This Sunday people will have the choice of bike riding the Keuka Lake Outlet Trail or hiking a section of it. The trail follows Keuka Lake’s outlet to Seneca Lake, starts in Penn Yan and goes approximately 7 miles to Dresden dropping 275′ along the way.

This trail runs along the stream in a wooded ravine, it was “formerly a canal towpath and later a rail road bed, it crosses the original Pre-Emption Line and passes near the area of the first permanent white settlement of ‘The Universal Friend Jemima Wilkinson’, along waterfalls and ruins of mills, factories and canal locks”.

Everyone will meet at the Seneca Mill Access parking area (Point 17 on the map) on Outlet Road at 4:00 PM. From there, bikers can go out and back both ways on the trail for a total of  up to 14 miles.  Well suited for hybrid or mountain bikes, the trail is a combination of dirt, gravel and asphalt and somewhat uneven.  Hikers will divide into two or three groups depending on how far people choose to hike in the two hours that they have.  All groups should plan to take in the Seneca Mills & Falls site (.2 miles west of the parking area) and the Cascade Mills & Falls site (1 mile east of the parking area).

We’ll have the usual COVID-style picnic at the Seneca Mill shelter if it’s available, and on the grass if not. Bring your own picnic, masks, and a folding chair.

Some maps of the outlet trail will be available at the beginning of the hike: you can print your own map from the The Friends of the Keuka Outlet Trail website.

Directions:

From Springwater, Wayland and Naples. Head south from Springwater on NY-15 south to Wayland, then turn left NY-21. Follow NY-21 for 12.7 miles through N Cohocton and Naples. Turn right on NY 245N across from Bob Ruth’s. Follow NY-245 for 8.9 miles to Middlesex and take a slight right turn onto NY 364E. In the Village of Penn Yan, turn right onto Liberty St., turn left onto Clinton St (State Route 54 North) and follow it 2 miles, turn right onto Bentley Rd (which becomes Bell Road) and go for 1 mile, turn left onto Outlet Road and go for .7 miles, parking area is on right.