Irondequoit Bay Park West

This Monroe County Park is located on the West shore of Irondequoit Bay, about an 8-minute drive from downtown Rochester. There is a small boat launch but the star of the show is the trail network that threads through lush woodlands and rolling hills.

The 147-acre park has multiple color-coded trails that intersect and overlap. Genesee Regional Off-Road Cyclists (GROC) has worked closely with Monroe County for trail maintenance. As a result of their effort, trails are designed to minimize erosion, and there are loads of small rugged mountain biking features throughout the network. These usually present themselves as an optional challenge alongside the regular trail. Of course, these features give runners something to practice their technique. Bikers are supposed to yield to pedestrians, but that isn't always practical.

None of the trails are particularly grueling, but flat they are not, and you will get a great workout. Small rollers, hill bursts, switchbacks, and lots of singletracks carved into the sides of hills keeps things interesting. In late spring and summer, be sure to wear insect repellent, because Lyme disease is a real threat across the Northeast and should be taken seriously.

A Recommended Trail Run

For a 3-mile trail tour, start out in the small parking lot on Orchard Park Boulevard. This lot starts a little higher up in elevation and keeps you out of the mud from the get-go. Trails are named by the color of their corresponding diamond-shaped markers. There are some footpath-only trails. These are not named nor marked.

Start out on the road/path located at the end of the path directly behind the park map and veer left, uphill, to follow the footpath-only trail. The path follows a ridge a short distance then drops you into an intersection. The footpath-only portion continues straight, but to get views of Irondequoit Bay, turn right onto yellow. The bay will come up quickly on your right. Continue to follow the yellow loop through its entirety until you're back at the intersection. Turn right and follow the blue path for about a quarter-mile. When it intersects orange, turn right and follow orange. Orange is not a loop, but a there-and-back. It runs between red and blue, which are also there-and-back. The three colors eventually overlap and follow the same stretch of trail. In this way, runners and bikers have the option to turn back onto a different color and make figure-eight patterns alternating between blue, orange, and red. However, for this run, you're going to do something different.

Follow orange until it overlaps with red. Then continue on red until it ends on blue. Really, if you end up on any of these three colors, you'll be going the right way (blue adds a more distance, but not much). Eventually, you'll be on just the blue trail. Follow it until you see the sign for green. Green is another there-and-back. Follow it until you get to a road (you'll be running near and over a creek). You'll see Bay Park West's second parking lot on your left. Follow the road about 100 yards and turn right on the blue trail. Follow the blue up the slope, and soon you'll be back to the original intersection near the beginning of the run.

Instead of following the footpath, turn right and retrace your steps on the blue path. Once again you get to the junction with the orange trail. This time, veer left and go on purple. Purple will lead you to the slope that separates views of the bay from the Orchard Park Boulevard parking lot. Don't miss the old foundation stuffed on the hillside (you practically run through it). Purple will drop you off at the end of the parking lot.

Deer are common, hence the Lyme disease. Poison ivy is also abundant. Spring shows off lots of flowers, and the entire run is in the shade.