Legend-ary Travel: Letchworth State Park
The summer has gone by quickly. Traveling every two weeks will provide that feeling. We embarked on our 2nd longest trip the last week in August which we deemed “The Birthday Weekend”. At a suggestion of our friends, we traveled to Letchworth State Park in Mount Morris, New York. The drive with the trailer from our home took about 5 hours. For safety reasons, we don’t drive much above 55 mph with the trailer which always adds time to the GPSs arrival estimation. We also stop for a stretch break around the 3 hour mark. The driver, passenger and dog all partake and are appreciative of the break. The break consists of a 5-10 minute walk and grabbing a drink and a snack from the trailer to fuel us to our stop. The drive was thankfully uneventful though we were surprised that with 2 hours to go our directions took us off the highway and on side roads through many little towns. The posted speed limit was 55 mph, but for the majority of the last 2 hours we were driving about 45 mph. The road were more narrow with steep valleys and hills along with many sets of railroad track located on the top of hills. Looking at the GPS, the combination of slower side roads and the excitement to get there, we swear the GPS read 20 minutes to your destination for over an hour. For the last 30 minutes of the drive, we followed another trailer which was a nice confirmation we were headed in the right direction. We had hoped and guessed he had the same destination as us and he did which was a nice.
There is a $10 entry fee for Letchworth State Park. We were pleasantly pleased that when we rolled up to the station that it is included in our camping fee. We were handed a map and rolled on down the road to camper registration. We showed our pre-registration confirmation that I had printed off at home along with Kenobi’s rabies vaccination record which I highlighted the dates. These two things really sped up our check-in process and we were sent on our way.
We realized on our last camping trip the “22” has been in the our site numbers for our trip in July and the beginning of August with having site #122 at Tuttle Point and site #222 at Findley Lake State Park. Our site number at Letchworth State Park was #220. Unlike Ohio State Parks, dogs are only permitted on certain loops within the campground. We drove down the road to loop 200. The loop itself was a gravel road and the road and sites seemed small. When witnessing our site, my heart fell a bit because it was a tight back in and small. I got out to guide into the site and was happily surprised when I saw how big the site actually was. The site was tucked back deep along the trees and brush. We were also happy to realize that the potable water spout was close enough the reach our camper from our site before backing it fully into place. All the sites at the state park are electric only, so for our 2nd trip in a row we were testing out our tanks - fresh water, grey water and black tank. We had no issues on our last trip to Findley Lake State Park, but we had a little longer stay at this park. It is nice to have the renovated restroom and shower house one site away through the trail, if needed.
We spent our first day at the park hiking to view the 3 sets of waterfalls in the park. It was a wonderful trail that followed the river. We first stopped at Inspiration point and hiked to the lower falls and descended the 127 stairs to the viewing platform and returning to inspiration point. It was a 4 mile moderate hike with several areas of inclines and declines. The path dirt path was wide and had sections where the tree roots strewn across like a spider web. Upon returning to Inspiration Point we drove the parking area located between the upper and middle falls and hiked to both falls from that location. It didn’t seem much like hiking on the wide path, more like taking a stroll. The falls were majestic with a blue sky as its backdrop. Bruce even managed to find a rainbow. Bonus!! In all we hiked 5 miles. My nap occurred in the hammock and it was perfection! Kenobi had gone with us on the hike and was very well behaved though he scared me to death when he jumped onto the viewing wall for a better look. I much preferred when he would just lay his front two paws on the viewing wall to look over. Upon returning to the trailer we all took a nap. Letchworth State Park is beautiful. I understand while they call it the Grand Canyon of the east. What a gem! They have daily balloon launches. I was hoping to catch one, but they were not launching that day.
One day to drove into the nearest town about 20 minute away. There wasn't much there but we were able to find a gas station, a Hard Cider tasting and ice cream. So it wasn't a complete bust. We joked that all the churches were different colors of brick to make it easy for the locals to point them out. "You're looking for the Catholic Church? It is the brown brick church." "Presbyterian? You want the white brick church." We also giggled that the names of the roads were all straight forward. It is probably because there were so few roads. There was Dam Road that took you to the Dam. There was Park Road that was the scenic drive though the park. It made for a fun conversation as we passed various roads such as Highbanks Rd. and Lower Reservation Rd. We never got lost.
We did a little more hiking around the Autism Nature trail. The Autism Nature Trail (The ANT) at Letchworth State Park is a first-of-its-kind experience in nature designed for visitors on the autism spectrum and with a range of abilities—appropriate and enjoyable for all abilities and ages. It is a one-mile looped main Trail with eight stations at various intervals, offering a range of experiences from quiet engagement to active exploration and adventure. I loved playing chimes in the music circle and watching kids make lean tos at the Playful Path Every town should have one! Then we visited the dam and scoped out the free pool for our last day since it was going to be in the high 80's.
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