Wetlands and an old rifle range
Lucien Morin Park, Penfield
Lucien Morin Park is a 348-acre park located on the south side of Empire Blvd. at the foot of Irondequoit Bay. It's owned and operated by Monroe County. Originally known as the Ellison Park Wetlands, the area was renamed in 2011 in honor of former Monroe County Executive Lucien Morin. It is very well known for its extensive marsh area -- amounting to 199 acres -- popular with canoers and kayakers.
Lucien Morin is basically nothing more than beautiful wetlands, dense woods and trails. It does eventually connect with Ellison Park to the south, which is more picnic-friendly, but the main visitors to Lucien Morin, aside from the kayakers, are probably bird-watchers, fishermen, runners, and of course, hikers like me.
When I set out this evening to explore Lucien Morin Park, I had already mentally mapped out the trails I would take, which should have given me a pretty good tour of the park. Due in part to the difficulty of the trails, however, and the quickly setting sun, I turned back well before I had originally planned, after hiking only about a mile and a half in 35 minutes. There are several more miles of trails that I didn't make it to.
The trails are narrow, steep, rocky and root-y. Expect to be challenged. They are fairly well marked, and they followed pretty well with the map I got offline. There are a lot of side trails but if you trust the blazes, you can't go too wrong. Most of the trails can be accessed from the park's main entrance on Empire Blvd., where there is a kiosk with a map. One trail can only be reached from Browncroft Blvd. to the south. There's plenty of parking in the gravel lot on Empire Blvd. To get a head start on your hiking, you can drive down the Wetlands Center access road which leads from the parking lot, but get back out before they lock the gate.
There's a lot to discover in this park when you have the time. There's an incredible variety of flora and fauna, a creek, the wetlands, of course, and the remains of an old rifle range and pistol range (once used by the National Guard and State Police in WWII). There's also a gazebo, or so the map tells me, but I didn't come across that and I can't imagine why there would be a gazebo in this middle of the wild park. You could spend several hours here, but don't expect to find any amenities like picnic tables or restrooms.
I've posted one map above, but here's a link to another from Monroe County, which shows a satellite view of the park. The water features might help you find your bearings if you need to. http://www.monroecounty.gov/File/LucienMorenmAP.pdf
The photos below show a few of the park's natural and man-made features including some of the ruins of the old rifle and pistol ranges. I particularly like the photo of the late-afternoon sun peeking through the trees.
