Watkins Glen

Going to Watkins Glen was completely unplanned. My wife's parents had been there before and made the suggestion. We had been driving all day and were pretty tired from our 5 and 20 road trip. By the time we hit Seneca Falls, it was around 4:30 pm and we still had no plans for the rest of the day. The GPS calculated that it would take us about 1 hour or so to get to Watkins Glen. The park closed around 6 pm, from what I remember. So we had to get down there quickly and start the hike. We really had no idea what it looked like, how hard the hike was and how long it would take to complete the hike. But we made the decision to do it, despite our hesitations. Watkins Glen is a NY State Park, at the bottom of Seneca Lake. The road that takes you down to Watkins Glen is adjacent to the lake. At times it's hard to focus on the road. All I wanted to do was look at the lake. It's a very pretty drive.

So we got down to Watkins Glen around 5:30 or so. You have to pay a fee to do the hike. We were the last group allowed in. Talk about luck! A shuttle takes you to the top of the hill and you hike it down. The hike is absolutely gorgeous. It's a rocky canyon, with water running through the canyon, waterfalls, tunnels, bridges, etc. It took us about 1 hour to hike it down. Make sure you bring a bottle of water and wear some comfortable shoes. Because it was getting dark as we were going down and because the trees cover most of the trail, it got a little chilly, so go prepared. It was totally different from what we were expecting. It is worth the drive. We came out of there tired, but very glad we made the trip down there. We didn't eat anything down there, which is a shame. So I can't give any suggestions on restaurants. I hate driving at night, especially on roads I'm not familiar with, so we decided to just make the drive back to the hotel and eat around there.