Fran Gotcshik skiing Barbara Kubiak Winter 2019 Welcome the New Year with a First Day Greenway Hike Start the New Year right by getting Trailblazers and the Henrietta Hill & Gully Riders outdoors on January 1st. Join one of three Snowmobile clubs. If there is no snow, there will still be a 1st Day Events on the Greenway offered hike. If there is snow, hikers are still encouraged to attend by the Genesee Valley Greenway State to hike, ski or snowshoe. The clubs will offer hot dogs, Park (GVGSP). These FREE EVENTS, hamburgers and snacks afterwards. The Friends will scheduled for Avon, Cuba and Hinsdale, provide water, coffee and cocoa. will be great activities for the entire family, Cuba 1st Day Hike, 1 pm and leashed pets are allowed. In case of severe weather, a posting will be made on Start the New Year with an easy, yet invigorating winter Facebook advising the cancellation of any of these events. walk along the Greenway, heading west along Griffin Creek Pre-registration is required. Please see directions and Olean Creek, where an abundance of wildlife signs can below. typically be seen. Avon 1st Day Hike/Ride, 11 am Meet at Bull Street in Cuba (42.216592, -78.283329) for a 2.5 mile round trip hike on an easy trail. If there is snow, Fellow snowmobilers! Ring in the New Year with your bring snow shoes or skis. There are no bathroom facilities comrades on the Greenway’s First Day Hike/Ride from available; however, the Palmer Opera House, located at 12 the Avon area heading south to Cuylerville. W. Main St., Cuba, is less than ½ mile away from the meet Meet at Erie-Attica Trail Parking Lot – State Route 5 to up location and will be open at 11:00 am and after the hike Farmers Rd. in Avon (42.922842, -77.756422) for a 20-30 to offer hot beverages, snacks, and handicapped accessible mile snowmobile ride or a 2 mile hike/cross country ski/ restrooms. Hike leader: Mike Landowski snowshoe one hour event on an easy trail starting on the Hinsdale 1st Day Walk/Hike, 8:45 am Erie-Attica Trail and continuing on the Genesee Valley Greenway. Snowmobiles will travel south to around Visit Hinsdale for a walk along Genesee Valley Greenway’s Cuylerville. There will be a porta-john available in the most recent open section heading east along Oil Creek. The parking area. walk begins at 9 am. Meet at the Hinsdale United Methodist Church on Main St. (42.167278, -78.387766) for Registered snowmobiles are the only motorized form of a 2-mile round trip on an easy trail. The Hinsdale Historical transportation permitted on the Greenway. Please, no Society will lead this hike. Hot chocolate will be served ATV’s, UTV’s etc. This ride is supported by the Caledonia afterwards. Bathrooms will be available at meeting location. Pre-registration is required. Please include number in party and hike location as there is more than one 1st Day Hike on the Greenway. Send email to: [email protected] with “First Day Hike Regi” in the Joan Schumaker subject line OR leave a message at: (585)493-3614 Questions: (585)493-3614 or [email protected] First Day Hike, 2016 Page 2 President’s Message Good news continues for the Greenway as evidenced by the We do need to offer a continuing variety of trail activities articles in this issue of the Greenway News. Read about our for outdoor enthusiasts this winter and throughout the year. Greenway Trail Town initiative: the enthusiastic citizens in If you belong to a user group who makes use of regional Cuba who have already formed a Cuba Trail Town Task trails for skiing, cycling, hiking, horseback riding, etc., Force committee, the effort to obtain a feasibility study to suggest that your leaders consider using the Greenway. identify the best route to close the gap in the GVGSP in the Please have them contact me since the Friends would be Village and Town of Cuba, the progress being made through pleased to promote trail activities that will introduce more our participation in the USDA (REdI) Initiative, and the people to the Greenway. Also, please contact me if you are Livingston County Planning Department trail connectivity interested in leading an event. plan and research taking place concerning five potential I again want to remind everyone that it is time to renew or locations to connect to the Genesee Valley Greenway. become a new member of the Friends. You may have been You can also read about Greenway improvements to result confused by the membership list in the last newsletter. It from the $6.5M funding announced last August. Design and was mistakenly labeled 2019-20 Members, but only those in construction funding for the Greenway north of Scottsville bold were already