Greenway Report, Miles 54-56
Submitted 5/31/04 by John Holtz
Beginning just above the bridge in Portageville where 436 turns right, drive straight up the hill to a landing at trail’s start and follow FLT markers to the left (ESE; no GVG markers). The trail is grassy and pleasantly narrow and unspoiled as it skirts the SE corner of Portageville. In late May, the many cottonwoods characteristic of the Genesee Valley have dumped but their cotton is still in the air. Flox and trillium cover the meadow and forest floors respectively. Starling hatchlings buzz everywhere, and several sizes of woodpeckers (including pileated) call and tap. There are black flies, but they’re not biting, and the mosquitoes have not yet hatched.
Near the trailhead, there are several short areas of old, worn 0’s and 1’s rock that are hard on feet and bicycle tires, but the stretch is brief. At about ½ mile, the Genesee River moves in on the left for a closer view and stays for a while. The trail takes a tuck down an embankment (GVG adopt-a-trail sign on the right) and under an overpass, and then follows a gravel drive (River Rd) for about .3 miles before curving right at 19A; a somewhat overgrown FLT-marked path heads to the left (GVG sign readable the other direction).
From here on to a point I have yet to walk, bicycling would be difficult at best due to large roots, small blowdowns, and undergrowth, but this stretch of FLT/GVG is a very pleasant walk if you don’t mind a few slaps from the intruding vegetation. Where the trail actually traverses the canal prism (trench moves from right side of trail to the left), water in the prism almost a foot deep can temporarily impede progress when the trail is wet – I was in shorts and waded through.
Heading further S, undergrowth gets thicker – the trail is not well maintained by any of its sponsors. Overgrowth vegetation is a mature mix of hard- and softwoods. As is so common for the entire length of the Greenway, it covers the corridor like a cloak – farming has cleared the surrounding land but left much of the trail with a narrow canopy. At 3 miles from Portageville, the trail crosses a small brook and a mowed clearing known as Blue Rock Quarry. Just several hundred yards beyond the clearing and within yards of Rt 19A, a barricade announces a major trail washout that cannot be traversed on foot; a path has been cleared to the road. There are no signs, but rumor has it that the trail is impassible from here to Mile 76.