Hike to the Falls

We’re sitting by the side of the road here in Letchworth State Park because this little section of road, and only this little section of the road, has decent cell service.  There are a couple other cars parked near here also, probably needing their Internet fix just like I do. This spot is also an overlook, but I know why everyone is REALLY here.

We’re such digital junkies.

It rained on and off just enough last night to cause the roof vent to close several times.  Then we would lose our airflow, wake up, and open it back up again.  It looks like we were successful in our efforts to fall behind the weather system, however.  Today turned out to be a partly cloudy day, and we had some good patches of sunshine and 69 degrees to enjoy.  Perfect for hiking.

On the agenda for today was a hike to the three falls on the Genesse River.  Creatively named “Lower Falls”, “Middle Falls”, and “Upper Falls”, these falls comprise a hike of just under seven miles round trip to see all three.  Park by the Lower Falls and then hike to the Upper Falls.  Of course, you could drive to each one of them as I suspect most people did, but then you wouldn’t get your 20,000 steps in for the day.

Lots of stairs on this trail, all made of stone in the 1930’s by the CCC.  The CCC built most of this park and their trademark stone construction is everywhere.  I’ve seen it in so many places that is has become synonymous with state and national parks. It’s really amazing what they accomplished back then and how the program put over a million people to work in the time of the Depression.  Nowadays, we just pay people to not work.  And call it stimulus.  But I digress...

They even built the picnic tables out of stone.  Most of the picnic areas here have stone tables. Many of these have been redone because the tabletops have broken, but it was a rather cool way to use the local stone.  There’s something to be said for wood and steel, however.  Deb sat down at one of these tables and nearly wrenched her knees off against the stone support.  Must be people had shorter legs back in the 30’s.

The Falls were spectacular, and well worth the hike.  I’ll let some of the pictures tell the story...

Lower Falls, seen from a stone bridge downriver.  70-foot water drop. The bridge was built for a total cost of $695.  Wow.  The camera used to take the picture cost more than the bridge.

Standing on the stone bridge with Lower Falls in the background.

Middle Falls, seen from Inspiration Point.  110 feet drop.  The railroad bridge here is 200 feet above the water.  Originally, there was a wooden bridge here, built in 1852, at the time the longest and highest span of its kind.  However, it burned down in 1875 from coal sparks thrown from train engines, and was replaced with an iron bridge.

Upper Falls.  70-foot drop.

Our intrepid hikers, posing by Middle Falls.

This trail took a good portion of the day and involved lots of stone stairs.  So we got back to the RV mid-afternoon.  Grateful for a chance to sit for a while, we drove to the Council Grounds, which contained a couple log buildings used by the Seneca Indians.  These buildings were purchased by William Letchworth, whom the park was named after, and moved here to preserve them.  Letchworth was very interested in preservation, and this park owes its existence to his efforts to preserve the land he owned for decades.

We also visited the nearby museum, which contains lots of history about Letchworth and the Native Americans that used to live here.

We stopped at the Tea Table overlook, where there were more stone tables and made dinner.  The fajitas were delicious.  Even without rice, beans, or tortillas.  We also found that the blackberries in the fridge were either going bad or were so tart that they would pucker even the most ardent sugar-hater, so Deb used any that were still usable along with thinly sliced apples, cinnamon, and sugar to make sort of an apple crisp without the crisp.  Turned out to be a great dessert.

So now the sun is setting and we will probably be returning to the camp site, as soon as all this is uploaded and the Internet Fix is complete.

We all look at things with a different perspective and I thought it would be interesting to publish Deb’s journal entry for today also.  She and I pick up on different things and put different things in our journals.  So here goes...

It rained on and off last night.  Sometimes I was even able to get up to get the ceiling fan to run so that it was cooler than the previous night.  I slept better.  After an omelet breakfast we drove to pick up Trail One by the Lower Falls. We ended up hiking 6.5 miles round trip.  WE did a fair amount of up and down.  We saw Lower, Middle, and Upper Falls.  The view from Middle Falls with the Upper Falls and the railroad arch bridge in the background was my favorite.  The falls range from 70 feet to 110 feet.  

We ate lunch by Middle Falls where Mr. Letchworth’s home was.  I noticed a woman with a cane coming up the stone steps near a bench we were eating lunch on.  I saw her looking at the bench and briefly wondered if we should offer it to her.  They passed us but when I turned to check on them, they were only a few feet behind us.  She was trembling and could hardly walk.  We jumped up to help, got her to the bench (barely), and gave her some gorp.  We left and her husband was going to get her food from the inn.

Periodically along the way were step, walls, pavilions, picnic tables all built by the CCC.  The hike took 4.5 hours including lunch.  When we returned we took the RV to a few other historical noteworthy places in the park.  My favorite was the Seneca Council House and the house Mary Jamison built for her daughter.  Mary Jamison had been captured at age 15 by the Seneca who killed her family.  She lived to be in her 90’s and lived among the Natives until her death.  She married two different Indian chiefs.  The visitor center and the nature center were no big deal.

We ate a dinner of fajitas with no wraps and sweet corn.  It was delicious with our fresh tomatoes and cilantro on top.  The blackberries I had in the fridge I heated up with apples and some sugar and cinnamon.  Yummy.

We parked along the side of the road to have cell service and write in our journals.  Cell service in the campground isn’t good.

Letchworth donated his home and 1000 acres to the state of New York and this was the start of this beautiful state park.  He had 11 rules for living, one of which was “aim to do all possible good in the world, and so live as to live hereafter and have a name without reproach.  He was a serious reader and loved poetry.