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.
We visited Niagara Falls in early July 2025 while staying at the Daisy Barn Campground in Wilson, NY, about 30 minutes away from the falls. The campground is located on the south shore of Lake Ontario.
The falls are within Niagara Falls State Park and are made up of the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls on one side of Goat Island, and Horseshoe Falls on the other side of the island. It’s a short walk across Goat Island between the two sets of falls. The falls are on the Niagara River which connects Lake Erie to the south and Lake Ontario to the north. The Niagara River is the border between the US and Canada, and there are several bridges near the falls that cross between the two countries. Because of the way the border runs along the river, Horseshoe Falls are located on the Canadian side of the border and are also referred to as the Canadian Falls, whereas the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are located on the US side of the border.
After parking in the nearby State Park Lot 2, we walked the short distance to the Horseshoe Falls viewing area. Horseshoe Falls are huge and very spectacular and there was a tremendous amount of spray generated that constantly blew across the viewing area. While the spray was nice and cooling on the hot day we visited, it made taking photographs difficult. We walked around the tip of Goat Island a short distance to the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. This set of falls has less water flow than the Horseshoe Falls and the spray that it generated did not blow across the viewing area, so it was a lot easier to take clear photographs. At both sets of viewing areas you are just a few feet from the river, which gives a tremendous sense of the huge volume of water and power of the falls.
It was interesting to see a statue of Nikola Tesla near the falls to memorialize the first ever transmission of alternating current electricity using Tesla’s new alternating current (AC) induction motor. That marked the first long distance commercial use of AC transmission from the Niagara Falls hydro-electric power station to Buffalo. Today, power plants on both the American and Canadian sides of the Falls have the capacity to produce up to 2.4 million kilowatts of electricity.
After visiting the falls, we drove a couple of miles north along the Niagara River to the Gorge Stairs Trailhead. We took the trail down a series of steep paths and stone steps to a trail along the river below two iron bridges, one that is no longer in use, and a newer one that carries road and rail traffic between the US and Canada. The trailhead is located across the street from the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center and Museum. An earlier bridge across the river on this site was considered to be the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad that served as a crossing point for many freedom seekers including Harriet Tubman. The small museum provided some very interesting historical information on the Underground Railroad, and its connections to the Niagara area.
We very much enjoyed our visit to Niagara Falls, one of the most iconic American (and Canadian) natural wonders.
Mount Rainier National Park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preserving 236,381 acres including all of Mount Rainier, a 14,410-foot stratovolcano. The mountain rises abruptly from the surrounding land with elevations in the park ranging from 1,600 feet to over 14,000 feet. The highest point in the Cascade Range, Mount Rainier is surrounded by valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows, and 91,000 acres of old-growth forest. More than 25 glaciers descend the flanks of the volcano, which is often shrouded in clouds that dump enormous amounts of rain and snow.
We visited Mount Rainier National Park in early September 2024 while staying at Harmony Lakeside RV Park, Silver Creek, Washington. We entered the park at the Nisqually entrance in the southwest corner of the park and drove along the winding Paradise Valley Road through old growth pine forests to the historic Longmire Area.
We parked at Longmire and walked around the historic district where many original park buildings can still be seen. At Mount Rainier, designers selected massive logs and glacial boulders as the building materials best suited for integrating new structures with their natural settings. This style of architecture, known as “National Park Service Rustic”, is on display throughout the Longmire district. This style of architecture became a model for buildings across the National Park Service.
Walking through the Longmire district we reached the historic Longmire Suspension Bridge that crosses the Nisqually River. We walked over the creaky wooden suspension bridge that is the oldest surviving road bridge in Mount Rainier National Park, and one of the few road-bearing suspension bridges in the National Park system. The road bridge was originally built in 1924 using local logs for the suspension towers and bridge structure. Although the logs were replaced with dimensional lumber during later renovations, the bridge still maintains it original design form and appearance.
Continuing on from the Longmire district, we stopped at the Cougar Rock camping and picnic area to enjoy our lunch at a picnic table amongst the old grown pine forest. At this point we were wondering if we would get to see Mount Rainier as the tree tops all around us were shrouded in low-cloud and mist.
Continuing on along the road we visited the Christine Falls, and Narada Falls. The second falls was much taller, fully visible from a view area about a 1/4-mile walk from the parking area.
