Maybe it’s this incredible appreciation we have now of being able to breath, walk, live, and love. Or perhaps it’s life itself and having each other. Maybe? No, it is just that. We are not the same and the message is urgent to experience life and love each other. We have set out on a new goal of experiencing a new adventure each month to push ourselves to live life to the fullest and never waste time putting things off. Nothing extravagant. Just something new to heighten our senses. This past Sunday we went to Seneca Lake and hiked Watkins Glen and I’m hear to tell you the tale. First, let me confess, despite living in Buffalo all my life…I am embarrassed to say I have never been to Watkins Glen. What the heck is wrong with me?? They say it’s one of the top 3 State Parks in the USA. Again I repeat- I have never been to Watkins Glen and my husband has never been either! What?! We decided that we both thought of it as home of NASCAR races and that wasn’t our thing. But it is so much more! There’s a Ben & Jerry’s! And it’s so close! And it should be experienced. It’s the most famous of the Finger Lakes State Parks. Now, if you go on map quest and the driving distance to Watkins Glen from Buffalo is 2 hours and 28 minutes….why do we all look at that and think we somehow failed if it takes us longer? Who cares? What’s the rush? Don’t travel with us. We stop and smell the flowers. But, we do tend to speed things up on the way home.

     When we arrived at the South End of Seneca Lake we decided to “fuel up” at the Seneca Harbor Station. It’s a delightful little nautical theme restaurant over looking the lake that serves some darn good ribs. From there we went to the TOP of the gorge path ($8 dollars to park) so we could simply walk down the 832 steps. Who’s counting? Oh, I did. The 2 mile path descends 400 feet past 200 foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of the Cavern Cascade with spectacular views of the gorge. The guides are free and available at 10 am and 1 pm. I like free. I like to learn about the steps along the trail that were built compliments of FDR and the New Deal money. The guide lost me a bit on the talks of erosion, Arcadian mountains, super continent, glaciers, sandstone, shale and a famous deer. Heck, I just wanted to take pictures and not slip. Mission accomplished. My two cents- they should have made the trail wider when we had the New Deal money.

     I will now list several observations that were not included in the guided tour. 

1. No dogs allowed. Thank goodness. You are not going to find many hand railings on the trail and you don’t need your dog pulling you off the slippery path down a waterfall.

2. No swimming allowed. That did not stop people from doing so.

3. I saw way to many people who should not be on the hike. Older folks, babies, and those limping. Not to mention all those wearing flat flip flop sandals! Hum, I wonder if people thought I should not be on the trail.

4. The only wildlife I saw was a chipmunk.

5. Have a nice dry pair of shoes waiting for you in the car.

     It’s such a great feeling to complete the hike. We got caught up and gave each other “High 5’s!” It was not a great feeling having wet feet and not bringing another pair of shoes. Most people start on the bottom at the main entrance and walk up. Take it from me, start at the top and walk down. There is no need to walk back up to get your car. Why walk up and down? An hour and a half is plenty. We started at 1:00 and ended at 2:30. There is a shuttle bus for $5.00. That’ll do the trick.

     We ended our day with a narrated sightseeing cruise on Seneca Lake which gave me all new information. The lake is fed by underground springs giving it little chance to freeze over in the winter. The lake is named after the Seneca Native American tribe. Salt manufacturing is also done at the lake and US Salt and Cargill manufacturing plants can be seen from the boat cruise. That was all we could do in one day. We hit the open road and headed home and both agreed we were so glad we hiked Watkins Glen and did not buy a single souvenir item despite being tempted by the “you’re gorge-ous” t-shirt.

Tags : Adventure, Finger Lakes, Hike, love, Marriage, Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen