from Wilson Boulevard:
There is an abandoned railroad right of way that has one terminus near the Rochester Institute of Technology campus and the other next to the University of Rochester Medical Center. Back roads, walkways, and parking lots can be used to go through the UR River Campus and hook up with the city's Genesee River Trail.
Go to the northeast corner of the campus where John Street and Brighton-Henrietta Town Line (B-HTL) Road meet Jefferson Road. Cross Jefferson Road carefully and obey traffic signals; this is a heavily car-travelled area. Follow B-HTL Road as it curves to the right, crosses the active CSX tracks, and then curves slightly to the left. Before you reach a white warehouse on the left-hand (north) side of the road, you will see a pair of abandoned railroad beds also on the left. The one on the right was more recently in use and is covered with very coarse ballast stone, so it is no good for any bicycles. The one on the left has been improved with gravel and is quite navigable. It is called the Lehigh Valley Trail, North Branch.
Rail Facts
Both these lines, the Erie Lackawanna on the west and the Lehigh Valley on the east, used to cross the east-west line. The still existing tracks, belonging to the Livonia, Avon, and Lakeville Railroad, are now re-routed to come in from the south and merge with the main line. The western branch roughly parallels River Road and is active down into the western finger lakes region. The eastern branch is only a short spur that extends as far as a lumber yard on Lehigh Station Road and then stops. (After those tracks end, there is another trail under development.) More rail facts at the other end!
Follow the trail north. It will meander back and forth between the Erie line and the Lehigh Valley line. You will reach Crittenden Road.
The trail continues north on the other side of Crittenden, through woods until you get to River Road, near Kendrick Road. Continue following the trail north (this part is not improved) a short way and then on bridges crossing Interstate 390 and the Erie Canal. (The unimproved section often floods. You may want to detour 100 feet to the east and just use Kendrick Road.) Once over the canal, you will intersect with the popular Erie Canal Trail.
After this point, there is really not a trail any longer. But there is still a long way you can go and stay off the main roads. The route I suggest would be to basically continue to follow where the railroad used to be. It will take you through parking lots and parking lot access roads of the UR Medical Center and River Campus. In between those two areas you take either of two railroad bridges over Elmwood Avenue. You can check out some maps that the UR provides. Look for the road "Intercampus Drive". On the river campus, if you stay in the parallel parking lot where the tracks used to be, it's a bit more level and there are no stop signs. Mount Hope Cemetery is on the hill to your right.
More Rail Facts
When I was a student at the UR in the 1980's the eastern (Lehigh) line was still active up to this point. It was used to haul coal up to the power plant on Elmwood Avenue. Once that ended, the university eagerly grabbed the land to get some more parking spots.
If you continue north all the way through the River Campus, you will use another railroad bridge over Wilson Boulevard to get to the river trail. (You are definitely now on the eastern Lehigh rail line; the western Erie line crosses the river, but that should soon (2011) be open to pedestrian/bike traffic.)
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At this spot you can connect with one of the Genesee River trails. You can either go south back down through the River Campus and the Genesee Valley Park to the Erie Canal, or north under the Ford Street bridge to downtown Rochester -- basically right to the back door of the famous Dinosaur Barbecue!
If you cross the river at Court Street where the Dinosaur Barbeque is, you can get on another city-maintained trail on the west side of the river. Part of it is that other rail line, the Erie Lackawanna, that you started on. It goes down to Genesee Valley Park . From there you can connect with the Erie Canal Trail and the Genesee Valley Greenway, a huge rail trail that may someday take one into Pennsylvania! Several loop runs are therefore possible.