Detailed Map

Photo Album Auburn

Updated June 4, 2024 JH

Auburn Trail

9-miles one way, multi-use flat rail bed, connects at each end
June '20

This is the major cross-town multi-use trail. Much is tree-lined in rural countryside. Some is through suburban neighborhoods.

This trail is mostly on the bed of, and named for, the Auburn and Rochester Railroad, also called The Auburn Road, which was first used in 1841. Later it was part of the New York Central. The section west of Victor Village closed in 1960, east in 1978.

It connects with:

• Pittsford's Auburn Trail, and on into Brighton
• Monroe County's Powder Mills Park
• Fishers Park (near by)
• Dominie Trail
• Lehigh Black Diamond Trail
• Lehigh Crossing Park
• Dryer Trail
• Seneca Trail (multiple places)
• Victor Village
• Trolley Trail (multiple places)
• Victor Municipal Park (near by)
• Farmington's Mertensia Park
• Farmington's Auburn Trail

From East to West

We go this way as the mile markers use the railroad system, which were measured from Syracuse. We use the old concrete "tombstone" markers. Two are original, and VHT has created the rest. They range from 82 near Farmington to 90 near Pittsford.

Farmington

Victor's Auburn Trail connects seamlessly with Farmington's.

As of Spring '19, the Farmington Auburn Trail continues through Farmington to the Canandaigua town line and NY322. Canandaigua is in the process of raising funds to continue it to the City and a connection to the Ontario Pathways trail.

Parking is available in Farmington's Mertensia Park.

Farmington Line to East Victor Road

It is a 10-foot wide full multi-use trail with a stone dust surface.

East Victor Road to Break Of Day Road

This section opened in Winter of '19 and is not yet completely finished as of Spring '20. The surface varies. In part it is railroad cinder dust, others are grass and dirt. Part is off the old rail bed, and has some slope. It crosses Fish Creek on a fine wooden bridge built for VHT as a Scout project in '17, and crosses another branch on a railroad stone arch culvert.

NOTE: There is an onroad bypass for this section. It is recommended for bikes.

Break Of Day Road to Maple Ave (444)

Crosses Brace Road and Ketchum St. (Proximity Ln.)

Small parking lots are at Break of Day and Brace Roads. A large parking lot is off of Maple Ave.

Fine stone dust surface, full multi-use, 10-feet wide. Spring shows a large bed of trillium alongside the trail. This is a mostly wooded section. The old Auburn Road passenger station is still here and used for retail space. A trail mini-park is at Maple Ave. with an information kiosk, benches, and an ornamental bike rack.

Maple Avenue, NY 444 to Main Street Fishers

This includes the newest section, Spring '20, between Maple Ave. and School Street. This is partly alongside an active, but little used, railroad spur. Also in Summer '19 through Spring '20, the section from Brace Rd to Phillips Rd had a new sewer line installed alongside and this whole section was subsequently resurfaced.

Crosses Maple Ave (NY444), School St, Rawson Rd, Seneca Trail, Victor Mendon Rd (NY 251), Dryer Trail, Lehigh Crossing Park, Lehigh Trail, Phillips Rd, and intercepts the Domine Trail. Has access to and from the Finger Lakes Community College Victor Campus. Parallels Trolley Trail for a ways. It shares some sections with the Seneca, Dryer, and Trolley Trails.

Limited parking is available at Rawson Rd and on the shoulder of NY 251. There are larger parking lots in Lehigh Crossing Park off of NY 251 and Fishers Fire Station No. 1 off of Fishers Main St. And a small parking lot on Phillips Rd, with a second one on Phillips Rd by the Lehigh Trail.

This is a full multi-use trail with a fine stone dust surface, 10-feet wide. Neighboring properties range from Town Park to industrial storage yards. A branch of Irondequoit Creek parallels for some distance. The Lehigh Trail crosses on a large railroad truss bridge. Next to it is a full ADA compliant ramp to the Lehigh Trail.

