Letchworth State Park

Monday, July 22, 2024

After enjoying our extended time at the Huddle and Bath, Thursday July 18 was our day to say our final goodbyes.  We did our usual morning walk, (try to get about 5,000 steps in the morning before it gets too hot) said goodbye and made our way to Letchworth State Park in Castile, NY.  We arrived before lunch and really didn’t know what to expect.  We had no reservations but had learned from some friends that it was a great park, and we would probably need a couple of days to do it justice.  Cost to enter park $10.00 which we had to pay before we could go see if there were any camp sites available.  We made our way to the campground check-in to see if there was any possibility of getting a site for a night or two.  We really were not very hopeful.  This is when the God winks began.  We walked up to one of the two windows to get some additional information about the camping and the park.  Of course, early in the conversation the ranger asked us where we were from (Seems we talk a little differently than most of his customers.)  Surprise, the ranger’s grandmother lived in Eva, AL, which is just a few minutes from where Anne worked at Cullman Internal Medicine.  So after visiting with the ranger for a bit, we learned that even though usually you must make online reservations at this park, they do usually have a few walk-up sites available after 3pm.  So, we could wait and see if maybe there was anything available at 3:00.  After a little more conversation about the park and things we should do there, the ranger said, “we have a hidden site that I can let you have for two nights.”  Seems the park keeps a few sites off their rental list to use for emergencies, VIPs or when they must move someone from another site for some reason. What are the chances that we would “happen” to walk up to a ranger in New York whose grandmother lived in Eva and we could have great conversation about the small German town of Cullman?  God wink one!  Anne began giving him all the necessary registration information when Max began talking to another camping couple who were in an Ekko RV.  By the time Anne completed the registration process, Max was in deep conversation about NOMADS with the couple.  They were newly retired (1 month) and are looking for some purpose for their travels.  By the end of the conversation, they had a brochure and instructions on signing up.  God wink two! Don’t know if they will join but we just keep sowing seeds.  God just asks that we be faithful in sharing Him with others.

After going to our wonderful camp site, we went to the visitor center for maps and to see the displays.

From there we began our viewing of some of the larger of the many waterfalls in Letchworth.  First, we visited the upper falls, 70 feet tall.  Part of the beauty of that waterfall comes from the arched rail bridge over the Genesee River. We climbed up to the rail bridge where we saw some of the remains of the old bridge.  However, for those of you who climbed the Watkins Glen steps, this was even more steps!  Next we hiked down to middle falls.  This one, 107 feet high and most afternoons you can see a beautiful rainbow in the mist.  Letchworth is pretty smart because they have an ice cream vender between the upper and middle falls.  Most of you know – we hike for ice cream! Oregon blackberry cheesecake ice cream is mighty fine.  Lower falls were a little harder to find.  Another 70 foot water fall.  After all that hiking it was time to return to our camp site.  It was a long and active day – 8.27 miles and 22,464 steps.  Time for bed.

The remainder of our time at the park, Friday and Saturday, we visited the Nature Center, Museum, the Mt Morris Dry dam, hiked some shorter trails and revisited the Upper and Middle falls and of course the ice cream vendor.