6:20 |
Camper Setting Up Direct TV |
My Pathetic campsite |
Genesee River Gorge |
Silver Lake outlet |
Biking/Hiking/Cross country skiing trail |
I am sitting here drinking coffee, after I boiled water on
my single burner camp stove; it works fine and in a bit, I ‘ll have a bagel
with cream cheese, banana, then be on my way to my first hike or bike ride, not
sure which.
By the way, the 14,000 acres of park began with a bequest
from a Mr. William Letchworth of 1000 acres, land which included all three of the
falls. I cannot imagine owning the land
surrounding three falls.
It’s now 9:46 and I just returned from a bike ride, Hike #18.
Kisil Point. I was able to get on it
just out side my camping site, by the 100’s, and rode my bike for perhaps the
first mile, along a ridge, safe enough as you have plenty of room on each side,
though it is a point, with a three or four hundred foot drop, on one side to
the Genesee River, on the other to the Silver Lake Outlet. After about a mile, there was a precipitous
drop, of about 50 yards, so I left my bike and hiked the last half mile out to
the point. Once you navigated the drop,
the path was level again. At the tip,
there was a rough path which might have gone all the way done to the river bed,
but it looked dangerous, as if formed by a rivulet of water. I went down about twenty yards and that was
enough. I hiked and rode back to the starting
point but the trail continued on to the Main Road. So I took it and it was fairly rough, lots of
tree roots, in fact much of the trail was crisscrossed by the roots of
trees. I had to get off my bike in
spots, walk it, especially some of the downward paths. I made it finally back to the Main Road, rode
back to the Camping Center, then another mile into my camp site.
This trail would be excellent cross country skiing up to the
point where I got off my bike. And
because of the trees, your views are obscured on both sides of the rivers. It would be amazing in the late fall, early
winter when all the leaves have fallen.
After relaxing, I am off about 20 miles to the other side of
the river, to hike Trail # 10, called Big Bend, just off of Cabins E.
It’s now 1:40 and I
am back from my drive and hikes. I did
drive to the south end, then into the park on the east side of the Gorge,
following the road till it ended at
Cabins E. I then hiked on what I thought
was #10 Big Bend, but it ended up being a service road, I think, but it did
allow me to get down to the floor of the Gorge and stick my hand in the
water. Just up a ways on the west side
was Lee’s Landing where they had twenty kayaks and canoes. I then went back to the original trail , mostly
a road and stopped after about a mile as the bugs were beginning to get
ferocious despite putting on repellent two or three times. By this time, I had been hiking close to two
hours anyways, and after my bike ride, I was getting tired. So I headed back
towards the campground, stopping at Wolf’s Creek, where the gorge trail
begins/ends starting back at the Upper Falls.
It’s about seven miles total and I had walked parts, not all of it
yesterday, and did some more today, taking a lunch.
They are forecasting rain tonight and tomorrow, and since I
have to leave my 11:00 and am pretty tired, I think I’ll pack up in awhile,
head home, mostly to sleep in a nice comfortable bed. If I stayed around, I might hike somewhere
this evening but right now I don’t feel like it.
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