Letchworth State Park, NY questions

I'm really happy that y'all had a good time. Glad I could contribute some ideas of awesome places.

-Speak

SpeakEasy wrote:

mdcamping wrote:

SpeakEasy wrote:
Also - to answer your other question - yes; I've walked every inch of that Letchworth Branch of the Finger Lakes Trail. It's a lovely hike, but it is loooooong. There are a lot of gullies. By the end (a two-day job for me), my knees were hurting quite a bit.

-Speak

We look for the more flat/moderate type of hiking & biking trails. Unfortunately my aged 55 year old knees and feet will not allow anything more strenuous.

You have given me some great information! :C

Mike

You will love the trails around Canadice and Hemlock Lakes. Flat. Gravel-ly. I don't know if they're approved for biking, however. You'd have to check that NYSDEC site I linked.

-Speak

Kayaking on Hemlock!



Biking on Canadice



Walking the Genesee Valley Canal trail



We enjoyed the lakes as much as Letchworth State Park! Thanks for the excellent tips! :C

Mike

You could come north and hike / bike the Erie Canal trail. Flat, multi-use, and you can pick it up at numerous places. And of course you can kayak on it.

mdcamping wrote:

SpeakEasy wrote:
Also - to answer your other question - yes; I've walked every inch of that Letchworth Branch of the Finger Lakes Trail. It's a lovely hike, but it is loooooong. There are a lot of gullies. By the end (a two-day job for me), my knees were hurting quite a bit.

-Speak

We look for the more flat/moderate type of hiking & biking trails. Unfortunately my aged 55 year old knees and feet will not allow anything more strenuous.

You have given me some great information! :C

Mike

You will love the trails around Canadice and Hemlock Lakes. Flat. Gravel-ly. I don't know if they're approved for biking, however. You'd have to check that NYSDEC site I linked.

-Speak

SpeakEasy wrote:
Also - to answer your other question - yes; I've walked every inch of that Letchworth Branch of the Finger Lakes Trail. It's a lovely hike, but it is loooooong. There are a lot of gullies. By the end (a two-day job for me), my knees were hurting quite a bit.

-Speak

We look for the more flat/moderate type of hiking & biking trails. Unfortunately my aged 55 year old knees and feet will not allow anything more strenuous.

You have given me some great information! :C

Mike

Also - to answer your other question - yes; I've walked every inch of that Letchworth Branch of the Finger Lakes Trail. It's a lovely hike, but it is loooooong. There are a lot of gullies. By the end (a two-day job for me), my knees were hurting quite a bit.

-Speak

mdcamping wrote:

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.
-Speak

Have 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

No; the greenway is another trail. I haven't been on it. The Finger Lakes Trail in Letchworth is OK for biking, but it's not the greenway.

-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.
-Speak

Have 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

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 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

Thanks for the information & links, yeah we might kayak Canadice Lake, like the pics of the lake on google searches

Mike