Monday, August 4, 2014

Letchworth State Park

Today we hiked Letchworth State Park in New York, which has a gorge on the Genesee River called "the Grand Canyon of the East".  I will admit that it was pretty impressive, but even though I have not yet visited the Grand Canyon, I really don't think it's comparable.

First we hiked a lot of the Gorge Trail, from below the Lower Falls to just past the Upper Falls, and back.  With all the little spurs and extras in order to see various views, we hiked 7 - 7.5 mi.  All three falls were quite impressive.  We were able to get quite close to the Lower Falls, to the extent that we were really enveloped in the mist from the falls.  The Middle Falls are the tallest, and they were certainly impressive; the perpetual rainbow in the mist from the falls was beautiful.  The Upper Falls were also impressive.  The hike was quite easy, with some ups and downs, but nothing too strenuous.

After this hike, we drove to the other side of the river and hiked the Letchworth Trail, which was a little less than 4 miles.  Some of this trail walked along the former canal that was dug along the river in the 1800s.  Not much is left of it.  The end of this hike was not the best, as the loop completed along a busy road.

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