Watkins
Glen
A Walk Up and Down the Gorge
On July 11Th, 2005, while returning home
from a family gathering near Corning, New York, I paid a brief visit to the
Watkins Glen State Park.
Watkins Glen is located at the Southern end of Seneca Lake. The
map is oriented with WEST to the top.
I chose to begin my hike at the lower end of the gorge, making
the return trip a down-hill walk most of the way...
It was 10:00 AM, and looking back at the parking lot, there
weren't very many cars there yet.
Almost to the end. Just around the corner are the stairs to the
top... About 160 steps!
And here I am, at the half-way point of this trek.
The map from the upper end of the trail. The picture on the left
is from the bottom of the stairs just below.
Here I am again, at about the top of the stairway, ready to
decend into the gorge again.
And back down those 160+ steps, to follow the gorge down-stream.
Looking back at the bridge and falls.
Almost back to a much fuller parking lot, looking down from the
last bridge.
Total time - just over two hours at a leisurely pace, with a short break for
ice cream at the top of the trail.
Addendum:
In September of 2008, I returned to take another hike with a newer, higher resolution camera.
With over 600 photos of just the trip up the gorge, I created a 2-hour slideshow music video on
DVD. It really looks good on a big-screen TV! But at 8Gb, I’m not likely to post it here! I’d like
to try again with an even higher resolution camera and do an HD version.