Snail Ride - Ontario Pathways

So we returned to Central NY for our annual Memorial Day Weekend pilgrimage.  The past few years we've included the Waterloo 5K.  Waterloo, my hometown, is the birthplace of Memorial Day.  This year we decided we'd bring the mountain bikes and try to get  ride in before a family cookout on Saturday.

We had considered the path that is along the canal between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, but it's still a work in progress.  We had also considered cruising around Sampson State Park, but it was out of the way.  With just a little bit of research, we found the Ontario Pathways trail, an old railroad bed repurposed to a 23 mile rail trail.  It seemed just about perfect.  It started right in Phelps, just a couple of miles from my Uncle Steve's house, where the barbecue would be later that day.

I did note that the trail looked like it was out where it hit a pretty major road because a truck had hit the bridge that took the trail over the road.  That was 12 miles from our starting point.  I didn't think Harry would last that long anyhow.

As we were driving up Friday night we hit some major rain.  The next morning as we got ready to head over, we were a little concerned about the conditions.  We found the trailhead right off Route 96 in Phelps with no trouble at all.  There were a couple of other cars in the parking lot.  Both were walkers.

The three of us got ready.  Cori and Harry were dressed in casual shorts and tee shirts, but since I was clipped in, I went all the way with spandex and a bike jersey.

 

We started riding in and the vegetation was wet, but the trail was in really good shape.  Mostly hardpack.  A little gravel laid down here and there.  The pathway followed along beside a stream that was pretty wide and fast flowing for the entire distance that we followed it.  It might be Flint Creek or a tributary thereof.

We crossed a couple of bridges.  The first had a beautiful gate that was made for the Pathway, but which was in need of a little TLC.

The next bridge, an old railroad bridge, was where some super-evangalist graffiti artist chose to get their message across.  It kind of cracks me up to see Jesus Is Lord and Revelations Is Real scrawled out across the bridge.  I'm not sure what to make of that vandal.

 

  
Anyhow, we stopped a couple of times as we followed the path top check out some waterfalls and other cool areas.

By about a mile and a half in, Harry was groaning and rolling his eyes.  I could see he was almost done.  He was lollygagging along, seemingly intentionally going just slow enough to infuriate his parents.  We tried to keep him going, but by the time we came to a place where we were going to have to follow the road for 0.9 miles, we decided to turn back.  It was about 2.5 miles in.

On the way back we discovered our first snail. Or I should say I saw my first snail.  It was right after we'd taken another trip down to the river.  As I pointed it out, Harry exclaimed that he'd seen a few others.  We realized that we were surrounded by them.  Grabbed a few quick photos and started back.  Harry and I started to count snails.  All of a sudden, everything was better.  We counted 58 snails clinging to trees as we rode past.
 

The rest of the ride went great and we made good time getting back to the lot.  In the end, we made just about 5 miles at a snail's pace 5.8 average.