Steady Rain and Gray, Gray, Gray

6:20

It's 6:30 and I am back from my camping experience.  Because of the forecast of rain, I decided to leave Letchworth yesterday (Thursday) afternoon rather then spend the night and leave the next morning.  I arrived home in the early evening, after stopping briefly in the towns of Arcade and Ellicottville.   Right now, it's raining steadily, 66 degrees, as I sit on my front porch.  A bird's neck just passed by the shoreline, a heron looking for food, and a single boat is fishing off of Long Point, a serious angler.  I cannot remember when I last sat on the porch, early morning, to a nice steady rain.

Camper Setting Up Direct TV

My Pathetic campsite

Genesee River Gorge

Silver Lake outlet

Biking/Hiking/Cross country skiing trail

Yesterday, Thursday, I awoke at about 6:15, to sunlight on my tent walls, then the sound of crows.  I seem to be the only person up, at least around me I can see little action.  I went to bed around 10:00, tried to read but was too tired, so went to sleep.  It was not the most comfortable of nights, a not so soft mattress, no pillow (I forgot a pillow and a towel), so I tossed and turned much of the night till about 2:00, when I heard the lid come off my cooler, just outside the tent.  At first,  I thought it was some kids getting a beer but then realized it was probably a raccoon, who smelled the kielbasa and sure enough it was gone.  I then tried to go back to sleep but two guys, mostly drunk, were talking loud enough so I found it difficult to be get to sleep. 

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.