Penfield NY Hiking Trails Along Irondequoit Creek

Most Penfield residents can name two of the town's parks off the top of their head. Usually it's Harris Whalen because of Fourth of July fireworks, and either Rothfuss or Ellison depending on which side of Five Mile Line Road they live on. The other seven or eight parks tend to blur into a general sense that there is green space around, somewhere, and that someone probably walks their dog there.

The map tells a different story. Almost every serious walking trail in town sits on a single thread of water. Irondequoit Creek enters Penfield from the south, cuts a diagonal through the middle of the town, and leaves through the northwest corner on its way to Irondequoit Bay. It picks up Honey Creek near the Four Corners, threads through three Monroe County parks in succession, and along the way it does one geologically odd thing that explains why Penfield has waterfalls at all.

The mile that shouldn't be here

Between Rt. 441 and the pedestrian bridge at the west end of Channing H. Philbrick Park, Irondequoit Creek drops more than 90 feet in the course of a single mile, which is a steep grade for an otherwise flat region and produces the rapids you can hear from the parking lot before you see them. That gradient is the reason the park exists as a park. The stretch of creek powered a cluster of early Penfield mills, and although the mills themselves are gone, the crumbling foundations are still visible along the southern bank. If you have walked the main trail and thought the stonework looked deliberate, it was.

The park itself is small. The Town of Penfield hosts these 19 acres along Irondequoit Creek, and the trail system is not extensive by regional standards. What it has instead is density: rapids, two ledges on the main creek, a seasonal waterfall on the Honey Creek tributary, mill ruins, and a set of foot bridges all packed into a walk you can finish before lunch. The Town replaced the old wooden boardwalk in 2025 with a more accessible metal boardwalk along Irondequoit Creek, which is worth mentioning to anyone who tried the trail a few years ago and remembers the footing being rougher than it is now.

The park used to be called Linear Park, which is why the address is still Linear Park Drive off Rt. 441, and why longtime residents sometimes give directions using the old name.

Reading the corridor from south to north

Once you understand the creek is the spine, the rest of Penfield's trail network organizes itself. Working from Philbrick outward:

The Honey Creek Trail is the connector most residents don't know exists. It has two starting points, one on Mott's Lane and another on Five Mile Line Road just south of the Four Corners, and it leads down to Irondequoit Creek near Philbrick Park in about a half mile, with one hill on the way. If you live near the Four Corners, this is how you walk to the waterfalls without driving.

The Irondequoit Creek–Panorama Plaza Trail runs the other direction out of Philbrick. It leaves the park near the pavilion, follows the creek northwest, and ends at the back of Panorama Plaza, roughly three-quarters of a mile. It is one of the few trails in town that is genuinely multi-use for bikes.

Further downstream, the creek runs through Ellison Park, which is technically a Monroe County park but has trailheads inside Penfield. The Coyote Den Trail starts on Penfield Road just west of Gentle's Farm Market and drops down toward the creek near the tennis courts. The east-side trail follows Irondequoit Creek through climax woods of oak and sassafras all the way to Browncroft Blvd. If you want a longer walk without leaving town, this is the route.

North of Ellison, the creek passes through Lucien Morin Park on Empire Blvd. This is the park most Penfield residents drive past without stopping. It is worth stopping. The park has 11 trails, and the longest, White Trail, runs 2.6 miles with 417 feet of elevation gain, which is unusual for anything east of the Genesee. The steepest is the Green Loop Trail, which averages an 11.2% grade. Neither of these numbers reads as dramatic on paper, but they add up to a workout you cannot get on the Canal towpath.

The creek finishes its Penfield run near Abraham Lincoln Park, entered from Empire Blvd. on the north side near Daytona Avenue, where the trails move from wooded uplands down to bay shore connections.

Here is the corridor at a glance:

The parks that aren't on the creek

Two of Penfield's better walks sit off the corridor entirely, which is why they get overlooked in a town that thinks of itself as flat and suburban.

Rothfuss Park on Five Mile Line Road is the one most residents already know by sight, since the ballfields are visible from the road. It covers 69 acres of open land with rectangular playing fields, picnic pavilions, and two playgrounds, sits adjacent to Thousand Acre Swamp, and has a 1.25 mile perimeter loop trail. The 70-acre parcel was donated by the Rothfuss family to the Town in 2005, and the adjoining Irene Gossin Nature Preserve offers a mix of habitats including a wildflower meadow, wooded wetland, and young forest.

Thousand Acre Swamp, at 1585 Jackson Rd., is a Nature Conservancy property, which is a category most residents don't realize applies to any land inside Penfield. The paths and boardwalks tour a variety of habitats including woods, meadows, and a pond. It is the only walk in town where you are guaranteed to see herons if you go at the right hour.

Shadow Pines, the former golf course at 600 Whalen Rd., is the wildcard. The property consists of 212 acres with a variety of areas and terrains. The Town acquired it, kept it as open space, and residents are still discovering that they can walk it.

If you have never done a guided hike

The Town of Penfield's Trails Committee runs a free guided hike roughly once a month, and the 2026 summer and fall lineup is set. If you are the kind of resident who intends to walk more but never actually does, a scheduled group hike removes the decision:

• July 12: Lucien Morin Park, 9–11 AM, rated 4 boots (most difficult), meet at the gravel parking lot off Empire Blvd.
• August 9: Abraham Lincoln Park, 9–11 AM, 4 boots, enter from Empire Blvd. north side near Daytona Ave.
• September 13: Shadow Pines Property, 9–11 AM, 2 boots, 600 Whalen Rd.
• October 11: Ellison Park Coyote Den Trail, 10 AM–noon, 3 boots, from 1008 Penfield Rd.

The Trails Committee has existed since early 1997 as an advisory committee to the Parks and Recreation Board, and meets the first Wednesday of every month, except July and August, at Penfield Town Hall. Most trail maintenance and route improvements you see on these walks are the work of volunteers, plus Scout candidates working on final merit projects, which have included footbridges, new trail layouts, and kiosks with photos and descriptive information about nearby places of interest.

What the map is telling you

A resident who lives near the Four Corners has, within a fifteen-minute drive, a waterfall park with mill ruins, a 2.6-mile forest loop with real elevation, a 212-acre former golf course, a Nature Conservancy swamp with boardwalks, and three creekside county parks. The corridor is not a series of separate destinations. It is one continuous ribbon of walkable land held together by a creek that originates in West Bloomfield and courses through the Village of Mendon and three Monroe County parks (Powder Mills, Ellison, and Lucien Morin) on its way to Irondequoit Bay. Almost every trail in this post is a section of the same walk.

The reason this matters for anyone thinking about where to live in Penfield, or how to use the house they already own here, is that proximity to the creek corridor is a quiet amenity that does not show up on a listing sheet. Streets that back to a Philbrick trailhead, a Panorama Plaza connector, or the Honey Creek approach are functionally waterfront in a way that a lot of buyers only figure out after moving in.

If you are weighing a move within Penfield, thinking about listing a home whose backyard opens onto one of these corridors, or just want a second opinion on what your neighborhood is actually worth to the right buyer, Arlene Reese would be glad to walk the ground with you. Schedule a free consultation.