3. Watkins Glen & Waterfalls

The wind & rain caught up with us today here at Taughannock Falls camp, so time to head for a tourist destination. We’d already planned to visit Watkins Glen at some point, so this was it. Driving 30 minutes through  beautiful countryside put us in a great spot.

To start our trip, we drove past the UPPER viewing spot for Taughannock Falls, so stopped for look. This is the same falls we saw yesterday from down below. Pretty from up top, too. As we were staring at the falling water, a group of touring bicyclists arrived, having ridden from Brooklyn, NY. I was jealous as heck, and took their group picture with one of their cameras…forgetting to take one with my own. I got a pic of their bikes to remember the moment! Onward and upward.

The rain was sporadic when we arrived at Watkins Glen Gorge State Park. We’d heard this was a MUST-SEE hike, because of all the beautiful waterfalls. Deceptive location, though: right on the main street through the town of Watkins Glen, amongst the businesses and food places, there’s the parking lot and visitor center for the Gorge…WTH??? Turns out, the Gorge and Park surround a portion of the town, in peaceful co-existence. We got out our rudimentary hiking gear (good shoes, a water backpack and 2 jackets), and headed out. The Gorge hike was about 1 1/4 mile in, then the same back out, with 800+ steps UP going out, and DOWN coming back. 

During the hike, we encountered huge waterfalls coming down from the sides of the Gorge, and others from the main river. It was magic, I tell ya. We had to walk under some of the falls, and through some short rock tunnels. The Gorge was rather narrow, lots of water-crashing noise constantly, and WET mist and drips everywhere. The rain came and went, sometimes hard and sometimes drizzly, but it didn't matter. The water flow was intense from all the rain this area has endured in recent weeks, so we had spectacular falls to see. The photos don't do justice to the sights and sounds, it was a blast. 

We were fizzled after returning to the town of Watkins Glen, so headed for food, at what turned out to be a great Italian place. For fun, because we are still carbohydrate junkies, we ordered a side of their “World Famous”  garlic knots, which are made-to-order, taking at least 15 minutes(!). Well, forget the rest of the meal, the garlic knots were DEFINITELY world-class, we had to drag ourselves away from them to eat our pasta. Nice Riesling and local beer, too (Ithica 8 Days a Week Pale Ale - a Beatle-esque beer choice). Fun meal. 

Afterwards we shopped, then drove out to see the Watkins Glen road race course, which has hosted some of the most prestigious racing events in the last 50 years. It was hammering rain, and they wouldn’t let us in for a look-see, because of a private event going on at the track. Bummer, but good incentive to figure a way to come back in the future to drive this race course.

Driving back from the track, we accidentally drove through Montpour Falls, a tiny town some guy told me about while we were hiking the Gorge. Bottom line: it’s supposed to have a huge waterfall coming down right at the end of Main Street, behind a white house. Well, he’s right! We found the house by chance while driving through town navigating by GPS, and damned if there wasn’t a huge waterfall right there behind it. There was no nearby legal parking we could find, so Lynn took pics out the window when we got close…and she got a photo of the plaque too! Tourist heaven, I tell ya. 

We made it back to our camp, where the rain seems to have abated and temperature is dropping. Supper beckons, so that’s it for today. Thanks for reading this baloney, we are having a fun time! 

Our album of trip photos if you’d like to see more:

TRIP PICS New England