Thursday October 17, 2024 - Crescent Trail - Fairport NY - 8 miles, about 200 feet elevation gain

Oh, it started off so simply.  Brian worked from home and we thought we could head out at 4 pm and get in a quick 3 miler at Fishers park near our home.  Then google maps said traffic was a lot worse than normal so I thought we could investigate a park I took note of on a drive recently, Pumpkin Hook Park.  That park, as best as we can tell, isn't really a hiking destination, mostly a sports field.  So I pulled out the Alltrails app and quickly selected a 4.1 mile hike in Fairport near the Erie Canal.  We'd been to this trailhead once before but did just a minor little walk. 

This time we started out walking parallel to a small but deep stream or mini canal which itself ran parallel but not super close to the Erie canal.  Later the trail made a long leisurely jaunt away from the water and followed the edge of a series of BIG fields.  Where the trail headed away from the stream (to the right) I sort of noticed that our trail appeared to loop at this point and that we probably would end up on the other side of the stream at the end.  There was some rubble that suggested there might have been a bridge there at one point and I assumed there was some other crossing nearby or that the trail somehow didn't end up on the other side of the creek. Most of the creeks we cross don't even really NEED a bridge unless it's been very rainy. 

Walking around the large fields was enjoyable and kind of surprising since we were surrounded by developed suburbia in all directions.  So it was surprising to have many acres of farm land to walk around.  Later the trail came back around and the little stream was now again on our left but this time we were on the other side of it.  This side of the loop was more wild and minimally maintained. Nothing crazy but a lot of minor down fall and erosion etc and a sense that it wasn't used much.  This made that part of the hike seem really long to me but finally we were getting near the end.  We arrived the crossing point where the missing bridge would have been and then a sinking feeling quickly took over me.   There hadn't been ANY chances to cross the stream.  Most of the time we couldn't even get to it easily and when we were close enough to see it, the other side of the loop was relatively far away and through a lot of brush.

We briefly looked around at this far end of the loop.  There was a small impounding of water where the little creek turned and flowed into the broader wetland area between where we were and the main road we could see just a few hundred feet away.  That concrete spillway thing probably would be possible to cross if we really had to but just like in the other direction, there was wet and brambly land between us and the main road and it didn't seem like a good bet.  So, at about 6:30 pm with the very end of dusk light fading rapidly, we headed back to walk the 4 miles back to the car the way we came.  The first mile we got through as our eyes naturally adjusted to less and less light but soon the little LED lantern and later the flashlight had to come out so we each had some light source.

It was an unexpectedly long walk and the first time Brian and I EVER have walked out of a hike in the dark.  We've come close a few times but never remotely like this.  We got back to the car at about 8:15 pm, exhausted, but safe.  

We don't carry a lot of survival stuff with us but what we do carry seemed to serve us well. We have a flashlight, an LED rechargeable lantern, a handful of ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Benadryl, a multi-tool with a knife, a Bic lighter and some band aids.  All the medical stuff, the knife and lighter easily fit in a single quart size kitchen storage bag.  We also try to have a bit of extra water and some trail mix, both of which were present on this outing also.  It was an interesting experience overall but mostly it makes us thankful that most of our trips go as planned without incident.

Photos were obviously all before it got dark.