Letchworth State Park

I had read about this park, and the beauty of the canyon, on a couple of other blogs, so even though it was quite a drive from us we loaded up the Jeep and headed out.

There are some hiking areas in the park, but the main attraction is the canyon, and the best way to appreciate it is along the drive that follows the rim.

We entered the park at the north end of the canyon, by the dam.  There aren’t many overlooks at that end of the canyon, but by hiking a short distance along the rim trail from the Highland Recreation Area, we arrived at a little-known overlook that gave us a great view of the width of the canyon.

At this time of year, especially with the dry weather we’ve been having the last few weeks, the river in the base of the canyon is very narrow.

I had read about this viewpoint, but we were having trouble finding it until re ran into a local walking on the trail, and he showed us the way.  He told us that in the Spring, the entire canyon is filled with water, and all of the trees on the floor below are underwater.

I was hoping we’d have some good fall colors by the time we got to this park, but we’re still a little too early.  We did see a few colorful trees, though,

and a nice birch tree that had already lost all of its leaves.

As we passed the midway point of the canyon, we started to see, and hear, more water running as we got closer to the falls at the south end.

There were several picnic areas along the scenic road,

with cool old log and stone structures.

At the lower falls, we stopped and walked along the short trail to the overlook.

We could hear the falls more than we could see them!

Our next stop was at Inspiration Point.  From this spot, we could see the middle and upper falls, as well as the train trestle bridge that crosses the canyon (the bridge is just barely visible at the top of the pictures below).

It was a beautiful sight!

When we entered the park at the north entrance, the ranger in the booth collecting our $10 vehicle entry fee pointed out that if we ate lunch at the Glen Iris Inn, they would refund our $10 fee.  Hey, that’s a pretty good deal – and we needed to eat lunch somewhere!

The Glen Iris Inn was the home of William Pryor Letchworth, who owned the land that encompassed Letchworth Canyon, and later donated the property to the state.

The Glen Iris Inn is a stately old building, located in a premium location overlooking the middle falls.

There’s a great overlook right in from of the Inn, and we checked out the view before going inside for lunch.

What a great location, and all decked out for fall!

The Museum across the street.

The final section of the canyon, the upper falls overlook, is under construction this year, and closed to visitors.  So this was the end of the road for us . . . another beautiful day in the Finger Lakes!