Letchworth State Park

The Empire Pass is a great product for New Yorkers who want to get outside. This summer Farah and I used our passes at a bunch of beaches. Now that swimming season is over we’ve been looking for places to hike and continue to explore. Recently we visited my parents in the Finger Lakes and from there, we checked out the Grand Canyon of the East, Letchworth State Park.

I visited Letchwork and had my first white water rafting experience as a young kid. It was Farah’s first time; she’d wanted to go all summer. With unseasonably warm weather and leaves turning, it looked prime for a visit. We left early in the morning making stopping once, in Dansville for coffee.

I don’t know if I’ve been drinking crappy coffee at work, but the Sugar Bowl coffee shop had one of the best cups I’ve had in a while. Fueled and ready to go we entered the park via the south entrance and started our hike at the upper falls.

Letchworth has three water falls, aptly named Upper, Middle and Lower. The Upper Falls is not the largest but perhaps is the most iconic, with the Genesee Arch bridge spanning its length.

From the upper parking, we descended the the Gorge Trail #1 pathway and a series of stairs. There are various lookout points along the way all offering different angles of the Upper Falls and Bridge. Letchworth has an extensive trail network and for the ambitious hiker you can take the Gorge Trail and hike the entire length of the park.

We hiked the Upper Falls and Middle falls in one shot. We finished our descent and took in the views of the Upper Falls before continuing on to the Middle Falls. You can hear the Middle Falls before you see them and at 107 feet it is 30 feet taller than the others.

The middle falls is also the location of the museum and Glen Iris Inn. The inn was the former home of Letchworth before he donated to the state. It now has 15 rooms for lodging, a gift shop and a restaurant with patio seating overlooking the middle falls.

We visited the museum to learn more about the history of the area and the man who sought to preserve it. William Letchworth was ahead of his time and upon seeing the falls via train from Buffalo to Rochester, sought to preserve its beauty for others to enjoy. What started as 1,000 acres became almost 14,000 acres of state park land.

After roaming around the middle falls area for a bit we made the hike back to the car and continued on to the Lower Falls and Big Bend. The short drive to the Lower Falls takes you through various camping areas and playgrounds which were all lively with the perfect weather.

We soon descended the 127 steps to the Lower Falls area, and the man bridge that allows hikers to cross the gorge. The foot bridge also provides an incredible view of cathedral rock, an outcropping that has been carved by the river. After hanging around a bit we ascended back up the stairs to the car and our next destination.

Content with the walking we’d done, we traveled by car to see Big Bend. Along the way we stopped at various lookouts like Inspiration Point. In the open field at Big Bend, vendors were selling souvenirs and a park ranger had set up an info booth. Across from them was the sweeping turn in the Genesee River that mirrors the Grand Canyon’s beauty.

The gray rock faces of the cliffs were highlighted by the bright leaves still left in the trees. We walked along this viewing path until the end and decided to call it a day. There was plenty of park left to explore, but with the pass there’s no need to do it all in one day.