As we continued along the road, we started to climb out of the pine forest through the low clouds and mist into sub-alpine meadows with colorful seasonal wildflowers. As we rounded one of the switchback bends near the Paradise area, we finally got our first view of the spectacular snow-capped dome of Mount Rainier. We parked at the Paradise area parking lot and walked the short distance to the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center and Paradise Inn. There were spectacular views of Mount Rainier and other surrounding mountain peaks from here.
We continued through the Paradise area and proceeded downhill a mile-or-so to Reflection Lake. As its name suggests, the snow-capped peak of Mount Rainier was fully reflected in the lake and offered a spectacular photo-opportunity.
Photos of our visit are provided below. Click on the thumbnails to view the photos.
Grandview Campground near Ashton, Idaho is a really nice, small US Forest Service campground about 14 miles outside of Ashton. The campground only has 9 electric-only sites, meaning no water and no sewer. The cost of a single site was $31/night and $62 for the double sites. It’s set in a beautifully wooded area of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway which is off US-20 in eastern Idaho.
The Henry’s Fork of the Snake River runs right behind the campground, but the river is not accessible from there without some serious bouldering over hundreds of yards of Mesa Falls Tuff and then repelling down shear cliffs. There is a dirt road leading from the back of the campground that intersects a picturesque, narrow footpath through the woods leading to both the Lower Mesa Falls and Upper Mesa Falls overlooks, which are approximately one mile apart. Upper Mesa Falls can also be reached by driving one mile north on the Byway.
The falls were quite spectacular during our July 2024 visit, with lots of water flowing over the 65-foot Lower Falls and 114-foot Upper Falls. You can almost walk right up to the Upper Falls via a well maintained boardwalk. There is a $5.00/day entrance fee to the Upper Falls unless you have an America the Beautiful, Military, or Senior National Park pass, then it’s free.
The tiny town of Ashton is northwest of Grand Teton National Park and southwest of Yellowstone National Park. With a population of less than 1200, Ashton only has a few restaurants, one small, family-owned grocery store, a family-owned hardware store, and a couple of gas stations.
Ashton is surrounded by rolling farmland with expansive views to the mountains. We saw lots of grain and potato crops being farmed during our visit. It was very picturesque driving over the undulating hills and around the long sweeping curves. You could see for miles.
We stayed at Grandview Campground for 6 nights and booked our reservations 6 months ahead of time on Recreation.gov. A couple of the campsites are first come, first served, so there are always campers driving through looking to grab one of the available sites. Our site, Site 6, was perfect. It was plenty long for our 43 foot RV even though it was a bit tight backing in due to rocks and trees on either side of the drive. The site had 2 stands to put grills or coolers on as well as a very nice, gravel tent or seating pad.
The campground is in grizzly bear territory, but we didn’t see any signs of them as it was 85-95 degrees every day, and they’ve probably moved up to higher elevations. The mosquitos, even during midday, are ruthless, but our 30% Deet wipes and spray kept them at-bay.
The only wildlife we saw at the campground were numerous bird species and several squirrels and chipmunks, but we were always on the lookout for bears. I so much wanted to see a grizzly in the wild. The woods were full of wildflowers at this time of year, and we enjoyed identifying some of them using the “Seek” app by iNaturalist that identifies plants and animals using your cell phone camera. Even though we were only about 100 miles from Yellowstone, we decided we were not going to go this trip due to kitchen slideout issues.
We had light rain several times plus a major lightning storm with very heavy rain that lasted for an hour or so. Penny DID NOT like it one bit. Most of the rain showers came and went within 10 minutes and barely wet the ground. The weather was hot and humid the entirety of our visit with temps hitting 85 every day except for one.
The campground is dog friendly as long as they are on a leash. Penny and Little Bit loved the walks, especially through the woods while I continuously called out “Hey bear”.
If you stay here, BE BEAR AWARE! Carry bear spray. I would assume that in cooler weather or during early spring and late fall, you have a pretty good chance of seeing grizzlies here. We thoroughly enjoyed this campground and will return the next time we’re in the area. The camp hosts were friendly and helpful and did a great job of maintaining the campground.
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.
The scenery along the Watkins Glen gorge was stunning, with spectacular views around every bend.
