nice updated playground, pavilion, water fountain, picnic tables, athletic fields and seasonal bathrooms. On the day I visited, the playground was crawling with small children, as parents and grandparents sat on benches or lawn chairs and watched.
A bonus feature of this park is its proximity to Lollypop Farm, the Humane Society. A short trail off the south side of the park leads directly to Lollypop, where adults and children alike can visit some adorable cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, and even baby goats.
Lollypop Farm also has its own 1.3-mile nature trail, which loops through the woods to the south and west around the facility. I had a hard time finding the entrance from the maps I had, until I saw some signs near the front entrance of the main building, leading to a trailhead on the south side of the property.
The trails are well blazed, with “you are here” maps at trail junctions. It’s quite steep in places -- which might make it difficult for very young children -- but mostly dry. It’s quite peaceful, though the budding trees still didn’t yet totally mask the traffic sound from the nearby busy roads.
There are also at least two letterboxes at Lollypop. I found one, "Buttercup the Space Cow," along the nature trail.
Photos:
Since I haven't yet figured out an easy way to create captions for all my photos, here's a quick summary of the gallery below:
The Egypt Park playground; the entrance to Lollypop Farm via a path on the south side of Egypt Park; you can immediately commune with some horses once you enter the park; me and Lollypop's mascot, Buttercup the Cow; the Lollypop nature trail map; entrance to the trail; there are several interpretive displays along the trail, great for kids; a scenic area and nature in bloom; and the construction which greets you at the end of the nature trail. Lollypop is building an indoor horse arena to be able to better tend to the horses in their care.
MaryFrances Bluebird Haven
As you can surmise from its name, this beautiful 39-acre nature preserve is a bluebird sanctuary, on land donated to the Town of Victor in 1997 by Robert Butler in memory of his wife. It serves as a living classroom with an emphasis on the preservation and restoration of New York State's official bird. It’s located on Victor-Egypt Road, across from the intersection with Valentown Road.
There’s one mile-long trail which loops around the property through open fields and woods, and two shorter extensions, measuring about .2 miles, which encircle the pond. There’s a small parking area right at the entrance to the preserve, and a much larger one at the end of the main access road, near the Butlers’ former residence, now a cottage which can be rented for gatherings.
The longer trail also hooks up at one point with the Victor Hiking Trails, affording a longer walk if you’re game. All of the trails I walked were mostly level and easy to navigate. Except for the mud (more about that later.)
While I did not see any bluebirds, I heard lots of songbirds. It was definitely the most alive natural area I’ve been to yet this spring. MaryFrances Bluebird Haven in beautiful and peaceful, and downright bucolic.
I only had one problem with MaryFrances. It was exceedingly muddy and wet, even after an extensive dry spell. This was actually my second visit to the preserve in two days; the day before, my daughter and I tried to hike the trail, an effort which was cut short just minutes into the hike when she slipped and went bass-ackwards into a large mud puddle. I hadn’t thought to wear hiking boots myself that day, not realizing how messy some of the trails might be.
I will not make that mistake again.
Photos:
Most of the photos are of the very scenic grounds and trail around the sanctuary. The angel statue was erected in honor of the park's namesake, MaryFrances Butler. The last photo is of the barns across the street from the park, which help give the whole area a very bucolic feel.
Harlan Fisher Park
Just three miles south of MaryFrances Bluebird Haven on Lynaugh Road, and just north of the Village of Victor sits Harlan Fisher Park.
This unassuming little 6-acre park was one of the first parks in the village. It features a few picnic tables, lots of open space and a fairly nice playground. Online references to the park indicate that it also has a half-mile long hiking trail. I can’t find one mapped anywhere, and I walked around most of the park’s perimeter but didn’t see one, aside from a short access trail to the adjoining East Parkway neighborhood. It’s possible I missed it.
Harlan Fisher strikes me as a neighborhood park, given its compact size, how close it is to village neighborhoods, and that the playground is its primary feature. I do believe it is the first park I’ve seen with a bike rack, however.
The "Hide and Seek" letterbox in tucked among the roots of a big tree in this park, and I located that, sitting at one of the picnic tables to place my Mamarose stamp into the logbook.
The photos show the playground, some of the park's open grassy area, and am look into the woods which might be a trail, but was much too muddy and wet to be passable.
Victor Municipal Park
In stark contrast to the oldness and neighborhood feel of Harlan Fisher Park, Victor Municipal is less than six years old, so it’s one of Victor’s newest parks. It’s located east of the village off of Brace Road, just south of Route 96.
Victor Municipal is a big (47 acres), well-groomed, multi-purpose park. Clearly the town put a lot of thought into the elements which should be incorporated into a proper park. There are bocce ball courts (or were they horseshoe courts?), a gorgeous playground, outdoor fitness stations, a fishing pond, hiking trails, even an amphitheater for special events.
Having said that, I couldn't help but feel that despite all the amenities, the park wasn’t very pretty. The word that came to mind instead was “functional.” Everything was well-groomed and in good repair. Even the grassy trail I found winding through the woods on the west side of the park was tidy, though underwhelming, a mowed path carved out of the scrubby underbrush and young trees.
According to the town website, there are two miles of trails here, but I’m not sure where they are. There are no maps, and the trail I was on was not blazed. Occasionally a less traveled spur would break off and lead away from the park, but having no guidance, I didn’t feel confident enough to follow them. So I stuck to the main trail, which was only about a half mile long.
It’s also clear that the trail is frequented more by teenagers than nature lovers, if the graffiti and trampled-down clearings (read: beer party) are any indication.
I was also a bit surprised to find how far out of town it was. With a name like “Victor Municipal,” I thought the park might be a pocket park or monument park right in downtown Victor. But it’s actually east of town, an off-the-beaten-path, circuitous 2-mile route that pretty much leads nowhere else but the park.
Now don’t get me wrong. This is a nice park, and it fulfills many useful purposes -- great play area for the kids, nice shelter to rent for graduation parties, a great catch-and-release fishing pond. But somehow it feels almost too perfect, too...sterile. It just kind of left the nature lover in me strangely unfulfilled.
Photos:
This gallery starts with photos of a few of the park's amenities, the Rotary Pavilion, amphitheater and shelter, the very nice playground and fishing hole. The following ones were from the trail. There are fewer of these because it was really not that scenic, and in a few places actually rather ugly (with the polluted wetland and graffiti).
