Out for a run this sunny but chilly February-thaw Monday I passed by Utica's city-run golf course, Valley View, and lo and behold, a golfer was in sight. He was carrying a minimalist bag of clubs across the recently unfrozen tundra. I couldn't help but think he's pushing things a bit, seeing how it was barely 44 degrees, and though the sun was out, the ground was only beginning to thaw and there was no way he could avoid digging up divots with his cleats if not his clubs. Well, it'll probably snow again, I thought, and there won't be any lasting damage, and who can blame him anyway.
I proceeded on into the South Woods Switchbacks, one of my favorite spots in my new town.
It got me thinking, though, about how lucky I am to live so close to such a recreational amenity as the switchbacks-golf course-park-and-ski hill conglomeration. Yes, ski hill. Utica has one of the few municipal ski hills in the country. Val Bialas has been open only a handful of days the past couple of seasons thanks to the increasing regularity of these awful thaws.Last fall, the contractor who had been running the hill for the city announced he would not renew. He blamed the capricious weather. Still, the mayor said at the time the city would try to open the hill when it could, and indeed, the lift towers have a fresh coat of paint and safety padding around their bases. The trails have also been groomed this winter after snowfalls, along with, usually, long swaths of flat ground along the road that runs through the park and around the golf course. The groomer crew did not lay down the trench-like tracks seen at commercial Nordic ski centers for classic-style skis -- they would undoubtedly get post-holed by dog walkers, joggers, snowshoers and others anyway -- but the result was a free municipal groomed cross country center right in town.
Meanwhile, the lifts weren't running often but that doesn't mean the downhill trails didn't get good use. I got out several times on my heavy-duty cross country set-up and greatly enjoyed making telemark turns through fresh powder. When I posted pictures on social media, I got many likes out of envy, I think. It's great to have in-town turns, earned or bought.
Now that the snow is gone, save for packed and slick pockets in the shade of a substance formerly known as snow, I am back to running through the park. Typically I leave my neighborhood, enter the east gate to Roscoe Conkling Park, climb a short but steepish hill, and come out at the top of the hill, with its expansive view of downtown to the north and down the Mohawk Valley hill. Usually I proceed into the South Woods Switchbacks, the gravel-paved pedestrian-and-bike (and cross country ski!) path that winds through the woods above the golf course.
The Switchbacks were built, according to a plaque at their main entrance gate, by the city with a state grant some years ago. They're known to runners in the annual Boilermaker 15-k road race that keeps Utica on the distance running map every July, because they're used in part of the course. It's such a great break from the sidewalk or asphalt of running in town -- relatively soft but firm underfoot, shady and cool almost all the time in the summer, an oasis of green in a small-urban paved landscape.
But how much does Utica promote this place for its ability to contribute to the quality of life? How much is done to make it known that this place even exists?
I think the place should be better promoted. It does two things: It helps set Utica apart from other old cities that are bouncing back from the loss of manufacturing jobs and population to the Sunbelt and suburbs. But it also simply adds to the quality of life. It makes the city a better place to live.
It's hardly the only such thing. The Mohawk River trail on the former Erie Canal towpath is a wonderful amenity. So is being close to the Adirondacks.
But we often overlook or under-appreciate more pedestrian and in-town amenities. I'm not a golfer, but I'm told by people who play that Valley View is a challenging and satisfying course. Never mind that there have been problems about running it, including accusations of nepotism. Those in no way detract from its presence.
I suspect, however, that Utica is not alone. Surely cities such as Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, Schenectady and Troy have similar amenities. When I worked in Binghamton while living in Ithaca a couple of years ago, I stumbled across that city's waterfront by accident. Now, some paddling-sports enthusiasts are pushing plans and seeking momentum toward a whitewater park of the kind parlayed in several other fall-line cities. The idea is to convert and outdated and dangerous low-head dam into a safer artificial rapids. It would not only beautify the site but eliminate the dangerous dam and perhaps contend to be a venue for paddle-sports competitions.
More importantly in my mind, though, it promotes the city to itself. It makes it a better place to live. It makes it a place young people will want to stay and build their lives -- and that's what upstate New York really has to do.
What these places have in common is they're amenities that set them apart from major metro areas and Sunbelt boomtowns -- many of which are really just sprawl-towns. Sure, those places have their parks, some beaches on lakes, rivers maybe (a river beach is an oymoron, but I digress) and even the ocean. But do they have real, daily-use, easy-to-get to (even walk-to) amenities like these? It's time we play up these things not as tourist attractions or reasons for some tech entrepreneur to relocate here, but as simply good things to have for people who are already here, or who might choose to stay. Luring people is one thing but more realistic, I think, is convincing more to stay, and this is one way to do it.
And so what if the lifts at Val Bialas have run only two or three days all winter? I've enjoyed it --and so have other skiers and snowboarders. I've been out there with them or seen their tracks. It's not so big that climbing, either on foot or with scaled skis is a slog, but the runs are long enough to be worthwhile. And the Nordic track the groomers have laid down when they can opens up all kinds of recreational and fitness possibilities -- right here in town.
