Today the temperature was 50 degrees and it was a real treat to get out of the house, breathe some fresh air, and check out the head of Canandaigua Lake near Naples, NY. The ice on Canandaigua Lake has almost all melted except for the shallow water close to the marshes which is still frozen over.

There weren’t many creatures stirring, except for a lone duck that I spotted who swam over the muskrat house just to check it out. Today there were a few boat trailers in the parking lot of the New York State boat launching ramp at Woodville, a small hamlet just North of Naples, NY.

Occasionally a few visitors would stop by and get out of their cars just to stretch their legs, take a closer look at Canandaigua Lake, and to smell the wonderfully fresh spring air. A lone fisherman about half way across the Lake was trying his luck but it didn’t look like anything was biting.

We drove back towards Naples and then turned right to take route 12 up the hill towards South Bristol. The overlook is a magnificent place to just come and wonder how all of this magnificent scenery was formed in this isolated place. At this time of the year, the trees are all naked and the grass hasn’t started to green up. One tries to imagine how the glaciers advanced from the north and pushed the rocks aside to form these magnificent hills, only to retreat and then leave the water flowing in reverse direction to the north.

As one looks to the north, one can see Bare Hill in the background, the legendary birthplace of the Seneca Indians. Soon the summer dwellers in Vine Valley will be returning to their homes along the Lake. Vine Valley is a special place to me. But that is another story to be told later on.
