Hiking the Lehigh Valley From Depew to Rochester this summer

I am using google earth and Bing maps with the Birds Eye on my I Pad. It appears that about 75% of the right of way is intact as ATV/snowmobile trails and there are some bridges out that I will either have to get my feet wet or portage around. Its hard the belive that 2 track mainline has been reduced to being unreconisible in some areas.

It may be harder than you think. I don't know about Depew to Rochester, but south of Phelps Junction the LV goes twenty feet over a gorge, with sheer cliff faces on both sides. You will be hard-pressed to clamber down and then back up again, given the likelihood of prickers, stickers, and poison ivy. Not to discourage you; just to allow you to steel your courage in advance!

BTW, the LV is a rail-trail from Wadsworth Junction some distance east; to Victor, I believe.

yes, its a well developed rail trail from the Genesee River bridge to about Victor..
West of the Genesee, a lot of the LV probably is not hikeable..
From Route 19 in Leroy east to near P&L junction its now a private road, used by a mining/gravel company..private property, so that section is out..

Scot

Much of the line Depew-east as far as Wadsworth Jct. is now private property.

Through Batavia it's still an active rail line. And there is still some active track immediately east of P&L Jct.

There's a section which is a trail near Buffalo and most of what's in Monroe County is a trail, through Rochester Jct., although at I-390 there is no underpass, you have to go around. Some of the branch into Rochester is also a trail.

Phelps Jct. is well east of Rochester, but it's worth noting that a number of bridges have been removed at various locations in addition to the property being private - both those the LV used to pass over other lines and waterways and those that crossed over the LV. Just east of Batavia, for instance, a large bridge was removed and a ramp built to connect the remaining track to the NYC (or Erie) branch that crossed under. And the time I hiked the bit of LV at Rochester Jct. the ROW west of the former crossing appeared to be impassable with some kind of fill on top of it. Bridges east of there through Caledonia have been removed.

I would plan to stick to the trails, and you might be able to get a release from GVT to hike the bit in Batavia too. It's active, but not very active. In Lancaster I noted it appeared to be passable as an ATV trail, but who knows who owns it.

Between River Road and the Genesee River in Livingston County the LVRR r/o/w has been totally removed by gravel mining. To the west of River road the r/o/w is utilized by a gravel firm as a pit road.

In Batavia the bridge over Tonawanda Creek has been removed.

To the east of Batavia, just west of the old NY Rt. 5 overpass, a segment of the LVRR r/o/w has been inlcuded in the back yard of a home.

The r/o/w to the west of Gulf Road in Genesee County is posted private.

Per lvrr325's advice, one should stick to the public use trails that utilize portions of the old LVRR r/o/w.