Actually, the name of the park is Watkins Glen State Park and Gorge. I added the the gorgeous part because it is. Truly Gorge-ous. If you are ever in the area, this is not to be missed! I can imagine in high tourist season the trail is very crowded and probably impossible to take photos without throngs of people. We had a lovely leisurely “stroll” (or should I say climb?) on this cloudy autumn day. Let me show you what it was like.

You entered the trail through a hole in the cliff. A sign at the beginning warned of over 800 steps ahead and promised 19 waterfalls. It didn’t lie.

The first bridge, Sentry Bridge, at the beginning of the trail after going through the hole in the cliff and up the first set of stairs.

 

The weather, although cloudy, was not cold. I was glad it wasn’t raining as the path was wet and slippery enough, especially where leaves had fallen. The trail immediately headed up and didn’t stop for one mile.

 

Little spills of water filled up pools with walls carved smooth by centuries.

 

The first big waterfall was Cavern Cascade.

Here is Rick to give you some perspective of scale.

 

 

This photo is taken standing at the side of the waterfall looking back down the canyon.

 

The canyon was narrow as it twisted its way up and up. The rock walls towered above our heads, cutting out whatever feeble sunlight was available.  Water seeped from the rock surface above and sprinkled down upon us as we walked underneath, making the trail slippery in spots. I found myself sheltering the camera lens from the watery drips from above fairly often. Onward up the seemingly endless stairs we went.

 

 

Around every turn in the trail were scenes to delight the senses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best waterfall was saved for last: Rainbow Falls and its Glen of Pools. Shangri-La immediately came to my mind.

Water just poured off the face of the cliff in a delicate shower. Imagine had it been raining!

 

These were taken behind it.

 

At the top!

Instead of making our way back down all those 800 or so slippery stairs, we decided to take the rim trail back along the top of the gorge.

The woods were beautiful!

 

 

And last, I leave you with the view looking down from the suspension bridge over the gorge. See the trail to the left? It’s a long way down! Hope you’re not afraid of heights!

 

After making our way back down to the car, we drove up the west side of Seneca Lake to stop for wine tasting and a late lunch at Glenora Vineyards. Their wines were very good, both the reds and the whites. Unfortunately the lunch in their restaurant was not very good. Very disappointing, but we did order their cheese sampler of local farmstead cheeses to take back to our room with us for our dinner which turned out to be good, but I still think Rick can make better cheeses than some of them! The goat cheese which came from Lively Run Goat Dairy (which we had passed near Trumansburg) was the best of all. Had I known when we passed the sign pointing down a side road that they were open to visits we would have stopped!

Another wine tasting (a disappointing one), then we headed back to our room at the Arbor House, thereby concluding your tour of Day 1. Did you have fun? Do your legs ache?