When I began to tell my friends back home that I was going to pack up my life and move to Rochester, more often than not they’d say “I’d love to visit, but I don’t want to use my vacation to go somewhere so cold.”
They didn’t know much about our beloved ROC.
For those that were around last summer, it was the hottest Labor Day that I’d experienced, and motivated me to sit down and Google “beat the heat in Rochester.” As a lover of all things outdoors, I soon began an almost year-long project to discover the many ways we can escape the heat (or embrace it) through the weeks of 80+ degree weather.
So before a hot day turns into a sit in front of the A/C and Netflix binge the most recent season of OINTB, consider some of these options below.
Go to the Beach!
Growing up in New Jersey, “the shore” was the place to go. Facebook newsfeeds were filled with the over-zealous “DTS!” status’ and we spent our free time burning up on the coast of the Atlantic. Now ROchester may not have the salty air but spend some time on Lake Ontario and you may forget there’s a country on the other side. Plan a day at the beach either at Durand Eastman or Ontario Beach. Both parks offer places to put a beach chair in the sand, read a good book, or splash around in the water while also opening up the ability to play volleyball, can jam, corn hole, or ladder ball with their green space surrounding them.
Splash Around.
If an adventure with a cool off option is more your style, continue exploring the many parks built around Monroe county. Corbett’s Glen in Penfield (a personal favorite) as well as Black Creek Park in Chili offer a day of exploration with the option to cool off in the creeks. On any given day, you’re bound to find many wading in the water at Corbett’s with dogs, friends, and family. Pack a lunch, your hammock, and a good book, it won’t take long for you to get lost in these beauties and forget you’re still only 15 minutes away from downtown.
Paddle Faster.
Kayaking and Stand Up Paddleboarding are exploding in popularity in Rochester this summer. With Lake Ontario, Irondequoit Bay, Irondequoit Creek, and Canandaigua Lake all in a close enough distance, there is no shortage of places to try something new. If you’re looking for calmer water, get yourself to where the bay meets the creek on Empire Blvd- if you don’t have your own equipment, both Bay Creek Paddle Center and Oak Orchard Canoe have rentals. If you’re up for an adventure, travel south to Canadaigua and get some time out on the clear water of the finger lakes region. LL Bean offers Stand Up Paddleboard and Kayaking classes, and Canandaigua Sailboarding offers rentals. You can find both right along the Lakeshore by Kershaw Park.
And when you can’t beat the heat, join it!
We can spend a lot of time “beating the heat” but sometimes at the end of the day, you just have to embrace it. Take your free time outside and switch up your normal gym routine. All summer long you can find group workouts that use the heat to enhance the workout. Try UrbanFit offered by Fleet Feet Sports Rochester or an outdoor yoga class in Charlotte on the beach. Trade in your treadmill workouts for trail workouts and races from #TrailsRoc and Fleet Feet, or embrace HikYoga with Hello Yoga Girl (our next outing is August 10th!).
These are just a few of the best ways I’ve found to enjoy all that Rochester has to offer ub Outdoor Recreation during the summer. Do you have other hidden gems or favorite ways to beat the heat? Let us know when you share this post!
Summer will be gone before you know it. Use every minute of this beautiful weather to #ExploreRochester.