NEW YORK: WATKINS GLEN STATE PARK

 July 28, 2021

As I mentioned in the last post, the number of beautiful places in the United States that I have not heard of before visiting them never ceases to amaze me. Watkins Glen State Park in Upstate New York was another one of those places.

The park is located at the tip of Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.

The park has three trails, two that run along the gorge's upper rim, and the main two-mile trail, the Gorge Trail, which is the closest to the stream. Hikers can start at either the top or the bottom of the gorge. It descends 400 feet, so it was a no-brainer for us. We drove to the upper end of the trail and started from there. 

Here we go! The second photo is looking back at the stairs we had just come down. Altogether, there are 832 steps on the Gorge Trail.

This railroad trestle near the beginning of the trail was built in the early 1900s.

Here it is in a 1904 postcard. Notice anything different? The bridge had a central supporting pier. In 1935 a powerful flood washed out that middle pier, causing the center of the bridge to collapse. When the bridge was reconstructed, the piers at each end were reinforced to compensate.

A flood control system now controls the flow of "Glen Creek," a name that seems appropriate at the top of the trail but much less so as the creek gains power later on.

Although we shared the pathway with a lot of other people, there were plenty of trail and breathtaking scenery for all of us to share.

This is about where the gorge narrowed and deepened and the energy of the water increased.

Do you see what I mean about breathtaking? This is as beautiful as just about anything we've seen anywhere in the world.

Water seemed to be coming from everywhere, even pouring over the tops of the cliffs, which are 200 feet tall in some places.

Lots of laughter came from hikers passing through nature's shower. In addition to the "rain," note the waterfall in the background of the photo. Suddenly, we were seeing a waterfall around every bend! All told, there are 19 waterfalls within the two mile stretch.

There were a few more places where water streamed over the upper cliffs like water from a faucet.

And there were many smaller drops in the river bed itself (not counted as part of the 19 more spectacular waterfalls), framed within deep walls of layered slate.

We took several photos like this--and so did everyone else on the trail. There was a lot of posing going on, and and strangers were very willing to help each other get the best group photo.

Occasionally the trail passed through the mountain itself.

The view on the other side was always awe-inspiring.

At least one cave we passed through included steep stairs . . .

. . . which led to the back of another waterfall and another shower. This spot is called "Cavern Cascade" for obvious reasons. This sequence shows our first glimpse of the falls from the cave/stairwell,  followed by our approach to the underbelly of the waterfall . . . 

. . . and then looking back at the same waterfall.  (By the way, we really enjoyed walking alongside this group of cheerful young Amish women in their brightly colored dresses. There were several Amish groups, always segregated, and each with its own style of matching clothing.)

A view into the depths of the gorge and the group of young men corresponding to the young women's group above.

We crossed several bridges on our way to the bottom of the gorge.

This one is named "Sentry Bridge."

Just about everyone who crossed it had to look over the edge and into the hypnotic, swirling waters below.

Looking back up at a bridge from the trail below.

As we left the gorge, we stopped to pay our respects to the Seneca tribe, who lived in this area long before the arrival of Europeans.

Andrew Cuomo was still the Governor of New York when we visited, but he would resign his position less than one month later amidst numerous allegations of sexual misconduct. 

We waited fifteen minutes or so for the park bus, which took us to the upper parking lot where we had left our car. We were very glad we didn't have to walk back up those 800+ steps!

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