After a couple day’s worth of long drives we decided to try and stay closer to home. But, I still wanted to see some new sights. I thought I knew just how to make that happen. 

First up was Stony Brook State Park. I had been there once before, but the trail leading to the waterfall was closed at that time. I wanted to go back and get a good view of the waterfall. We arrived. I unpacked the camera gear. We started walking to the trail. WHAT?!?!?! Trail Closed!!! Oh no. It never occurred to me that the trail might still be closed. I should have checked the website. I was so bummed.

Grimes Glen

Next up was to visit some Finger Lakes Land Trust sites that I had not explored yet. We headed to Grimes Glen County Park. We had been here once before, but it was winter and too icy to explore very much. I really wanted to get back and see the waterfalls here.

This was much more of an experience than I had imagined it would be. I thought it would just be a small park with a few people hiking down the trail and looking at the waterfall. Wrong. So wrong. First off there is almost no trail. I could not understand why people were just walking in the middle of the stream when there appeared to be a trail to follow along the shore. The reason is that the trail doesn’t go far and has apparently been eroded away over time. You are eventually forced to walk in the stream bed if you want to get to the waterfalls. Just accept that you will have wet feet.

I was also completely missing the significance of this location for the community. It is apparently a very popular location to go and swim and hang out even though it is a relatively small area. When we arrived the parking lot was full and we had to wait for someone to leave so we could park.  The entire time we were there people never stopped coming and going. I tried to capture the constant flow of people in my photographs.

Carolabarb Park

After taking off our wet shoes and socks we headed to Carolabarb Park. This is another Finger Lakes Land Trust Site. One I thought just by reading the description on the website we hadn’t been to. But as we arrived we both realized we had been here before. We had stopped and watched some snow storms blow through the area here. It is a nice view of the lake, but it was not what I was hoping for.

Wesley Hill Nature Preserve

I was pretty sure we had never been to Wesley Hill Nature Preserve and that is where we headed next. This location was a nice forested area with trails to hike. Unfortunately we were in loose fitting sandals after unexpectedly having to get our feet wet at Grimes Glen. I do not recommend hiking in casual sandals and normally I would not do it myself, but I did not want to miss out on any more of this trip, especially at the one location so far I actually had not been to. We checked out the trails and they seemed relatively obstacle free and manageable with our current footwear. We hiked for a little bit and enjoyed nature. Then we headed back to the car.

Kershaw Park

Now it was time to do a little relaxing for the rest of the day. We made our way to Kershaw Park in Canandaigua, NY. This is a beautiful little park at the north end of Canandaigua Lake. We sat and relaxed for a while. We took our time meandering along the shoreline while I captured photographs of the wind and the waves. Then we ended the day by enjoying a meal from one of the local restaurants.

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