Running in Casey Park - Ontario, NY

I'm always looking out for new trails to run.  Anything to keep my running fresh.  Today I had the pleasure of running on the bike trail at Casey Park in Ontario, NY on Knickerbocker Road, just north of route 104.  The trail through Casey Park runs around a narrow, spring fed pond that looked like a nice spot for bass fishing.  I'll have to visit the pond again with my rod and reel.  The pond was created in the 1880s as a byproduct of mining efforts.  It is a very pretty little park.

The path starts off as nice, wide, inviting hard packed dirt.  It is smooth, and even and can be run very fast.  There are distance markers every 200 meters.  I could see myself doing speedwork here instead of the track.

After running the length of the pond the course turns and you come across a small bridge:

Then you come to some nice stairs going up:

Once you hit the top of the stairs you are on a single track the rest of the way.

Some of the single track was a little over grown, but I think that is because it doesn't get a lot of action.  It was also fairly difficult with rocks and roots making constant attempts to trip you up.  Next time I will wear my trail shoes.  The total trail was about 1.8 miles.  Making a complete loop around the pond was 2.05.

The trail as a hole was very runnable, with the first half being very fast.  I ran the loop four times before walking it again to take pictures.  I was impressed that I did not see a single piece of trash.  There was abundant small wildlife.  I saw several rabbits and squirrels and smelled a skunk at one point.  I'm sure there are also a lot of deer in the area.

I was also very impressed with the quality of the pictures on my Garmin Asus GarminFone.  They are certainly better than expected.