Watkins Glen State Park

Vilas was introduced to one organization called STICA, who requested him to organize a picnic at Watkins Glen State Park and that was the first time, I went to Watkin Glen State Park. It was 13^th June 2015 a Saturday.

It is about 24.1 miles from our place and takes around 35 minutes to reach the place. So we had to purchase entry tickets to enter the Park and entrance fee for a day picnic is per car, We were at the South Entrance. The park has comfortable camping sites, as well as picnic tables and pavilions, food, playground, a gift shop, pool, dump stations, showers, recreation programs, tent and trailer sites, fishing, hiking, hunting and cross-county skiing. The park is open year-round, but not all facilities are available at all times.

Picnic Pavilion

Picnic pavilion was already booked and all food and drink arrangement was made. It was indeed a huge pavilion, with rooms on the either side. The open space had desk and benches and the rooms were equipped with refrigerators and tables to arrange food.

Outside were plain lawns on either side with tables, benches and barbecue facilities. The middle lawn was open and few of the picnickers had their cricket sessions, some played ball and few flew kites.

Behind this pavilion, were steps going down and when Vilas had some free time, we went down to see that area. We alighted quit a steps and walked by, we came across a natural pond called Lily Pond, which was surprisingly full of lotuses. Lotuses were indeed beautiful. 

cricket played on this ground

kids playing

We walked further and came across suspension bridge and to our disbelief, overlooking it, we were astounding by the beauty beneath. Its was a glen and surfing water gushing through it. 

Clicked from the suspension bridge

We also saw men and women walking along the sides. Its was indeed a scenic beauty and then we decided to walk along the gorge someday.

In July, my son had come down for a month or more and one weekend, we went to this park again. This time we had our two dogs with us, as Vilas faintly remembered that, pet were allowed in the park. However, we could only take the walking trail, which had a board specifying dogs were allowed on that trail called the South Rim Trail. Of course, it was a wonderful trail and we enjoyed every bit walking the entire trail. 

South rim trail

There were outlets to the gorge path, but we just walked around the rim, mostly it was 3 mile trail and towards the end we saw a lot of campers on the left side. This trail was leading nowhere and had a dead end sort of and at the end we reached near the a railway bridge a top us. At this point we decided to returned back the same path. 

Railway bridge atop

My son very much wanted to walk the gorge, but with dogs and the time constraint after walking one trail, we dropped off the idea.

Then on 8^th November 2015, my husband and me decided to walk the glen path. To enter this, we have to use the main entrance. Watkins Glen State Park is the most famous of the Finger Lakes State Parks, with a reputation for leaving visitors spellbound. Within two miles, the glen's stream descends 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course.

Entrance of the path

water fall

step leading up to Indian trail

suspension bridge above

rock above the walking path and water fall

                                                 

 

water fall, most scenic and thrilling

The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade. Rim trails overlook the gorge.  

Watkins Glen State Park is located outside the village of Watkins Glen, south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County in New York's Finger Lakes region. The park's lower part is near the village, while the upper part is open woodland.

The park features three trails – open mid-May to early November – by which one can climb or descend the gorge. The Southern Rim mentioned earlier and Indian Trails run along the wooded rim of the gorge, while the Gorge Trail is closest to the stream and runs over, under and along the park's 19 waterfalls by way of stone bridges and more than 800 stone steps. The trails connect to the Finger Lakes Trail, an 800-mile (1,300 km) system of trails within New York state.

Water flowing over head

There are boards at important spots, displaying detail information about the formation of this gorge. It is said, during the Pleistocene era, a vast area was covered by ice during the maximum extent of glacial ice in the north polar area. The movement of glaciers from the Laurentide and Wisconsin ice sheets shaped the Finger Lakes region. The lakes originated as a series of northward-flowing streams. Around two million years ago the first of many continental glaciers of the Laurentide Ice Sheet moved southward from the Hudson Bay area, initiating the Pleistocene glaciation. These glaciers widened, deepened and accentuated the existing river valleys. Glacial debris, possibly including terminal moraines, left behind by the receding ice acted as dams, allowing lakes to form. Despite the deep erosion of the valleys, the surrounding uplands show little evidence of glaciation, suggesting that the ice was thin, or at least unable to cause much erosion at these higher altitudes. The deep cutting of the valleys by the ice left some tributaries hanging high above the lakes: both Seneca and Cayuga have tributaries hanging as much as 390 feet (120 m) above the valley floors.

Information Boards

One such hanging valley, overlooking the south end of the Seneca Lake valley, evolved into the deep gorge of Watkins Glen. The steep drop of Glen Creek into Seneca Valley created a powerful torrent that eroded the underlying rock, cutting further and further back towards the stream's headwaters.

marvelous rock cuts due to water falls

This erosion was not a uniform process: the rock here includes shale, limestone, and sandstone, and these types of rock erode at different rates, leaving behind a staircase of waterfalls, cascades, plunge pools and potholes. 

Rock erosion

More detail information is available on the following website.

http://nyfalls.com/waterfalls/watkins-glen/