Letchworth State Park new york Dayhikes

[YoungMoose]

I am going to be up in rochester for a couple days and does anyone know of a dayhike in letchworth. ive been there before and ive hiked around the so called grand canyon. Any suggestions would be awsome.

[warraghiyagey]

They way it's set up really only lends itself to hiking along the cliffside and then back. I think hiking down into the 'canyon' is frowned upon if not outright prohibited. . . My favorite part is hiking around the train bridge area on the Portageville end and there's also a place where you can walk down onto the rocks by the falls. . . . There is a trail that goes along the east side of the canyon as well that gets very little use if you prefer more solitude. . .

[StealthHikerBoy]

Most visitors to Letchworth only stay on the west side of the river, which is sort of where the main part of the park lies. The southernmost portion of the park on the west side of the river is really nice and there are three excellent waterfalls to check out on the Gorge trail as well as the Gorge itself.

For me, the better hiking experience is on the other side of the river - the EAST side, where the Letchworth branch of the Finger Lakes Trail resides. It is about 25 miles long. I'd recommend either starting in Portageville and heading north or starting at the Mount Morris Dam and heading south.

It is a nice trail - not too challenging, but lots of solitude and good gorge views.

Another nice one that is well in reach from Rochester is the Bristol Hills branch of the Finger Lakes trail.

If you've got even more time I might recommend Watkins Glen State Park. That is perhaps a 90 minute drive from Rochester. It is a great day hike, starting down in the gorge and going up as long as you want and then returning.

FingerLakesTrail.org has info on all of these as does CNYHiking.com.

[Toolshed]

Young Moose,
You asked about Letchworth, but our fair city has a few other treats around Rochester, if you would like to see something else Try:

Hi Tor - In Naples NY - An hour S out Rochester at the foot of Canandaigua Lake is Hi Tor. There are some great small trails here as well as a very large Gully - Conklin's Gully (Like a massively deep 3-sided canyon). You can get some great views this time of year.
http://www.cnyhiking.com/HiTorBlueTrail.htm

An hour to the East of Rochester is a place called Chimney Bluffs.
Point Google Earth to:
Lat 43.288597°
Long -76.910617°
And zoom in - feast your eyes on these Glacially deposited Eskers, or Drumlins which are also called Hogsbacks. You can walk out on some of them. If I remember they are between 100 and 200 feet high and are incredibly-nature-made. Although these cliffs look like they are made of Scree - they are actually cobblestones encased in very hard clay-like matter (Hard as concrete in spots) - They have eroded slowly over the last 10K years. Very cool to walk around - just be careful if you walk out onto them.
http://rocwiki.org/Chimney_Bluffs_State_Park

Genesee Falls - Right outside of the city - there are some trails you can take and spend an hour or two gazing...
http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=44

toolshed

[warraghiyagey]

Another nice one that is well in reach from Rochester is the Bristol Hills branch of the Finger Lakes trail.

FingerLakesTrail.org has info on all of these as does CNYHiking.com.

Agreed. . . If you start at Ontario County Park in South Bristol you can take the orange trail 3.5 miles over and cross the road to the boy scout camp where there are a few miles of other trails with great views. . .
There's also a trail along the east ridgeline across from Bristol Mountain Ski resort that crosses a hang gliding jump off. . .
Also agreed with Toolshed. . . Hi Tor in Naples is a fantastic hike with plenty of climbing, gorges and lots of side trails. . .

[ki0eh]

Here's some Ny waterfall eye candy, with directions too: http://www.nyfalls.com/