Trail Ride to Seneca Lake - Sep 2025

I rode alone that day.

I started on the Ontario Pathways trail. Crushed stone. Flat and quiet. Fields on one side, trees on the other. No traffic. Just the sound of tires and the wind moving through the grass.

It was warm but not heavy. The kind of early fall day that doesn’t ask anything of you. A little color in the trees. Open sky. Long sightlines. I rode without checking the time.

The trail ran the way old rail lines do—straight, patient, unconcerned. Every so often I passed a farmhouse or crossed a small road. Mostly there was nothing to interrupt it.

Eventually the path gave way to back roads and then into Geneva. I picked up the paved trail along the lake. Seneca was bright and open, dotted with fishing boats and a few sailboards drifting slowly. The water looked wide enough to hold a long afternoon.

I stopped at the visitors center by the shore and walked down to the edge. I stood there for a while. The lake stretched out ahead of me. Hills in the distance. Light moving across the surface.

After that, I turned back.

The ride back felt easier. Legs loose. Head clear. The afternoon light had softened and the trail was quieter than before. I passed a few walkers, a couple of riders, then no one at all.

When I reached the car, I didn’t rush to load the bike.

It hadn’t been a big ride.

It was enough.