My Park - Finis

Travel about 2.5 miles to the far, far end of the lake and you will find Wegman’s Dog Park, where dogs of all ages and sizes can roam free (within the fence anyway) and  be with their pals.  Many a dog has no doubt found true love within the chain links.

The park is now the sight of many sponsored walks and runs that all have the theme of helping people, individually or collectively, usually people with illnesses.  Hardly a week goes by that some kind of humanitarian event isn’t being held.  One race even closes the entire Onondaga Lake Parkway for several hours while it is in progress.

Infrequently mentioned and advertised even less is the west shore trail system.  This part of the park boasts over 2 miles of paved and natural paths for walking, biking, or running.  It takes one past where the magnificent old resorts used to be.  The end of the trail will one day merely be a scenic rest spot on a path that winds its way completely around the lake. Such is the vision for the future of this natural treasure. It’s been a long (too long) time coming; it will take a long time for completion, but that day will come.  Warning:  this area is not so widely used, so it can be lonely at times … use caution.

Probably the most spectacular use of the park is the annual “Lights on the Lake” show that runs at holiday time each year.  A 2 mile slow journey in the comfort of a warm car places you at the heart of a holiday light show the likes of which you will not find anywhere.  Seen from a plane landing at Hancock Airport, it is a Chamber of Commerce moment for our community.  It’s a must see!

Lights on the Lake

It’s also a very nice plus, not found in most other parks, that good food and drink await mere steps away.  After a good work out you can easily walk to several eateries and quickly negate any benefits gained from your exercise.  Heid’s, the Retreat, Limp Lizard, The Cobblestone, and the White Water Pub are all within a 2 minute stroll from the parking lot.  What a great way to wind down. Yet another reason why God invented beer.

As much time as I’ve spent at Onondaga Lake Park over the years, I always yearn for more.  I go to the park as often as I can, and still that is not enough.  I never visit the same park twice, which is one of its enduring seductions.  I used to jog there, until my knees threatened a lawsuit if I continued (they remembered my accident of years ago).  Now I walk, at a pretty good clip - I think.  But mostly, I love to bike. The paths are paved and if you cover the east and west trails down and back, you log just about 10 miles in comfort, with scenery galore.  And finally, it is a great place to fly kites, with a steady lake breeze providing just the right amount of wind for great lift.  The biggest threat to the kite expedition is dodging all the goose “leavings” that now seen to populate the grass in the great open areas by the Salt Museum, which is the best place to fly your kite.  Careful where you step.

Teddy Roosevelt once said that the nation behaves well if it treats its natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.

Onondaga Lake once boasted  a proud legacy of a park well designed and utilized (in an era when parks were not valued as they are today), then man ruined it.  It is so heartening to see that man is now taking Roosevelt’s words to heart and ensuring that this lake and this park are turned over to our children in much better shape than we knew it.

Hiawatha would be very pleased.

 Mark Twain Quote: “There are those who scoff at the school boy, calling him frivolous and shallow.  Yet it was the school boy who said, Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”