members for the new year. I apologize for is through DOT and scheduling requires that Requests for any confusion. We did not hear from some of our long-time Proposals (RFPs) go out in April 2020 with construction members, so please check the member list in this issue starting in July if all goes smoothly. Funding for the (page 7) and, if necessary, renew. If you just want to donate, Greenway between Canawaugus Park and Avon allows that that is fine, too. Your financial support of the Friends and the RFPs go out earlier than the April date. The entire the Greenway is very much appreciated and we THANK project will require 1 to 1 ½ years, but only sections being YOU. worked on will be closed. All 17 miles will not be closed at If you have questions or the same time. suggestions, please contact any ALTA Planning is currently working on the Strategic Action board member or contact me Plan to identify additional work needed on the Greenway. at [email protected] or The Strategic Action Plan is described at the top of page 4. call 585-490-3302. Enjoy the Public outreach is scheduled for January and April with a Greenway! Project map by May. A Draft Project list and a Cost/ . Evaluation Matrix is scheduled for the end of June with a Permit & Implementation Process Review by the end of Janet Hughes August. The GVGSP Enthusiasts Meet Up Group now has 477 members and I hope that many of them will be actively participating in Greenway events this coming year. The first opportunity for them, and others who want to start the new year right, will be the Greenway 1st Day Events taking place in Avon, Cuba, and Hinsdale. (Please see details in this Email: [email protected] newsletter.) Telephone: 585-490-3302 Page 3 2020 Greenway Events The Genesee Valley Greenway State Park GVGSP is again offering their Historic Interpretive Hike Series. The guide will incorporate the history of the town in which the hike is located, point out historic canal and railroad features, and note interesting natural features along the way. Hikes will be held on the second Saturday of each month (April through October), begin at 10 a.m., last approximately 2-3 hrs, and take place on easy flat trail with a mixed surface of grass, cinders or stone dust. Sections near Rochester are paved. Individual hikes are listed below and are part of the 14 hikes in the Wegmans Passport to Wellness Program. Completion of hikes in this series makes the trail user eligible for Wegmans grocery coupons or a NYS Parks Empire Passport. See details at http://fogvg.org/wegmans-passport-program/ Watch for additions to this schedule on www.fogvg.org , https://www.meetup.com/Genesee-Valley- Greenwy-State-Park-Enthusiasts and https://www.facebook.com/pg/FOGVG/posts/? ref=page_internal Wednesday, January 1: 1st Day Greenway Events are scheduled for Avon, Cuba and Hinsdale. See article on page 1 for details. Monday, February 24, 11 am: Greenway Partner Meeting at Humphrey Nature Center, 6773 Trailside Road, Castile, NY. Visitors welcome. Saturday, April 11, 10 am: Historic Interpretive Hike Series - Hike #6: York Landing to Fowlerville Road, York, Livingston County. Take River Rd north from Rt 63 or south from Rt 20. Turn east onto York Landing Rd. Park and meet at the trailhead parking lot located at the end of the road (42.864631, -77.851023). Hiking north, roundtrip of entire section is 5.2 miles, roundtrip to Wegmans trail marker is 3.1 miles. See description at beginning of this Events List. Includes former canal turning basins and views of Genesee River. Questions: [email protected] or (585) 493-3614 Monday, April 22, 11 am: Greenway Partner Meeting at Humphrey Nature Center, 6773 Trailside Road, Castile, NY. Visitors welcome. Saturday, May 2, I Love My Park Day – Save the date and watch for details on how you can help the Greenway. Saturday, May 9, 10:00 am: Historic Interpretive Hike Series - Hike #7: Town of Leicester, Livingston Co. (Cuylerville to Piffard) Take Route 20A east of the Village of Leicester or west from Geneseo. Park and meet at the trailhead parking lot located on the north side of 20A in the Hamlet of Cuylerville. (42.777354, -77.870262). Enjoy scenic vistas of the Genesee River, see several ponds and pastoral landscapes along the way. Starting at Mile 30 to Mile 27 (traveling NORTH); 7.5 miles (round trip) 3.5 miles to Wegmans marker and back. See description at beginning of this Events List. Sponsored by GVG State Park. Questions: [email protected] or (585) 493-3614 Statewide News for Friends Groups Like Ours Fran Gotcsik and Joan Schumaker attended the "Friends of copies but the publication is available online at.