Letchworth State Park

 Last Wednesday we took quite a drive and went down to Letchworth State Park in New York to go camping.  It should have been about a four and half hour drive but it took nearly six; that was because we were stopped at US Customs for a random search of my little trailer.  I also had my eggs, chicken and red and yellow peppers confiscated. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been just the peppers and the chicken but the eggs were needed for breakfast which meant I had to find a grocery store after setting up camp that night.

We got to the park just fine. The sites were set up more for RVs and trailers. My site was very rocky; I couldn't even get some of the tent pegs into the ground. After setting up, I drove back into Mount Morris to replace the eggs, peppers and chicken. The site worked out pretty well, except the first night when the people beside me were up at 6 am and left at 6:22 in the morning taking with them the U-Haul trailer they had on their site so needless to say they made a lot of noise.

Letchworth Park is known as the Grand Canyon of the East, that's a bit of an over statement but it was nice. It's too bad that there weren't more views of the canyon from the road. It's quite a linear park so it's about 9 miles from the campground to the falls area. In fact, it's about 9 miles in the other direction to get back into Mount Morris.

The first day, we did the upper and middle falls and then headed back the the campground stopping at Wolf Creek along the way. While we were there it began to rain, but it stopped by the time we got back to the campground so I was able to make a late lunch.  Just as I had finished cleaning up, it began to rain again, this time it rained for most of the afternoon and into the early evening. We spent the afternoon in the tent. I read and played games, thankful for technology and the boys napped. Later that afternoon, I headed back into Mount Morris and had dinner at a restaurant. By the time I finished dinner, it had cleared up so it was back to the campground to give the boys their supper and to have a campfire.

Beckett and Keltic in Letchworth Park

Upper Falls

Upper Falls and train trestle bridge

Pathway to Upper Falls

Middle Falls

Wolf Creek

Beckett and Keltic at Wolf Creek

The next day was just beautiful, the rain had taken the humidity out of the air and the temperature had dropped just a wee bit. It wasn't cold but just slightly cool in the shade, great weather when you're camping with dogs. We went back to Wolf Creek and hiked up to Inspiration Point.

Mushrooms and stone Bridge over Wolf Creek

Pedestrian Bridge over Wolf Creek

We went back to the campsite for a late lunch and had a quiet afternoon back at the site.  Both neighbours had left and new neighbours hadn't yet arrived. I finally got to use my chicken to make one of my favourite camping meals, chicken fajitas.

On our last day we drove back to the Falls area and started the day with a short hike around Trout Pond. It was a very short trail only 3/4 of a mile. I don't like to do long trails when I'm by myself and really, although there were a lot of trails, there weren't that many that were actually a loop.

Keltic and Beckett at Trout Pond

Pioneer Cemetary

On the way back to the main road we came across a small pioneer cemetery.  We then went to the Council Grounds where we saw the statute of Mary Jemison. She is known as the White Woman of the Genesee. She was captured by the Seneca Indians and lived with them for over 78 years.

Next we went the Glen Iris Inn for another vantage of the Middle Falls before heading to the see the Lower Falls,

Beckett at the Middle Falls

Keltic at the Middle Falls

At the Lower Falls, you have to walk down (and back up) 106 stairs. There is a vantage point from up top for those who don't want to do the stairs. But you miss out on the foot bridge that crosses the narrowest part of the canyon.

Lower Falls

Foot Bridge and falls

Foot Bridge

Lower Falls from the lower lookout point.

Lower Falls trail after the foot bridge

Again this trail is not a loop so you have to go back the way you came. There are stairs up the far side of the canyon, I was thinking too  bad they don't put in a suspension bridge at the top to go back to the other side. Now that would be cool.

We did enjoy the camping trip. It's the first one I've done on my own in years. I always say a good camping trip is one where you set up and take down the tent in dry weather and where you get to eat a nice hot breakfast every morning. This trip was also good as there were very few mosquitoes. Don't know whether that's always the case in this part of New York but there were only a few in the later part of the afternoon. I didn't notice any in the evenings and I hardly got a bite. I also found out that my newest purchase of an LED work light was a good thing. I can recharge it in the car but best of all moths and insects don't seem to be attracted to LEDs.

Already thinking of next summer's camping trip. The agility girls trip is planned to be in Algonquin park and maybe I'll get away on my own again too.