Grand Canyon of New York

Tuesday,August 18, 2015
Ken and I made the 90 mile drive up to Geneseo, NY today to visit with Jim and Sandra Cole, friends we met at Hillcrest RV Resort in Florida. They have a lovely home in the country with cornfield across from them and their daughter and her family on the lot behind them.

And this is where they get their eggs - a chicken coup in their daughter's backyard - built by Jim.

We traveled together to the beautiful Letchworth State Park which is not far from their home where we enjoyed the beautiful views of the gorge and Genesee River with its Upper, Middle and Lower Falls, a dam and a gorgeous restaurant at the Glen Iris Inn.

We entered the 17 mile long park at the Mt. Morris end and made several stops at overlooks beginning with the one overlooking the Mt. Morris Dam which was built in the mid 1900's to protect the area including the city of Rochester from floods -- after a major flood in the 1930s.

It was hard to picture but there have been times when water has risen close to the the top of this dam including earlier this year.  Looking up stream we could see the stone walls of the "grand canyon" that was gouged out by glaciers in the ice age and continues to be carved by the Genesee River. Over the years thousands of tree have anchored their roots in the shale and created mountains like these.

The CCC in the 1930s added lots of enhancements to this park - originally the estate of William Letchworth.  These picnic tables made of slate sitting on piles of slate were especially unique.

From this park setting, we could look down the canyon and see the river and Wolf Creek joining it.  Unfortunately there was so much brush it was impossible to get a picture of the water cascading down the cliffs from the Creek into the River.

But we could see the colorful beauty of the rocks reflected in the river that was barely moving at this point.

At another overlook we could see lots of kayakers learning how to paddle through some rapids.

Below you can see they look like colorful ants on the water

We stopped for a delicious lunch at the Glen Iris Inn - formerly William Letchworth's home (a mid 1800's industrialist from Buffalo) which has been added on to create a huge but beautifully appointed dining room

The gardens outside all of these windows created a beautiful back drop for our lunch.

Out in front we had a great view of the Middle Falls on the Genesse River

Across the street from the Inn parking lot was this little museum created by Letchworth primarily to share some of the historical items he had gathered through the years especially to carry on memories of Indians from the area who had made him a member of their tribe while he lived on this 290 acre estate which is now the state park.

Just a short walk up from this area was the Upper Falls with a huge trestle for trains that pass over it each day.

We then began the winding 17 mile drive back through the park to Mt. Morris and short drive to the Cole's home.  At one stopping point we could look back at the Middle and Upper Falls

And at our final stop, we elected to just walk to an overlook of the Lower Falls rather than take the 127 steps down to a better view.

After a delicious bowl of homemade turkey soup and a slice of key lime pie made with a nutty crust and avocados we set off for home.  We'd avoided all the threats of rain during our day but did hit rainy spots along the drive home getting home just before darkness fully settled in.

The "gang" was still sitting and chatting outside when we returned so we joined them and caught up on their days experiences and made plans for a trip to Hammondsport in New York tomorrow.