New England – Fall 2010 – Day 10: Niagara Falls to Corning

Right away we feel the need to apologise to Corning as we totally failed to do it justice – sorry.
We set off from Niagara after a most satisfactory buffet breakfast which we found opposite the front entrance of the hotel, in a diner style building possibly related to the “My Cousin Vinny’s” restaurant. The set price was reasonable and the service was excellent.
We had a journey of some 150 miles and two hours forty minutes ahead of us so we set off shortly after breakfast. We found our way to the Rainbow Bridge and crossed it to the USA. I would love to tell you that we were greeted like long lost friends by the American Immigration service but they, in the person of the officer at the check point, were equally gruff and businesslike as our Canadian. Being fair I suspect that most interactions at the border are filmed for security purposes and no official would want to be seen laughing and joking with us if we were later identified as terrorists, although I do remember filling in a form previously where I promised that I was not.
Niagara had marked a middle point in our adventure and we were now making our way back to New England proper in a two day drive across New York State which doesn’t count.
We had decided to stop off at Watkins Glen State Park on our way to Corning because our notes from American Driving Vacations said cryptically, “If you did not have the opportunity to visit WGSP, you can do so on the way to Corning” Looking at our route map I cannot imagine any part of our previous journey that had passed close enough to make dropping in even remotely possible.
It was also a good thing that we reached Watkins Glen as we were nearing Corning so much of the journey was out of the way. We pulled into the State Park parking lot, having paid our $8 per car, at the bottom entrance of the park. We were notified that there was no shuttle bus running back down from the top of the park but we would not have taken it anyway.
Watkins Glen State Park is located on the edge of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County. The main feature of the park is the hiking trail that climbs up through the gorge, passing over and under waterfalls. The park has a lower part that is next to the village and an upper part that is open woodland.
Watkins Glen State Park is in a 400-foot-deep narrow gorge cut through rock by a stream that was left hanging when glaciers of the Ice age deepened the Seneca valley, increasing the tributary stream gradient to create rapids and waterfalls wherever there were layers of hard rock. The rocks of the area are sedimentary of Devonian age that are part of a dissected plateau that was uplifted with little faulting or distortion. They consist mostly of soft shales, with some layers of harder sandstone and limestone. The park features a trail by which one can climb or descend the gorge. Hundreds of stone steps climb over, under, and along the waterfalls. There are three trails: Indian, Gorge and Southern Rim. The Gorge and Southern Rim trails are closer to the waterfalls. The Indian trail takes you to the upper entrance, through the woods.
We took the Gorge Trail up and in due course followed Indian Trail down. I have been mentioning my use of the camera throughout the trip but this day we were obviously under equipped in that respect, it was “tripod day” ever twist and turn of the gorge was accompanied by a photographer complete with tripod pointing thousands of dollars of equipment up or down the running water. They mainly had a long-suffering attitude which grudgingly allowed us to share the park with them as long as we showed proper respect.
The path up the gorge was impressive, not Niagara impressive but still beautiful, and on several occasions we had to pass behind the falls and here there was no glass between us and the water. No rain capes had been issued but I was less protective of the camera having seen what it could withstand.
We followed a group of college boys up the trail and, being younger and fitter than us, they would have left us far behind except for their pauses to put their lives at risk leaning over big drops and sitting on bridge rails while taking and posing for photographs. My father used to remark, “the Lord looks after the stupid” often related to something I was doing, and it seems firstly he was right and, secondly, they put a lot of faith in that theory.
At the very top of the park there is the upper entrance with a picnic area with a concession stand, and outside of the park, fenced off with warning signs a disused railroad bridge. We last saw the college boys on the top span of the bridge hopefully they made their way down safely.
We came down the park by following the Indian Trail which was a quieter and dryer route than the way up. There were good views in places of the gorge but, more excitingly for us, since we presented no threat to the local Chipmunks they scampered quite close to us. I got a pleasing shot of one watching us from a tree stump.
It was perhaps 3.00pm when we returned to the car park and we then drove back into the village and parked again by the lake/marina. Here we got talking to a local sailor, who took tourists onto Lake Seneca in his yacht, he reckoned his season was almost over and he would only be going out if booked in advance. He also told us that there was a passage out of Seneca Lake meaning that he could navigate to pretty much anywhere from there. He was interested in our itinerary and was impressed by our mileage up that point but he couldn’t summon up any enthusiasm for Newport which was where we were heading in two days.
We arrived at our hotel, the Fairfield Inn Marriott without quite reaching Corning although we did pass its celebrated Museum of Glass.
The hotel was excellent and located on an estate with several shops and restaurants, we were resolved to eat locally and cheaply so we never ventured into Corning. I took a walk round the area and managed to put some credit on the AT&T phone that I had bought last year in Texas but was refusing to work this time. The credit on it previously had evaporated and I had to pay to add some more. I may be judging New England harshly but I felt that the same problem presented in Texas would have seen the store guy tracking down my previous credit.
My Adidas digital wristwatch had reset itself to midnight a couple of times on the trip so I started to look for a replacement but nothing took my eye.
In the immediate area, easy walking distance, there were several restaurants, a Wendy’s, a Chinese Buffet and Bob Evans, which when I looked at the menu seemed extremely reasonable. So we chose it, the food bragged about being simple and wholesome, think school dinners without the charisma. The food was filling and tasty enough but we made an error, the tea was dreadful, a tea bag of no particular flavour in water which was hot rather than boiling. After Niagara it was nice to be eating at a reasonable price and we left the restaurant having only parted with $30 including the tip.