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Watkins Glen State Park is in the village of Watkins Glen, south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The centerpiece of the 778-acre park is a 400-foot-deep narrow gorge cut through rock by Glen Creek.

We visited Watkins Glen State Park in mid-July 2025 while staying at the Watkins Glen / Corning KOA Resort a few miles away. We parked at the Upper Entrance parking area which is actually at the west end of the gorge. The gorge runs between this parking area and the Main Entrance parking area at the east end of the park in the Village of Watkins Glen.

From the Upper Entrance parking area, we descended through the gorge on the Gorge Trail which is the closest trail to the stream and runs over, under and along the park’s 19 waterfalls by way of stone bridges and more than 800 stone steps. Along the trail we passed several landmarks including Jacobs Ladder (a set of stone steps that form the initial descent into the gorge), Mile Point Bridge, Frowning Cliff, Rainbow Falls, Central Cascade, and Glen Cathedral. The scenery along the Watkins Glen gorge was stunning, with spectacular views around every bend.

We dropped about 500-ft in elevation from the start of the approx. 1.2-mile Gorge Trail to Point Lookout where we ascended a set of stone steps to the North Rim Trail that took us back to the Upper Entrance Parking area along the top of the gorge. The North Rim Trail is a natural trail which gradually climbs through the forested rim of the gorge. This contrasted with the stone walkways, steps, and bridges that made up the much more spectacular, but also more crowded Gorge Trail below.

The trails can be hiked out-and-back as we did, but if you only want to hike one-way there is a park shuttle that runs from one end of the park to the other throughout the day. Photos of our visit are provided below. Click on the thumbnails to view the full-size pictures.

Known as the Grand Canyon of the East, Letchworth State Park is a 14,350-acre masterpiece. Named in 2015 as the Best State Park in the nation, Letchworth features a wild 17-mile gorge carved by the Genesee River tumbling over waterfalls and meandering through the heart of the park, offering spectacular views at every turn. The river crests over three major waterfalls amid cliffs as high as 600 feet encircled by lush forests teeming with wildlife.

We spent four nights in the Highbanks camping area in loop 800 in early July 2025. There are eight camping loops, four allow pets and four are non-pet loops. Each loop has a shower and restroom building. Common amenities include a store and laundry. The camping loops are all similar with about 30 to 35 sites in each loop. There is a mixture of 30 and 50 amp sites. None of the sites have water or sewer connections, however there is a water fill station on the entrance road to the camping area and a number of shared water spigots at each loop. There are several sewer dump stations on the main road out of the camping area.

We spent three days visiting different areas of the park. The first day we visited the lower falls area which included a 1/2 mile hike from the lower falls recreation area parking lot to a set of stone steps down to the lower falls viewing area and on down to the lower falls stone arch bridge, a historic footbridge that crosses the Genesee River in the Gorge. This bridge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s along with many other infrastructure projects within the park.

On our second day we rode our e-bikes from the camping area about 5-miles north to the Mount Morris dam overlook area. The Mount Morris Dam is a concrete gravity dry dam on the Genesee River. Built between 1948 and 1952, its purpose is to mitigate downstream flooding between Mount Morris and Lake Ontario. We hiked the 1-1/2 mile Highbanks trail from the Dam overlook area down to the Genesee Valley Greenway, a multi-use trail that crosses the Genesee River in the town of Mount Morris. The hike between the dam overlook and the Greenway wound through dense woods along the edge of the Gorge. At some sections along the trail, you could see evidence of the Genesee Valley Canal that used to run parallel to the river between 1840 and 1878.

Our final day touring the park took us to the middle and upper falls. Both falls were just a short walk from the Upper/Middle Falls parking area at the south end of the park. The Upper Falls has a Railway arch bridge crossing immediately above it that creates a dramatic frame over the falls. The middle falls are the highest of the three falls and has the closest viewing area of the three.

We enjoyed our stay at Letchworth State Park. The three days we spent touring the park were enough to see the highlights, but we only touched on a few section of the 66 miles of hiking trails within the park which would take a lot more time to explore.