Don was right…you can’t walk the entire shoreline of Canadice Lake.   Wetlands at the southeast end of the lake prevented a hiker from continuing along the east shoreline when he was sucked into the mud and couldn’t get out.   Luckily he managed to escape, leaving his sneaker someplace behind for a artifact to be found someday.  In the meantime, on the other side of the lake, 13 hikers followed the grassy trail around the south end of the lake, dropping down onto the shoreline past the marshy area. 4 hikers completed the hike all around the lake, sometimes accessing the road for a break from the stones or marshy areas, traveling  at least 3/4  of the shoreline area for a total of 8 miles. Others hiked almost 6 miles of shoreline for pick up at the boat launch.

Tourists walked half way down the lake on the rocky west shoreline, making a unanimous decison to pick up speed on the upper grassy trail.  While Pati entertained us with stories of an old indian village buried 80 feet under the lake, others navigated the shoreline stones, occasionally climbing over downed logs. Climbers continued on the entire west shoreline and both groups met up at the spillway area about the same time.

Thanks go out to the City of Rochester for allowing us to access the restricted area at the north end of the lake.   Without water overflowing into the spillway, the dam area felt like some sort of  terrain park or play land for skateboarders or trick bicyles.   Crossing the bridge, we observed the waters from Canadice Lake being passed through the gate into the Canadice Outlet which eventually flows into Hemlock Lake 4 miles downstream.  Many mills were built on the outlet area in the mid 1800’s to take advantage of the power these waters created, dropping 200′ from Canadice to Hemlock Lake with no dam to control the outflow.

After hike social was full of surprises, including our usual healthy food, lasagna and dehydrated apples.  A surprise guest from Kentucky joined us for our hike as he was traveling through the area. Bill Cooke, former CPA for the Environmental Protection Agency presented a slide presentation on his book Shades of Gray, Splashes of Color – A Thru-hike of the Colorado Trail.  Thanks Bill for sharing your 482-mile backpack journey with us and also for the pictures provided for this hike.  Bill may be hiking the entire Finger Lakes Trail next year and possibly we can join him someplace on the way.  Start your Christmas shopping list:  good hiking boots, carrying pack, light weight tent, sleeping bag and pad, small cooking equipment, and dehydrated foods.  Men usually carry about 40 lbs on their back, women 20 lbs.  Anyone want to train?