Camping in Letchworth State Park

Letchworth State Park

July 4, 5 and 6th 2019

Opps...I just realized I went out of order with my posts. Mark and I went camping at Letchworth State Park before Ben came to visit and we took a day trip to Niagara Falls. (My rock part may seem confusing.) So...rewind and back a week. Mark, Riley and I went camping in Letchworth State Park. I can only say...IT WAS BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE....possibly one of my favorite stays of all times. 

We were in an electric hook up, no water, but directly across from the restrooms. If I have not mentioned this before, we do not use the bathroom or the shower in our RV anyways, so no skin off our backs. I still have't de-winterized her for the season and it's August next week. Yes, I am one of those people, who really should not even bothered with an RV. I do allow people to pee, but no toilet paper can go down. Sounds crazy, but we have never had to pump out the pipes.



So there was no water hook up here anyways, but it was still an amazing camping experience.

There are playground with kids activities, a camp store and plenty of trails to walk. Sites are pretty large and there seems to be a feel of privacy between each one. Some are more in the woods then others and they even offer cabins.

Mark and I went for the fourth of July and we were excited to get out on the trails to view the gorge and the three waterfalls. The park is huge, spanning some 17-18 miles runs the main road through the park which parallels the Genesee River. Trails run everywhere if you are a hiker, and we saw several people who took trail #1 which runs along the river bed and spans the best views. We didn't travel the length of trail #1, but we walked along in sections. 

We began our walking tour of Letchworth at the Lower Falls. Letchworth has been called the Grand canyon of the east and it is certainly an amazing canyon. We arrived early on the morning of the 4th and began a small hike to the lower falls. 

We had to hike down some stairs, it was pretty slippery and wet. 

But the damp forest made for some beautiful greenery. 

Just a few more steps and we were looking at this beauty.


These falls were the closest we could get to without gates or preventive barriers to the falls. A few years ago a group of adults and children went swimming in the falls area, two children were killed as a result. There is no swimming allowed in the Genesee waters of the park, they do offer white water rafting although we never saw anyone on the rapids our whole trip.

The lower falls has a very nice flat area that over looks the gorge.

At the beginning of the Park from the North, there is a large damn. The offer a walking guided tour of the damn if you are interested. We did not take the tour. 

After enjoying the lower falls we went back to our car and headed south to the visitors center, Inn, museum and nature center. We keep on going and went to the Higher Falls area. This is the falls that often makes the pictures as the old railroad bridge runs over it and it is a beautiful site. 

A short walk and we were soon upon the Middle Falls. This scenic view over looking the crest of the falls.

We took the trail that runs along side of the falls to the base where there is a small overlook area that allows you to get a better view of the falls from the front. 

It is truly beautiful. 

After we completed a view of all three waterfalls and it started getting hot, we decided to take a detour to the Seneca Council Grounds. Native Americans played an important role in the area and lived along the water ways before Mr. Letchworth purchased the land.  He was very interested in preserving the Seneca Mohawk culture and assigned funds to restore buildings and house the Seneca Council grounds.

Below is the restored home of Mary Jemison . Mary was an Irish immigrant who was captured during the French and Indian War. She was freed to the Seneca Nation where she lived and raised a family. She lived in this home in the park (before it was a park) for most of her life. 

There is a nice statue erected for her.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the camp site. It became a warm day, but we still had a camp fire.

Riley had a wonderful time, he enjoys the outdoors.

The following day we did a few more hikes. There are several pull off's along the main road that overlook the gorge. We stopped and took in a few of these incredible views.







Then we went to the Welcome center and did some shopping. I always like to find a magnet for all of the places we visit. My fridge is covered. They had some cute woods stuff and outdoor attire.


It is interesting that Letchworth was voted America's #1 State Park, but so few people have ever heard of it. Bears seemed to be a popular theme in the small store. I asked if there were bears at Letchworth and was told there are a few black bears and they have already been seen this summer. Apparently they are not like the bears of the Adrondacks that seem to be seen more frequently. I was told black bear are not usually social bears and they do not seek out people, like some of the bears. There was nothing posted at the campsites identifying a need to lock up food or anything.


Next we headed to the Wolf Creek trail. This was definitely my favorite trail, and they even have a waterfall.




The trail leads around this serene brook and up into the woods along side a small waterfall.

At the top is an over look of the Genesee River and the Gorge.

At the top we found this painted rock hidden along the trail. How appropriate with the firewooks as it was the 4th of July weekend. The back of the rock sent me a link to Medina Rocks on face book.

Further down the trail you have the opportunity to stand just on top of the river. One false move and you are falling to your death. I took this picture for fun. Ahhhhh!

The views of the gorge and river from here is insane.

If you keep following this you will eventually end up in Rochester NY to the North and it is fed by Lake Ontario. To the south this river eventually leads to Pennsylvania. 

The Genesee River was used to produce electricity in Rochester and provided Rochester with the resources to become such a predominant city in NY State.

I am not sure why the river seems so dark and muddy. I noticed this also when visiting Rochester. There must be a ton of fall out along the rivers journey. Once we had our fill of the best view of the gorge, we headed back down the trail to the small stream which lead along eventually linking to the River.

This area was so peaceful. I could have easily spent some time just enjoying the babbling of the water under the cool balcony of trees.

There is no swimming allowed, but Riley did take a quick dip.

Next we went to the main house and Inn located in the central area of the park. As we were walking along the path to the overlook of Middle Falls I found another painted rock.

I understand that the purpose of these hidden painted rocks is to re-hide, but this beauty made itself a home in my office. Right behind the Inn is this amazing view of Middle Falls.




We were up much higher then yesterday, but it was still a nice viewing. The Inn has a restaurant inside and looks so pretty. 

Riley was HOT, he decided to cool down in the coy pond. No one seemed to mind, not even the fish.


Mark continued to walk Riley while I did a quick run through the museum. I did not stay long, but there was some interesting information about Letchworth as well as the area itself. There was a woolly mammoth  found on the property.



There was some information about the train bridge that crosses Upper Falls.

There was also a bunch of information about the Native American's, the culture, geology and Mr. Letchworth himself.

By this time it was just around lunch and the heat and humidity was out of control. All I wanted to do was get cooled off. We headed back to camp had some lunch and headed to the Olympic sized pool.

 We had just started to enjoy the nice cool waters when suddenly there was a big boom. Thunder was out there and the pool closed up. Before we could get to the truck and head back to camp it was pouring rain.  It pretty much rained for the rest of the afternoon. Riley does not like thunder.

We spent the rest of the day and into the evening relaxing at camp and staying dry under the awning.
Sad the trip had to end, but certainly enjoyed the time that we had. TTFN