This Sunday program includes a hands-on science program about water quality, followed by a short but strenuous hike up Grimes Creek. Steve Lewandowski, Springwater Trails member and retired environmental educator, will present the workshop on macroinvertebrates and their relationship to water quality, near the Grimes Glen parking area and bridge. The program will take place in the stream, so be prepared to get wet, at least from the knees down (maybe more!).  There is a single program for Climbers, Tourists and Naturalists. If you want a longer hike, come early, park in the village and walk to Grimes Glen on Vine Street from a distance. 

Macroinvertebrates are the small creatures that live at the bottoms of streams, under the rocks. You can tell a lot about the health of a stream by which macroinvertebrates are present. Steve will show how to capture, examine and identify these small residents of our waterways.  This is a great program for kids and adults alike. If the Sunday timing does not work for you, a similar event will be happening on the day before, Saturday the 26^th, at 10 AM, presented by the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association and the Finger Lakes Land Trust.

After the program we will hike up Grimes Glen, about a half-mile stretch of bubbling cascades with 200 foot hemlock-lined shale bluffs and two sixty-foot waterfalls along the way. There is a creek-side trail along about half of the distance, beyond which hikers will be walking in the creek. Substantial water shoes and hiking poles will help for stability. Grimes Glen is Ontario County’s newest park, established in 2008 after a community-based fund- raising effort.  See the Ontario County website for more on the park and its rich history, including the discovery of a fossilized Devonian tree excavated from the glen in 1887 and displayed at the New York State Museum.

Grimes Glen Park has a rest room building and a small parking area at the north end of Vine Street, Naples. It is a popular park on weekends and hot days. If the parking area is full, we can car pool to a Mill Street parking area, about a half-mile away, or park on the street.

Following the hike our social will be at Middletown Tavern, 183 S. Main Street, Naples. Follow Vine Street back to Main Street and turn right. Middletown Tavern is on the right, just before you come to Joseph’s Wayside Market and Dollar General.

Directions to Grimes Glen:

From Springwater/Wayland – Take Route 15 south to Wayland, and follow NY21 east to North Cohocton and then north to Naples. A few blocks past Joseph’s Wayside Market, make a left at the Bristol Valley Theater onto Vine Street. Take Vine Street all the way to the end, and park in the Grimes Glen parking lot.

From Rochester and points north – Take I390 south to Exit 3, Wayland, and then follow Route 21 north and east to Naples. A few blocks past Joseph’s Wayside Market, make a left at the Bristol Valley Theater onto Vine Street. Take Vine Street all the way to the end, and park in the Grimes Glen parking lot.

For hikers who may wish to do a group hike on a weekday, and that is within a reasonable driving distance from the Springwater & surrounds area, some hikes led by Southern Tier Greenway Hiking group (STGH) are posted on the ST website as hike opportunities.  Such is the case with this Bully Hill SF hike.  This particular hike is in the general area that ST has hiked in the past and has considered for future additional hikes.  – – –  Here is an opportunity to take up on a hike in Bully Hill SF, for your pleasure, and perhaps to consider as a possible future hike plan for ST.

STGH is made up of hikers who hike the southern section of the Genesee Valley Greenway State Park (GVGSP aka GVG) and many more locations.  ST has hiked with some of these hikers during the Friends of Genesee Valley Greenway (FOGVG) annual event held in early November in a past year.  Some STGH hikers have joined-in on some ST hikes, and vice-versa.

Additional hyperlinks on topic –

A map my hike link created by one of our own ST hikers in August 2012. http://www.mapmyhike.com/us/alfred-ny/bully-hill-state-forest-route-127941211

A link to info regarding a ST hike held in August 2012 in this area.    https://springwatertrails.org/2012/08/bully-hill-state-forest/

Another link about Bully Hill SF  – http://andyarthur.org/explore/new-york-state/allegany-county/bully-hill-state-forest

A youtube video of a hike in Bully Hill SF – video by Ed of www.cnyhiking.org website.   Depicted in the video is some of the natural beauty held on a hike in Bully Hill SF, and … this video is set to music.

Springwater Trails hikers and others may be interested in a number of program presentations (lectures) in the Mount Morris Winter Discovery Series 2018.  t.

The annually recurrent Mount Morris Winter Discovery Series is offered January through March, on varying theme and topics. Each year holds about one dozen new program presentations.

Facilities for this program are provided by The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Mount Morris Dam and Recreation Area, located at the northern end (east side of the Genesee River) of Letchworth State Park.  All lectures are free of charge and will be held in the Visitor Center on Saturdays at 1pm.  The Visitor Center, aka the William B. Hoyt II Visitor Center, which opened in 1999, is an enclosed heated venue with indoor restrooms and is located adjacent the east side of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Mount Morris Flood Control Dam (which was constructed 1948-1952).  Often light refreshments are served at programs of the Winter Discovery Series.   [Please note, do not confuse this A.C.E. Visitor Center with the Letchworth State Park – Humphrey Nature Center which is located in Letchworth State Park on the west side of the Genesee River and further south of the A.C.E. Mt Morris flood control dam.]

Mount Morris Dam and Recreation Area Visitor Center is located at 6103 Visitor Center Road in Mount Morris, NY 14510. For more information call (585) 658-4790.

There are numerous exhibits and educational experiences in the Visitor Center, a brief opportunity may exist to view and experience some immediately prior to or after the Winter Discovery Series program.  Albeit, the Visitor Center is generally not otherwise open in the winter season.