We will be staying at The Ridge CampgroundMount Morris, New York in mid July beside the Hiking trails at Letchworth state park, we we wondering if anyone has recommendations for railtrail like biking in the area or in the state park. Again level bike trails, no off road stuff. Also with the same idea in mind we were wondering about Kayaking in the area. We enjoy the scenic river/pond/lake stuff... NO white water! Thanks everyone for your replies Mike

Anyone bike the Genesee valley greenway on the southern part of Letchworth State Park? looks scenic? were were wondering if worth taking our road bikes or should we just stick to the walking/hiking trails. We will have 3 full days to visit the park.https://www.traillink.com/trail-maps/genesee-valley-greenwayMike

If you don't want whitewater kayaking, you probably don't want to do any kayaking in the park itself. The Genesee River runs through the park at the bottom of the gorge, but it has a fair amount of white water.If you want flatwater kayaking in the area, the nicest lakes for that, in my opinion, are Canadice Lake and Hemlock Lake. You can get to them in less than an hour of driving from Letchworth. They are both pristine, in the sense that there is no development along the shorelines. They also both have hiking trails around them. Recently the land around these lakes transferred ownership from the City of Rochester to the State of New York. The City of Rochester gets its drinking water from one or both of them. That's why there's not development. Also, motors on boats must be less than 10 HP, which makes for a nice, peaceful paddling experience. Here's a link to information about the area of Hemlock and Canadice Lakes.-Speak

SpeakEasy wrote:If you don't want whitewater kayaking, you probably don't want to do any kayaking in the park itself. The Genesee River runs through the park at the bottom of the gorge, but it has a fair amount of white water.If you want flatwater kayaking in the area, the nicest lakes for that, in my opinion, are Canadice Lake and Hemlock Lake. You can get to them in less than an hour of driving from Letchworth. They are both pristine, in the sense that there is no development along the shorelines. They also both have hiking trails around them. Recently the land around these lakes transferred ownership from the City of Rochester to the State of New York. The City of Rochester gets its drinking water from one or both of them. That's why there's not development. Also, motors on boats must be less than 10 HP, which makes for a nice, peaceful paddling experience. Here's a link to information about the area of Hemlock and Canadice Lakes.-SpeakThanks for the information & links, yeah we might kayak Canadice Lake, like the pics of the lake on google searches Mike

I don't really have any experience with biking, but I can talk a bit about hiking in Letchworth. For seven years I lived just outside the park, and during that time I walked just about every marked trail in the park, some of them multiple times. The park includes land on both sides of the Genesee River. The west side is where 90% of the activity of the park takes place. Most hiking on that side of the park will be pretty close to civilization and lots of other people. If you want to have more of a deep-woods feel to your hiking, try the trails on the east side of the river. There's a really nice area down in the southern part of the park, on the east side of the river, where the trail overlooks the upper falls and runs along the track of a former railroad and (more distant past) former canal. If you look closely you'll be able to find remnants of both the railroad and the canal. The overlook to the gorge over the upper falls is a little scary to some because of the lack of guard rails. It could be dangerous to some people. You're also more likely to see wildlife (in addition to white-tailed deer which are everywhere) on the east side. If you hike the Letchworth Branch of the Finger Lakes Trail (on the east side), you may have a 24-mile hike in which you don't see another human being. Pretty unusual in this populated area of the state. It is also approved for biking.-Speak

SpeakEasy wrote: If you want to have more of a deep-woods feel to your hiking, try the trails on the east side of the river. There's a really nice area down in the southern part of the park, on the east side of the river, where the trail overlooks the upper falls and runs along the track of a former railroad and (more distant past) former canal. If you look closely you'll be able to find remnants of both the railroad and the canal.-SpeakHave you been on that trail? I believe that is the Genesee valley greenway I have been researching. I am hoping because if it is a rail trail it should be okay for bikers? Thank you for all your information, it will come in handy!Mike

Letchworth State Park, NY questions | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

SpeakEasy
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017
If you don't want whitewater kayaking, you probably don't want to do any kayaking in the park itself. The Genesee River runs through the park at the bottom of the gorge, but it has a fair amount of white water.

If you want flatwater kayaking in the area, the nicest lakes for that, in my opinion, are Canadice Lake and Hemlock Lake. You can get to them in less than an hour of driving from Letchworth. They are both pristine, in the sense that there is no development along the shorelines. They also both have hiking trails around them. Recently the land around these lakes transferred ownership from the City of Rochester to the State of New York. The City of Rochester gets its drinking water from one or both of them. That's why there's not development. Also, motors on boats must be less than 10 HP, which makes for a nice, peaceful paddling experience.

Here's a link to information about the area of Hemlock and Canadice Lakes.

-Speak
mdcamping
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017
Anyone bike the Genesee valley greenway on the southern part of Letchworth State Park? looks scenic? were were wondering if worth taking our road bikes or should we just stick to the walking/hiking trails. We will have 3 full days to visit the park.

https://www.traillink.com/trail-maps/genesee-valley-greenway

Mike

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Letchworth State Park, NY questions

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