Finger Lakes, New York Camping Trip - Day 6

 Thursday, June 29, 2023

We all rose a little earlier on Thursday so we could drive a half hour southwest to Watkins Glen State Park and the falls. This was something we were all looking forward to and we hoped the smoke from the Canadian fires that had moved in day before wouldn’t ruin the views.

Watkins Glen is famous for its beautiful waterfalls and gorges. The nearly two-mile-long gorge trail includes over 800 stone steps that lead through tunnels and over bridges to view 19 waterfalls. Fortunately, the smoke from Canada didn’t find its way into the gorge and we had beautiful views that were rich with greenery and left us feeling as if we were in a foreign country. It was absolutely beautiful. Photos cannot do it justice.

We absolutely recommend getting as early a start as you can in the morning to beat the crowds. We left one truck at the main entrance at the bottom of the falls, and then all rode up to the top of the falls to start from there. Going in this direction you approach the falls from the top and have to turn around to get good views of them, but it worked for us. You can also get a shuttle bus to take you to either end of the falls for a fee, but we decided not to use that since there were so many of us. The truck system worked fine. Two of us drove back up to the top to retrieve the other truck while the others visited the gift shop at the Welcome Center, then we had lunch before heading off in separate directions. Our daughter, her husband and the girls went to see the Watkins Glen International Race Course, then returning back to the campground for a while. They planned to return to Watkins Glen so we could all go to dinner together and hopefully get some good views of Lake Seneca.

Jeff and I decided to stay in Watkins Glen and ride our bicycle on the Catharine Valley Trail. The trail currently stretches from Watkins Glen south to Pine Valley, with plans to extend the trail to the town of Horseheads. The trail follows the old Chemung Barge Canal towpath and sections of the abandoned Northern Central rail line. Most of the trail is through deep forest, but we did have to ride a short distance on the streets through Montour Falls. It was a level, easy ride and we completed 17.22 miles in about 2 hours, with stops to take photos along the way.

Catharine Valley Trail Along the trail Church in Montour Falls

Along the trail Catharine Valley Trail Along the trail

After returning on our bikes to Watkins Glen, we decided to go back into the gorge in the state park for a bit to kill time while we waited for the rest of our family to return. This time we started at the bottom and planned to work our way back up part way, but we quickly changed our minds. The gorge trail was absolutely full of busloads of foreign tourists. You could barely walk and people were literally waiting in line for chances to take photos. So, we backtracked a bit and climbed some very steep stairs up to the rim of the gorge, then took that trail to the suspension bridge we had seen from below earlier when we walked the gorge. Then we hiked back down the opposite side along the rim before descending back down to the Welcome Center. We didn’t get to see as many waterfalls, but there were far fewer people on the rim trails. So, again, we highly recommend getting to Watkins Glen State Park for the gorge trail as early in the morning as you can. You won’t regret it!

Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen

By the time we finished our family was back in town, so we joined them for dinner at Nickel’s Pit BBQ. We didn’t have to wait for a table, the food was great and so was the atmosphere. We highly recommend checking it out if you’re in Watkins Glen.

After dinner we walked up the street to the iconic Seneca Lake Pier. Seneca lake is the second longest of the Finger Lakes, but it is the biggest by volume of water. Whenever you see advertisements about the Finger Lakes of New York, you see images of this pier. Unfortunately for us, the smoke from Canada was heavy and although we were able to take photos of the pier, we weren’t able to capture the usual beautiful blue skies and the lake stretching far into the distance. It wasn’t ideal, but we snapped our photos anyway, then headed back to our campground for the night so we could make our plans for the last day of our visit to the Finger Lakes.

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