THE
GRAND CANYON OF NEW YORK, OR WHATEVER
We
got up at sunrise on Tuesday. The sun
was out, which was nice after a cool, wet Monday. I made breakfast and we packed up. We drove back through Buffalo and took back
roads to Letchworth State Park. The main attraction at Letchworth
State Park is the Genesee River Gorge and its three waterfalls. The gorge is sometimes called the Grand
Canyon of New York. The Pine Creek Gorge
is sometimes called the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. I find this trend unnecessary and
unfortunate. Why diminish a place
through comparison? I shudder at the
thought of people calling Linville Gorge the Grand Canyon of North Carolina.
Letchworth State Park has a vast trail network in
the gorge and on both rims. Our primary
goal was to hike through the heart of the gorge and visit the three
waterfalls. We failed at that, as the
upper falls were off limits due to construction. The park website failed to disclose this, and
the attendant at the gate also failed to mention it while happily taking our
$10 entry fee. We didn’t find out about
the closure until later.
The
Portageville entrance to the park was also closed due to construction, so we came
in through the Castile entrance. On the
way in we stopped at a couple of overlooks on the rim of the gorge. They offered great views of the cliffs, the
river, and the countryside stretching off into the distance. There was even some fall color scattered
amongst the greenery along the opposite side of the gorge.
We
drove to the Octagon Area, near the swimming pool, and started our hike
there. This provided the easiest access
to the Lower Falls. We picked up the
Gorge Trail and followed it along the north / west rim of the gorge. Before long we reached the descent to the
Lower Falls. Getting there requires
descending a lot of steps, and Christy’s knee was still tender from her recent
injury. She decided to wait with the
dogs at an overlook of the falls on the hillside above.
I
hiked down to the river on an exceptionally muddy trail. First I hiked to a
stone bridge that is a short distance downstream from the falls. It provides a decent view of the waterfall,
which is quite powerful. Then I followed
the trail up to the brink of the falls.
The official trail doesn’t provide a very good view, so I explored the
vast network of unofficial trails in search of the base.
Reaching
the actual base of the falls would require rappelling, as the gorge is
sheer. I did find a nice viewpoint
directly in front of the falls, but the spray was incredible. I managed a couple of photos before
retreating.
I
explored upstream beyond the top of the falls.
This area might be off limits.
There are a LOT of signs in Letchworth State
Park. I’m not sure what they say,
because I suffer from Selective Illiteracy.
A fun adventure in warm weather / low water would be to river walk
upstream from the top of the Lower Falls.
It might be possible to hike all the way to the base of the Middle Falls
by following the river. However, I’m not
sure if there are any escape routes along that stretch of the gorge. The official trails stay high up on the rims
on either side. Doing that hike may
require hiking back the same way. Also,
it is probably against park rules. New
York State Parks seem to be big on rules and regulations.
I
rejoined Christy and we had lunch at the overlook. Afterwards, we hiked along the rim, passing
occasional overlooks in the forest. The
best viewpoint was from Inspiration Point.
Inspiration Point and the other overlooks are easily accessible from the
main park road, and it was a busy place.
Still, the distant view of the Middle and Upper Falls deep in the gorge
was worth it.
We
hiked on to the Glen Iris Inn. The trail
stayed in the woods most of the time, but occasionally we found ourselves on
the shoulder of the road. We had to
cross the road twice to get down to the overlook for the Middle Falls. The base of Middle Falls is also inaccessible,
but the view from the overlook is pretty good.
From there we followed a paved path to the top of the falls. We continued upstream alongside a large
parking area. At the far end the trail
was closed for the previously mentioned construction. The area was fenced off, but I attempted to
reach the Upper Falls by following the edge of the fence around the
construction zone. After a short
distance I realized that the only good view of the falls was where the actual
construction was underway. There were
workers there, and there wasn’t anyway to get there without being seen. I retreated.
Christy’s
knee was sore, so I hiked back solo to the car while she rested. I picked her up a bit later, and we headed
towards Ithaca, New York. We had planned
to visit Taughannock Falls, but we were running short
on time / daylight. Also, Taughannock Falls is a low volume waterfall, and I was
concerned that it might be dry despite the recent rain. Prior to Monday’s storm, it had been very dry
for several weeks.
Instead,
we drove on to the town of Ithaca. First,
we did the short hike to Ithaca Falls. The
State of New York is pretty big on cities with waterfalls in the middle of them
(i.e. Niagara Falls, Rochester, Ithaca, etc.).
Ithaca is one of the nicer ones, and it is tucked in a quaint little
neighborhood not far from downtown. From
there we drove over to Cayuga Lake, which is one of the Finger Lakes. We arrived there just in time for sunset.
My
plan had been to camp at Watkins Glen State Park that evening. I pulled up the park website to get
directions, which was fortuitous. When I
opened the website, I discovered that the campground had just closed for the
season. Why in the world would they
close their campground in early October – a prime time for tourism? It certainly wasn’t due to the weather, as
the temperature was around 70 degrees.
Buttermilk
Falls State Park is just south of Ithaca, and the campground was open. We went there, and had the place largely to
ourselves. We arrived after dark and set
up in the far corner of the campground, far away from the handful of other campers. It was so dark there it was almost like
backpacking. On the other hand, the
showers were nice. I was on my way back
from taking a shower when I spotted a skunk.
He was on the trail ahead of me, and I spooked him, flushing him in the
direction of our campsite. Yikes! We did not need one of our dogs to have an
encounter with a skunk. Luckily, he
veered off into the woods before we reached our site.
We
had dinner and a couple of beers before retiring for the night. It was a cool evening, and we slept
great. That was good, because we had a
big day planned on Wednesday.
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