Five NY State Parks in One Weekend 2015

Posts tagged ‘Five NY State Parks in One Weekend 2015’

Five NY State Parks in One Weekend: Letchworth State Park

On Sunday, June 28th (the third day of our weekend getaway), we ate breakfast at the hotel and was on our way home by 7:45 am.

On our way home we detoured to Letchworth State Park, using our New York State Empire Passport to gain entrance. We drove through the park from the northern end (Mt. Morris) to the southern end (Portageville), stopping at several overlooks along the way.

Mt. Morris Dam
I can’t recall ever seeing water on this side of the dam, when we have visited the park!

Wolf Creek Falls

Wolf Creek

Great Bend Overlook

Inspiration Point
Middle and Upper Falls

Middle Falls

Upper Falls

The water was raging from Saturday’s rainfall.

We exited Letchworth State Park at approximately 11:50 am and continued on our way home. We stopped at Seneca Allegany Casino in Salamanca, NY for lunch at Thunder Mountain Buffet. We played the one-arm bandits, too, losing $20 each.

We left the casino around 2:45 pm and took a scenic way home through Allegany State Park, once again using the Empire Passport for admission to the park. I counted wrong. I should have entitled this blog post and the previous two posts as “SIX NY State Parks in One Weekend”! We made one stop in Allegany State Park.

Bridal Falls

After Saturday’s rain event, we decided to check out Bridal Falls. Although it was a little bit of a soggy walk down to the falls, it wasn’t a bad hike. There was less water falling than we expected; however, we were not disappointed with the water flow. We were very happy with what we found at the falls, or I should say WHO we found at the falls. We came upon a family “down from Buffalo” for the day at the base of the falls. I LOVED the color the raincoats provided for the scene, as well as the intimacy of having people in a photograph. This family was very cooperative. I asked if they would “freeze in place”, while I took a photograph with a slow shutter speed. They listened well! Thank you for the photo op!

We returned home around 6:00 pm. What a wonderful weekend we had!

Five NY State Parks in One Weekend: Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls and Robert H. Treman State Parks

On the second day of our Finger Lakes Region weekend getaway (June 27th), we went in search of NY State Park waterfalls. We made good use of our New York State Empire Passport, as we entered three NY State Parks, all located near Ithaca, NY.

The first park we entered was Buttermilk Falls State Park, where we saw the waterfall for which the park is named.

Buttermilk Falls

The waterfall was conveniently located near the park entrance. There is a trail alongside the right side of the waterfall; however, it was closed. There is a swimming beach at the base of the waterfall. The beach was closed during our visit. This was our first time to see this waterfall. I hope that we have the opportunity to see it again.

The second park we entered was Taughannock Falls State Park. We entered the park on the Cayuga Lake side, where we enjoyed an expansive view of the lake and boats docked at the marina.

From this park entrance, we drove a short distance to Falls Overlook, where we enjoyed a lofty view of Taughannock Falls.

Taughannock Falls

Taughannock Falls plunges 215 feet past rocky cliffs that tower nearly 400 feet above the gorge.

From Falls Overlook we returned to Cayuga Lake and entered Taughannock Falls at the entrance on the other side of the road. We walked the short distance to the lower Taughannock Falls.

Lower Taughannock Falls

We chose not to walk the ¾ mile trail to the 215-foot Taughannock Falls that we viewed from Falls Overlook, as a steady rain had developed by now. We visited Taughannock Falls one time before in July 2002, with our niece Emily. During that visit, we did walk to the base of the larger waterfall. I hope that we have the opportunity to walk the trail sometime this year.

The third park we entered was Robert H. Treman State Park.

It was a short walk along a tree-lined path to Treman Falls.

There was a swimming beach at the base of Treman Falls.
This beach was open.
We saw a sign that said the water temperature was 60 degrees.

This was the most unique swimming beach we had ever seen. The swimming beach was located at the base of a beautiful waterfall AND there was a diving board at the deep end!

We had a steady rain all day, lighter in the early morning hours and heavier later in the morning and afternoon hours. We didn’t allow the rain to interfere with our plans. What a great day we had!

Five NY State Parks in One Weekend: Watkins Glen State Park

We spent two nights at the Best Western Grand Victorian Inn in Sayre, PA during the weekend of June 26th. We decided to go on our planned weekend getaway to the Finger Lakes region, regardless of the weather. The weather forecast called for a very soggy weekend. Rain amounts of 1-2 inches (or more) was expected to fall.

We departed home at 12:45 pm on Friday, June 26th, en route Watkins Glen, NY. We arrived in Watkins Glen around 4:00 pm and entered Watkins Glen State Park, using the New York State Empire Passport that we purchased earlier in the year. Within the park, Glen Creek descends 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade. Rim trails overlook the gorge. We caught a shuttle bus ($5.00 each) to the upper entrance to the gorge and hiked the 1 1/2 miles down to the main entrance. Our hike took us about 1 ½ hours, with lots of photo stops.

Jacob’s Ladder has 180 steps!

Mile Point Bridge

The gorge

Rainbow Falls

Central Cascade

Cavern Cascade

Bob and I at the bottom of the gorge

Sentry Bridge

It was a perfect afternoon for a hike. It was a warm, not a hot and humid day.

After hiking the gorge, we drove to Sayre and ate dinner at the Original Italian Grille. This restaurant was recommended to us by one of Bob’s coworkers. I ordered lasagna and a side salad. The lasagna was generous enough that two people could have eaten it easily. Bob ordered the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad (Chilled Sashimi-style tuna, rubbed and seared, served rare, with tomatoes, red onion, wonton crisps and sesame seeds paired with our Wasabi vinaigrette). In addition to the tuna salad, Bob helped me eat the lasagna. Our meals also were served with homemade bread. Dinner was delicious, and the service was okay. The waitress made a couple mistakes with our order. She brought me water instead of unsweetened tea, and she forgot to bring me a salad. The mistakes were quickly corrected.

After dinner, we drove the short distance to our hotel. Our accommodation at Best Western Grand Victorian Inn was a generously-sized room with king bed, two night stands, dresser and flat screen TV, desk with chair, arm chair with ottoman and small refrigerator and microwave. The closet was large enough to walk inside. The bathroom was large as well. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the Best Western Grand Victorian Inn was home for us for 2 nights.

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Posts tagged ‘Five NY State Parks in One Weekend 2015’

Five NY State Parks in One Weekend: Letchworth State Park

Five NY State Parks in One Weekend: Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls and Robert H. Treman State Parks

Five NY State Parks in One Weekend: Watkins Glen State Park