On Saturday we took a trip south of the Thruway (I-90 to those of you not in the know) to Letchworth State Park, called by some the Grand Canyon of the East. The Genessee River flows through a series of gorges and down several waterfalls on its way north towards Rochester and Lake Ontario. Our original intent was to go on a nice, vigorous day hike, and to get out of the house for a day. The forecast was for possible thunderstorms and rain, but since the weathermen have been saying that a lot lately, and have been wrong a good portion of that time, we figured we were safe. And even if it rained, we both felt a desperate need to get out of town for a bit.
It did rain in Brockport before we left, and rained on us for part of the drive, but when we first arrived in the park it was clear and dry. That didn't last long. As you can tell from the first two pictures, it rained. A lot. We decided to eat our lunches and hope it would pass quickly, as most storms around here do. Not this one. We ate in a picnic shelter, along with a family of Korean tourists taking refuge from the rain. Although the rain hadn't stopped, we decided to push on towards the trail head we wanted. We braved the rain to take in the (misty, rain-covered) views, and to get soaking wet.
The rain stopped eventually - not before we were both too wet to want to go for a long hike. Benjamin, in particular, had wet feet after mistaking a diguised puddle for solid ground. Oops. You can see the magnitude of the rain in the rushing rivulet above. Anyway, the rain did abate and the sun came out as we reached the final parking lot and the trails to the falls.
This picture doesn't really do the falls justice. While I would hesitate to compare the gorges and falls to the Grand Canyon (I mean, there really is no comparison if you have actually seen the GC), they were quite scenic and lovely. There are three sets of falls, and apart from the railroad bridge and rock walled trail on the one side, there are no other human intrusions to mar their beauty - unlike Niagara Falls with all the casinos and such. The flora is very lush and verdant, and had it not been so humid and wet, I am sure we would have enjoyed going on the hike. As it was, we had a really good time, despite the wet feet, and if we didn't get our hike, we did get out of the house and town for a while.
On Saturday we took a trip south of the Thruway (I-90 to those of you not in the know) to Letchworth State Park, called by some the Grand Canyon of the East. The Genessee River flows through a series of gorges and down several waterfalls on its way north towards Rochester and Lake Ontario. Our original intent was to go on a nice, vigorous day hike, and to get out of the house for a day. The forecast was for possible thunderstorms and rain, but since the weathermen have been saying that a lot lately, and have been wrong a good portion of that time, we figured we were safe. And even if it rained, we both felt a desperate need to get out of town for a bit.
It did rain in Brockport before we left, and rained on us for part of the drive, but when we first arrived in the park it was clear and dry. That didn't last long. As you can tell from the first two pictures, it rained. A lot. We decided to eat our lunches and hope it would pass quickly, as most storms around here do. Not this one. We ate in a picnic shelter, along with a family of Korean tourists taking refuge from the rain. Although the rain hadn't stopped, we decided to push on towards the trail head we wanted. We braved the rain to take in the (misty, rain-covered) views, and to get soaking wet.
The rain stopped eventually - not before we were both too wet to want to go for a long hike. Benjamin, in particular, had wet feet after mistaking a diguised puddle for solid ground. Oops. You can see the magnitude of the rain in the rushing rivulet above. Anyway, the rain did abate and the sun came out as we reached the final parking lot and the trails to the falls. 
This picture doesn't really do the falls justice. While I would hesitate to compare the gorges and falls to the Grand Canyon (I mean, there really is no comparison if you have actually seen the GC), they were quite scenic and lovely. There are three sets of falls, and apart from the railroad bridge and rock walled trail on the one side, there are no other human intrusions to mar their beauty - unlike Niagara Falls with all the casinos and such. The flora is very lush and verdant, and had it not been so humid and wet, I am sure we would have enjoyed going on the hike. As it was, we had a really good time, despite the wet feet, and if we didn't get our hike, we did get out of the house and town for a while.
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