On the Highland Crossing Trail in Brighton after an early March snowfall

Posted by [email protected] | Mar 7, 2020 | Cultural Life | 0 |

Wild turkey on the Highland Crossing Trail. [All photos by David Kramer, 3/7/20]

Brightonians need not be reminded of the bountiful natural and human resources of the Brickyard Trail, enjoyed by people from Monroe County and beyond. (SEE AT END) Less well traveled is the recently completed Highland Crossing Trail running from the Erie Canal Heritage Trail (the “Canalway Trail”) in the town Brighton to the Genesee Riverway Trail in the city of Rochester.

As described in the town of Brighton and city of Rochester websites:

The Highland Crossing Trail project is located in the southeast quadrant of Monroe County along the west side of the Town of Brighton and southeast quadrant of the City of Rochester. The project begins at Brighton Town Park, located southeast of Sawgrass Drive, and terminates at the Genesee Riverway Trail near the intersection of McLean Street and Wilson Boulevard for a total project length of 3.3 miles.

Map of the Highland Crossing Trail. [Photo: David Kramer]
The Trail location is in an archaeologically sensitive area, with eleven prehistoric and historic sites and six National Register listed or eligible properties or districts within one mile of the project location. In addition, the trail provides access via a raised boardwalk system to a state wetland that represents the headwaters of Buckland Creek. The trail has been designed to preserve the existing wetland area.

Today, after an overnight snowfall and under clear skies, I was alone on my walk between the Elmwood Avenue and Westfall Road entrances, except for wild turkeys and squirrels, but no fox or deer who also make the trail their home.

Elmwood Avenue entrance in Brighton. In background, the Terrence Building in the city of Rochester.

At the beginning of the trail.

One of several bridges.

Bench and birdhouse.

The Highland Crossing Trail intersects with the Johnsarbor Trail behind the St. John’s Meadows Senior Community.

Beer bottles lodged in thin ice.

The main bridge.

View from the bridge.

Footprints in the snow.

Industrial debris where the trail enters an open field.

Streamers next to the parking lot of the Monroe County Juvenile Detention Center.

The basketball court at the Monroe County Juvenile Detention Center.

Abandoned structures near the Monroe County Juvenile Detention Center. David Kramer’s ROCHESTER hat.

United States and New York State flags. Empire State College in the distance.

Cattails around small pond near Empire State College.

Near the Westfall Road entrance. Not sure exactly to what the sign refers.

The Westfall Road entrance.

UPDATE I: 4/16/20 After a mid-April snowfall, I saw deer, blue jays and ducks. My fox ran away too quickly for its photo op.

4/16/20

UPDATE II: 4/21/20 It’s mid-to-late April and still snowing

UPDATE III: The morning of April 22nd, 2020 and it’s still snowing.

9:10 a.m. 4/22/20

The trail continues into Brighton Town Park

9:20 a.m. The snow is melting quickly. By the time I returned home, it was mostly gone.

ON THE AUBURN TRAIL

The beginnings of a better Auburn Trail

ON THE BRICKYARD TRAIL

More on how the Sandra L. Frankel Nature Park came to be

Ghosts MIGHT walk the beautiful Brickyard Trail in Brighton.

Visiting a Talker haunt: the Brickyard Trail with Leslie Frances and Audrey

Do the troubled spirits of John and Irene walk the Brickyard Trail? Probably not. At the Brighton Library, Matt Bashore unveils the twists and turns of the crime and punishment

The ground breaking of the Brickyard Trail in Brighton and “Memories of the Crab Apple battles”

SEE ALSO

Site says Brighton is best place to live in New York

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.