The Gorgeous Watkins Glen

I know, I promised an update on the blanket.  It will be coming soon!  But I am also 2 weeks behind getting my post up about what I did on my birthday!  Eric and I went up to Syracuse, since our nieces first birthday party was the day after my birthday, and since we are moving off the continent it was our last trip to NY before the weather starts getting cold.  Once I had realized we are actually moving to Hawaii, I was looking into things to do there and there's a LOT of gorgeous hikes.  That got me to thinking about pretty places I have been and the very top of that list has to be Watkins Glen State Park.  It's a beautiful gorge whereyou can hike up right along the water passing and walking over and under waterfalls the whole way.  And since I made sure to bring my camera... and take about a ZILLION pictures... you can take our little trip with us a little late :)

I was thankful that it worked out to be a GORGEOUS day, warm enough to be chilly to mebut perfect in the sun and after a fewminutes of walking.  The nature of the gorge means the path is wet the whole way up, and the area had been rainy this season so there was, well, larger puddles than in the years I've gone before.  So now to sift through the pictures and share with you the best!

 We have arrived!  As you can see, the parking lot goes right up to the entrance of the glen.  You go up some stairs through a hole I imagine was drilled in the rock up to the bridge...

 You can see my dad and Eric in the front, and random strangers coming down the stairs.  It was pretty busy the day we were there!

To the right of the middle in this next one is a hole in the rock from wherewater once flowed through.  Note it is nowhere close to where the water level is now, you can't even see any water in this picture!

There are a LOT of stairs when you are going up the gorge.  It's harder going up, which we did, but this direction you are looking forward at the waterfalls above you, rather than them falling from where you are below.  You just see what is coming without having to turn around as much.

What was that?  I promised you waterfalls, not stairs?

This particular waterfall was ROARING when we were there.  It was honestly a little scary being so close to the water shooting out with the path behind it.

Getting closer!

 And here we are!  Eric and I under the waterfall!  Note my sweatshirt.  I was still chilly at this point.  I should note I did see one other person in a sweatshirt.

From behind the waterfall!  I find myself very thankful that I got my camera at the NEX and we got a protection plan for it, which includes water damage so I could get some of these pictures and not have to worry about having to buy a new camera.  It's still just fine though, even though it got a little bit wet.

From next to the waterfall, you can see how the water shoots out!

From above!  I chose this picture to post of the splash pool, as you can see the way the water has carved out beheath the path quite a bit.

Looking up at a bridge that connects to a path higher up.

A first look at one of the puddles!  I missed getting a picture of the puddle so big and deep that a large rock was placed in the middle for people to go across.

And another puddle.  I took a bunch of puddle pictures.

One of the signs in the park showing some of the geological history.

In case you are wondering how far into the sheets of rock on either side of the gorge we are at this point in the climb.

Eric sat for a minute and found a fuzzy friend, which I had to get a picture of!

More waterfalls!

 A picture of where the water is calmer.  The striations in the rock are amazing!

All sorts of water.  Here on the left there is a stream that falls into the gorge with a shower like waterfall over the path.  You can reach out and touch it!  Of course I did.

And got pictures from behind it!  Of course.

Another little fall.

A close view.

This to the right of center was another shower down the side ofthe gorge.  I don't remember ever seeing this one before, we think it was just because of all the rain in the past couple months. It was particularly gorgeous from behind because the drops just sparkled with the sun shining down through it, which I tried to get pictures of when we got there.

More of the creek.  It's just so pretty.

A particularly large puddle.  No rock to help us over this one... had to balance right against a sheer rock wall with one foot on the side of the puddle.  And yep, that is my husband in flip flops.

At some places the water carves out wider or more random circles into the rock.

Ah here we are!  That shower fall, from behind.  You can see how bright the sun shone through!

You can almost make out the rambow shimmer in some of the drops farther down.

I did also get a video of it.  It was just that pretty.

The creek gets wide and narrow, wide and narrow.

I actually got a short video of this one, it's some foam that looks like a big angel food cake.  It was slowly rotating there in its little corner.

And here is that video!

They were waiting while I took an indecent number of pictures.  Like pictures of them!

This is what they are looking out over.

And the sign above where my husband was standing in the previous picture

The frowning cliff...

It looks like such an unassuming little creek.  Minus the sheer rock walls to either side!

More stairs!  There are hundreds of stairs hiking up the gorge trail.

Here the water flows through a VERY narrow section.

A railroad track which runs over the gorge.  There is a sign with pictures of how the bridge was originally built.  Basically, they learned the hard way that having a support in the middle of the creek was a really bad idea.  Those stairs are the end of the trail.

Stopped to rest half way up the stairs!

After this we took a bit of a break. I had a hot dog and some very delicious locally made ice cream!  Yum!  Then we chose to take the indian trail along above the gorge to get back.

Looking across to the cliff on the other side of the gorge.

Random structure.  I need to look up the story behind this. I'm not even sure what sort of building this was once used as, but it's a pretty color!

Another surprise along the indian trail... a random cemetary.

The look down from that bridge we were looking up at much earlier in the pictures.

And the parking lot, from high above!  There is, as you could imagine, a steep, tall staircase near here that brings you down the gorge to get back to the parking lot.  You can see how gorgeous this day was!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures and if you get the chance, head to Watkins Glen State Park in Watkins Glen, New York right next to Seneca Lake.  While you are there, check out the wineries!  It's just a beautiful place to visit.

I'll get a blanket update posted soon!  :)

~Katy