Victor has a new hiking trail. Learn about who inspired Helen's Way
VICTOR — A new hiking trail has been added to Victor’s massive 70-mile trail system, thanks to the generosity of a family looking to honor their matriarch.
Helen’s Way, at Village on the Park off county Road 9, is a newly opened two-mile trail created to celebrate the life of the late Helen Bishop, and to connect with surrounding trails. It loops through 93 acres owned by longtime Victor resident Paul Bishop, who provided the land as part of his mother’s legacy.
According to Scott Reinhart, trailmaster for Victor Hiking Trails, after Bishop’s father died in 1961, his mom raised her four young children, gave them a “wonderful childhood” and fostered in them “a deep appreciation for and responsibility to nature and the environment.” The most appropriate way Bishop knew to live out his mother’s life lessons was to provide the Victor community with “a beautiful woodland trail,” Reinhart said.
Helen’s Way is the 18th trail created and maintained by Victor Hiking Trails, a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that builds and maintains hiking and biking trails and paths in Victor.
Julie and Rosie:Hiking the Sampson State Park trail along Seneca Lake. See the photos
“We’ve been doing this for 30 years and we’re so grateful to people like Paul who want to share their property with the residents in this community,” said VHT Board Chair David Wright.
“We originally asked Paul for a little sliver of property, and he said, ‘Let’s do a hike around the perimeter; let’s make it worthwhile,’” said Wright. “We’re very, very happy with that.”
The new trail is step one in an ongoing effort to connect two parks — Mary Frances Bluebird Haven and Village on the Park. Future projects will include a pondside meditation area, he said.
The recent ribbon cutting, performed before a crowd of hiking enthusiasts by Bishop and his sisters, Betty McCaffrey and Mary Bishop, was followed by a guided hike along the new trail.
“This is exactly what every citizen should be,” said Reinhart of Bishop. “This is such a great way to honor his mother, and we’ve all gotten to know Helen by building this trail.”
Bishop’s son, also named Paul, agreed the two-year community effort was something to celebrate.
“I remember working with them in the wintertime and going around the trail and I’m very, very happy that my dad did this,” said Helen’s grandson.
Since its launch in 1991, the Victor trails group has developed and maintained nearly 70 miles of hiking and biking trails with connections leading to many hundreds of miles in neighboring trail systems.
“I’m just thrilled, as my sisters are, that we get to honor my Mom,” said Bishop. “And since I’ve lived here about 50 years, I’m really glad to be able to give something back to my community.”