The Seneca Trail goes south just west of the Maple Ave crossing, and north after the trail crosses Rawson Rd. The Trolley Trail, a footpath, parallels the Auburn Trail from that junction to Lehigh Crossing Park. And the Domine Trail footpath branches off and joins with the Lehigh Trail.

At the Domine Trail, is some of the Auburn Trail's artwork (see below). A trail mini-park is at the Fire Station with an information kiosk, benches, and an ornamental bike rack.

In Fishers, next to the trail is the oldest standing railroad building in the country: a stone pump house. This was the first section of rail of what was to become the New York Central Railroad. The tracks were originally wood with an iron strap on top.

Main Street Fishers to Woolston Road

Crosses under the NY State Thruway, Fishers Rd, Railroad Mills Rd (at Probst Rd), and Barony Woods Rd. Also some driveways cross the section from Railroad Mills to Woolston Rd.

Small parking lots are at Fishers Rd, and Railroad Mills Rd (by Probst Rd.). A larger lot is in Powder Mills Park on Woolston Rd.

The surface is fine stone dust, 8-feet wide.

There are short sections of the trail in the towns of Perinton and Pittsford.

Includes two stone arch bridges over Irondequoit Creek, and a large underpass under the Thruway. This section did have a dangerously damaged bridge which was closed for about 20-years as VHT raised funds for restoration or replacement. It was a stone arch over Irondequoit Creek and was much eroded. It was replaced by a 90-foot long steel bridge in summer '11. The trail is mostly up on an embankment made for the railroad. Much of this embankment was originally a wooden trestle, like a bridge. Once the railroad was an established concern, stone, coal ashes, and dirt were dumped in and covered the wood, leaving the built-up embankment of today.

A pocket park is next to the new long bridge.

Pittsford and Beyond

Victor's Auburn Trail seamlessly connects to Pittsford's Auburn Trail. This is not yet as developed as Victor's. There is a major gap crossing NY 96 and the Erie Canal. But from the Canalway path, on the west side of Pittsford Village, the Auburn Trail goes through the Towns of Pittsford and Brighton to Highland Ave.

Along County Road 29, Woolston Road to Powder Mills Park

There is a branch of the trail that connects with Monroe County's Powder Mills Park. This is on expanded road shoulders, both sides of the road. Work was done in Summer '13.

Note: Bikes are permitted on the roads within Powder Mills Park, but not on the trails. The roads generally have little or no rideable shoulders. Powder Mills Park is a Monroe County Park.

Art Along the Auburn

The Auburn Trail is becoming Victor's Art Trail. There are two plazas with bike racks designed to look like a 1850's train steam engine and cow-catcher. One is by Maple Ave in the Village, the other in Fishers. Near each of these is a concrete bench, made by VHT volunteers, modeled on benches used by the area railroads.

Across the trail from the Fishers plaza is a small "Waiting Shelter" that was originally used on the Rochester & Eastern Rapid Railway (now known as VHT's Trolley Trail). It has been moved to this location and restored by the Friends of the Railroad.

Recently two more pieces of art work have been donated. One is a "Trollette." She lives under the Domine Trail bridge which is just off the Auburn Trail, but she is often found standing by it. She is really quite a "camera hound," and loves to have her picture taken, often in the company of trail users.

There is also, not so prominently displayed, a wood carving of a salmon. A few salmon do get all the way up this branch of Irondequoit Creek each fall to spawn. Unfortunately, these are all stocked fish, and it is very unlikely that their genetic timing will ever happen to match the creek's flow pattern for both spawning and hatching which would be necessary to successfully reproduce.

And there is a large mural in the Thruway underpass.

Plans

The section between Break of Day Rd. and East Victor Rd. will get a full stone dust surface.

The towns of Pittsford, Farmington, and Canandaigua all have sections of the Auburn Trail open and other sections in the process of planning or construction with the goal of a continuous open off-road path that connects with many other area and state-wide trails.

Elevations and Distances

Caution: Elevations are from USGS. They are very precise, but not necessarily accurate. They may be from any place up to 100-feet from the trail!