An email from Rick.
We had a great hike Sunday at Tumble Hill. Eleven hikers enjoyed the warm weather hike. Tumble Hill is situated on 67 private acres with varied terrain and great views. 
The climbers followed an old logging road up through the hardwoods to the top of the hill where they could observe a large windmill farm in operation. We were able to use the pavilion at Tumble Hill for our “afterhike” social.
Thank you Tumble Hill
Friday
Sunday
Monday
On December 15, fourteen hikers braved the snow to enjoy the Springwater outdoors at Schribner Rd. Linda led half of the group to the top of the hills providing a view of the Mehlenbacher fields. Cold winds blowing across the fields quickly sent the hikers back into the woods for the continuation of the hike around more protected fields. Mark led the rest of the group around the fields on the east side of the creek. Duffy was a bit skeptical about hiking through 12 inches of snow in temperatures in the 20s, but Joan and Bob created a good trail for him with their snowshoes and we were able to investigate many of the different trees on the property. The evergreens were dominated by White and Red pines, but also included Scotch Pine, Larch, Spruce trees. Gene pointed out that Spruce trees have Spruce Cones, not Pine Cones!
Following the hike, we were joined by five additional friends for good food and good conversation. Joan announced the hikers who had earned a membership in Springwater Trails, Inc for 2014 by completing 20 hikes with the group or by coordinating our hikes for a season. Joan provided each new member with a cross stitch ornament. Congratulations to Gene, Georgia, Char, Pati, Melissa, Bob, Linda, Mark, Joan, Ann, Pam, Dena, Jerri, Bonnie and Nanette. We also want to thank all hikers who joined Springwater Trails for a Sunday hike during 2013. It is your encouragement and friendship that energizes the entire group.
Meanwhile, it continues to snow in Springwater.
view along eastern shoreline south
Sometimes it’s fun to explore a new area around the Hemlock/Canadice State Forest and take an informal hike along the east shoreline of Hemlock Lake. With permission of two private landowners, Springwater Trails managed to navigate their way through a steep path off Bald Hill to find the North Boat Launch of Hemlock Lake. Cloudy weather, a light rain, slush and slippery ice did not prevent 12 hikers from treading carefully along the shoreline to enjoying the views our precious Hemlock Lake has to offer during the pre winter season.
Bald Hill (sometimes called Ball Hill) is roughly a 13 mile diameter circle that separates Hemlock Lake from Canadice Lake and runs from approximately Rt 20A in Hemlock to just north of Johnson Hill Road in Springwater. According to D. B.Waite in his rare book Up and Down the Hemlock (1883), Bald Hill got it’s name from “it’s bald appearance in a very early day, caused by the frequent fires of the Senecas”. Previous to the Senecas, the legendary story of Onnolee by W.H. C.Hosmer speculated that the Munsee tribe also dwelled on Bald Hill. For more information you can go to hemlockandcanadicelakes.com
Today the glacier till landscape of Bald Hill is occupied by many private landowners as well as sections of the Hemlock/Canadice State Forest and the Nature Conservancy lands of Rob’s Trail. It is interesting that many of our hikers, Bob and Joan, Nanette, Rick and Ellen, Terri and Todd, and Pam all live on Bald Hill. A special thanks to Rick and grandson, Jack, for guiding us through their wooded private property on Bald Hill and to Pam for hosting the relaxing social. Social discussions revolved around possible winter workshops in Orienteering and Geo Caching, Don’s “game” ideas like “Hike and Seek” and outreach to identifying handicap accessible trails. Don’t forget to add to your Christmas wishes this year: warm hiking boots, yaks or treks, poles, snowshoes, and gaters will enable hikers to experience some safe winter hiking!
On many Sunday afternoons, you can find the hikers of Springwater Trails taking advantage of the beautiful Little Finger Lakes of Hemlock and Canadice. These two lakes and their surrounding water sheds provide a water supply for the City of Rochester, with the three reservoirs at Rush, Cobbs Hill and Highland Park receiving and then dispersing the water to areas of the City. We often traverse the hiking trails around the Hemlock & Canadice Lakes and watersheds and sometimes paddle them as well. 
But this week we hiked a different water supply, the former Fairport Reservoirs which are now known as Boughton Park located in the Town of East Bloomfield & lying just south of the Town of Victor. This early winter hike was made possible by Don, Ebets, Pete and Naomi, all of whom have our thanks this Thanksgiving week!
Starting in the early/mid 1920s the Village of Fairport purchased land in the Town of East Bloomfield and progressed to create two reservoirs by damming up two creeks which created two finger shaped 
reservoirs for the purpose of supplying Fairport residents with their water needs, and in essence created a water shed area as well. Fast forward to 20+ years ago (~1989) and Fairport essentially decommissioned its municipal water supply reservoirs and started to utilize the Monroe County Water Authority as its water supply source. 
Fairport then looked to sell the land and water resources – reservoirs/water shed, … and the purchasers, in a joint cooperative to create a park for their respective residents, were the Towns of Victor, East Bloomfield and West Bloomfield. The three town cooperative formed the independent Boughton Park Commission which oversees and manages Boughton Park aka the former Fairport Reservoirs.
An additional historical note – The Town of East Bloomfield is where the Northern Spy Apple was originated by Oliver Chapin on Boughton Road in 1800.
Boughton Park consists of 330 acres of which 56 acres is ponds, and approx. 5 miles of designated trails. Most of the trails are fairly level with some rolling hills. The south end of the West Pond demonstrates some glacial terrain with a few steep hills requiring care on slippery ice and snow. 
The Seneca Trail, part of the Victor Hiking Trails network of trails, is a trail that heads north out of Boughton Park and continues several miles northward thru private lands that have allowed the trail.
Parking in Boughton Park’s two gravel/dirt parking lots is by permit, available only to residents of the three town cooperative of the Boughton Park Commission. With the kind assistance of two friends of Springwater Trails, the hikers were able to obtain guest permits for this hike.
All hikers gathered in the Boughton Park – Stirnie Road parking lot (off the east side of Stirnie Rd). The Stirnie Rd parking lot overlooks the west side of the west reservoir (near the reservoir’s northwest corner) with a clear view of the reservoir, levy/retaining dam and spillway threshold with a crossing bridge, truly picturesque! A scenic point (peninsula) extends into the west reservoir and the picnic pavilion is situate between the parking lot and the tip of the point. (Fishing is allowed with NYS fishing license.) Hikers were rewarded with an open view of the reservoir with no cars obstructing the view.
Boughton Park maintains a year-round no hunting policy, resulting in a popular locale for hiking and walking of dogs, in spite of the 20° weather.
The many vista points gave Char good opportunities to record our hike. Boughton Park Commission seeks to maintain the park in as near natural state as possible and likely as low budget as possible, and therefore there are not the “improvements” or amenities found in some other parks. One benefit we saw were trees left standing by beavers which appear to have departed from the area several years ago.