Watkins Glen State Park

If you are into waterfalls, this is the place. Watkins Glen State Park, in the city of Watkins Glen on the southern tip of Seneca Lake, is right in the heart of town. The park offers several hiking trails, but the one almost everyone is interested in is the Gorge Trail.

The trail follows the Glen Creek as it cuts its way through the gorge. For the one and one half mile journey the creek falls 500 feet. That is 19 waterfalls in that 1 ½ mile. The rock formations have created pools which the falls drop into. They look like great places for a quick dip on a hot day, but, of course, there is no swimming allowed. There is quite a bit of water in Glen Creek making the falls pretty nice. I can imagine how beautiful it would be in April with the spring rains and snow melt filling the creek.

Being hikers, we chose to hike up the gorge from bottom to top then back down again. The trail is roughly paved and has more than 800 steps along its length. I thought going up was somehow a better view. I guess it was because I was facing the creek as it flowed toward me. On the way down, which was, of course, an easier walk, I had to keep turning to look back at the falls. For those not up to a round trip hike, the park service has a shuttle which runs every 15 minutes. You can ride up and walk down or walk up and ride down. At both ends there is a gift shop with snacks and cold drinks.

For the hiking enthusiast there are several other trails in the park including a short section of the 4,600 mile North Country Trail which stretches from eastern New York to North Dakota. There is also a fairly large campground with about 300 sites. The park is free but there is a vehicle parking fee.

We really enjoyed our visit, especially the hike up the gorge. We were tired puppies, though, when we got home since we had already walked around Penn Yen and the city of Watkins Glen before going to the park. But it was a good tired.