And Away We Go!

Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

First stop, Letchworth State Park in Castile, NY. It was a bit further of a drive than we’ll normally do, but a great first stop. Again, we have a fantastic site – in the woods, on a “No Dogs Allowed” loop (of which there are several) and VERY quiet.

This park was voted “Best State Park in America” in 2015, but unless things have changed in the past two years, we’re not so sure why. I don’t know what the criteria was, but it was voted by readers of USA Today.

There are several things they could do to make it better for visitors. The main one is offering explanations for the 66 miles of trails they have. They don’t even tell you if they run along the top or the bottom of the gorge and we even had to ask if they were one-way or round-trip distances. Some of them aren’t even on the map. And there are no descriptions for the various things that are listed on the map (like the Council Grounds). Nor do they tell you anywhere that it is a “Pack in/Pack out” park. That means there are absolutely NO trash cans anywhere, except at the camping loops.

All that said, the park and restrooms are quite clean (not surprising when there’s no trash 😊) and well cared for and the scenery is breathtaking!

Lower and Middle Falls with construction cranes in the background. The bridge is the train trestle they’re replacing.

I’m a “fact” girl and love history and learning new things, so whenever possible (and maybe much to your dismay?) I’ll incorporate a few facts when I have them.

Letchworth State Park was the brain-child of a man named William Pryor Letchworth. Once Seneca Indian land, he purchased 1,000 acres in the mid 1800’s and then donated it to the State of New York in 1907. The Seneca’s loved him and called him “he who does the right thing”. He did a lot to restore and preserve Native American history in this Genesee Valley.

There is also information here about a woman named Mary Jemison who was captured and then adopted by the Seneca and later became wife of their chief. Given the opportunity to return to ‘white people’, she opted to remain a Seneca until her death at age 93.

The three waterfalls are the main attraction here. It was very similar to standing beside Niagara Falls – loud, wet and magnificent!

Middle Falls
The view Mr. Letchworth had from his home!

Getting wet at the Middle Falls!

Double rainbows form just to the side of the Middle Falls.

The Lower Falls. We were actually able to walk up to those as well.

Bridge built over the Lower Falls area.

It also boasts a deep gorge and is called “The Grand Canyon of the East”. Although nowhere near Grand Canyon depths (the deepest part is 550’), it’s still beautiful in its own way.

Periodically, we’ll post “Lunch Views” – places where we just randomly sit and eat lunch. In the past, many of our spots have been pretty amazing, and as you can see, this one is pretty great!

Lunch View

We had a campfire two different nights and entertained visitors – a raccoon and skunk!! The coon came within 10’ and we thought that was pretty exciting, but when the skunk came around the corner of the RV, he walked within 5’ – just on the other side of our fire!! We have no picture of the skunk since we didn’t move a muscle! The raccoon came back two nights later and Blaine was able to snap a picture.

The park also has a dry dam (Mt Morris), which means it’s just for flood control. A few facts about the dam: It was constructed from 1948 to 1952 by the US Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of $25M. It’s estimated that in the first 50 years of use, it’s saved over $1B in damages from flooding downstream.

Mount Morris Dam from near the beginning of our tour. We actually were able to walk on the roof to the closest town and took an elevator down inside.

They offer free tours once a day, so we did that. Our guide took us part way along the top and then inside some. It was pretty cool! At one point, she had us stand still so she could turn off the lights and show us how dark it was inside. Totally and completely black. Then she proceeded to tell us that a couple of months ago she was touring a school group and one misbehaved boy discovered the light switches and ran around turning off lights and running up and down the steep staircases. YIKES! The teachers finally managed to catch him and he was sent home immediately. Don’t know how old he was and we found out later that it was only her second time guiding tours.

Just before entering the actual dam

Besides the hikes to the Middle and Lower Falls (the upper one was closed until Sept, 2018 due to replacing a train bridge), we really enjoyed our time at the Wolf Creek area. But this was an accidental find.