Monday October 2nd

My destination for the day was Letchworth State Park in Upstate New York, which was recommended as a good place for autumn foliage. It was about a two hour drive from where I was. The next few days I had scheduled to have a good look at what I’d hoped would be good autumn foliage across New York and New England, and I’d tried to reduce the amount of driving, taking more days to cover the distance through to Boston, to give myself plenty of time to see the colours. In my trip so far, there hadn’t been as much colour as I’d been expecting, as I’d heard they were late that year due to the unusually warm weather, so I was hoping that they would get better as I went east and time went on.

  

I was keen not to have a repeat of the long delay getting over the border into Canada, so I left early to get to the border crossing at Peace Bridge, well before daylight, around 6am. It was a bit foggy or misty, and visibility wasn’t the best. I was glad to get to the border crossing, actually about 6.30, and to see only a few people ahead of me, so the border crossing was quick. The official wanted me to open the back of the van, and he had a look in the back with a torch. I think the van kept trying to lock the doors while I was trying to unlock them, and the guy suggested I shut off the engine then try it, which worked.

  

Over the border I went through the city of Buffalo, on I-190, then into country Upstate New York. I’d found a park on the map where I thought it would be nice to have breakfast, Hunter Creek, just off the highway near a town called Wales Center. When I got near it, I discovered that the road to the park was blocked though; there was work happening on a bridge that you needed to cross to get there, so I had to take a longer route, around the large block, taking a road further along, then doubling back. It was about 7.30am when I got there, and the sun had just risen.

  

After breakfast I had a little walk in the park. I got some fuel in Wales Center, and continued on. About 10km out of Gainesville where my next campground was to be, I found a lovely little dirt road with a row of beautifully coloured trees along it, and enjoyed the autumn foliage there for a while. It was encouraging to see this, a sign that the colours were definitely coming along. I’d selected a route, and destinations, which were good for seeing the colour, but perhaps not so interesting if there wasn’t any.

  

I was to stay at Woodstream Campground that night, and since it was basically on my way to Letchworth, I thought I would see if I could check in on my way. It was around 9am, and I drove up the driveway and found someone at the store and office building. She was very friendly and helpful, and actually drove me in a little jeep to show me where my campsite was. The campground was pretty, out in the country, with a creek running through the area where I was to stay, and beautiful autumn foliage. My site backed onto a little creek. We chatted a bit – he had come from somewhere else, I think maybe French Canada, to run the park there.

  

From there it was only 10 or 15 minutes drive to the park entrance. The ranger at the entrance said that there was 20-30% colour – they grade it over there! The park, nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the East, encompasses a large gorge with the Genesee River running through it, and three waterfalls. After what I’d read about it, I’d scheduled the whole day there, and it is a day I particularly remember as being more leisurely than most, with happy memories of a beautiful sunny quiet day exploring the park. I started at the car park for the Upper Falls, near the entrance, and set off for a hike along the river, by all three falls.

  

Though in some areas a lot of the trees were still green, there were patches where the colour was amazing. Next to the car park was an impressive iron rail bridge towering above us. Apparently this had replaced an earlier bridge that had pillars going into the river, and this one went across in one span, so interfered with the view less – it was now possible to see the view uninterrupted under the bridge. I think the previous bridge had lasted over 100 years! I didn’t see any trains go over it, but I heard one while I was out of sight of it.

  

The path went down some stairs to the Upper Falls, with an array of spectacular red and yellow trees, and I looked down through them to the river far below. I couldn’t get right up to the falls, but I could see it fairly well as the track went by it.

  

I just had to keep taking photos of all the colourful trees, such amazing scenes! It was about 9.30 when I started, and the sun was cresting over the hill on the other side of the gorge. The falls were pretty impressive, I could see more of them from a bit further away, looking back.

  

Next along were the Middle Falls, which were perhaps the best ones, quite wide, with several cascades, and a long drop, and there were good spots to get views of it close up.

  

From there the river went into a deep gorge, with steep rocky sides, carved into the forest on either side. There was a walking track that went along the river the whole way through the park I think, but it was very long, probably a day’s walk just one way.

  

As I walked, a long way above the river, there were beautiful views of the gorge, and more pockets of concentrated autumn foliage, as well as quite a few colourful trees throughout the forest either side of the gorge.

  

About an hour in, I came to Inspiration Point, which looked back on Middle Falls, and perhaps a little of the Upper Falls, and the railway bridge, quite a sight. The warm sunny weather kept on for most of the week, which was a big blessing, highlighting the colours.

  

Another half hour brought me to the Lower Falls, which were smaller than the others, and it was harder to get a good view of them. There were signs saying not to go past a certain point, though there would have been nice views from beyond that.

  

A little further on, a track went a fair way down to the level of the river itself, where there was a stone footbridge, which had been built back in 1935, for just under $700! I think this was the only crossing point for the river in the park. There were tracks on the other side, and I had a short look, then turned back.

  

I needed to drive to some of the further-on places if I was to see everything. It was getting towards 1 when I was going by Middle Falls again, and there was a snack shop where I bought some lunch, eating it at one of the tables in the grassy area there.

  

I took some more photos of the Upper Falls with the sun on them, and someone offered to take a photo of me against the falls. I got back to the van a bit after 2. I couldn’t stop taking photos of the area, it was so beautiful. It was lovely to be able to take my time. There was still a lot of daylight left, so I was able to have a good look around at much of the park. It wasn’t crowded, and there was plenty of parking everywhere, which was a big plus after some of the other parks I’d been in.

  

There was one main road that went through the park on the side of the gorge where most things were, so you could see a lot just by driving along there and back. There was some of the park on the other side of the gorge – I think you had to drive out and then back into another entrance on the other side, which was a bit of a distance, and there wasn’t so much to see on that side.

  

The road went along the gorge to a number of overlooks, where you could see down into the gorge winding away, and the forest, all beautiful. It got pretty high up, with the river looking quite small a long way down. Some parts of the gorge were rocky, and others had lush forest growing on them.

  

There was a smaller waterfall a bit further on, where a creek plunged down into the main gorge. About 4.30 I made it to the end of the park before the road exited again, with a lookout over Mount Morris Dam, with a high concrete wall, which I think was there to control flooding, through there wasn’t a lot of water banked up at the time.

  

The gorge became much wider here, and the river looked small winding through it. There was a store there, which had a lot of varieties of ice-cream, so I got one while I was there.

  

Along the gorge there, was another beautiful forest area full of yellow-orange trees which I strolled through.

  

After that it was time to make my leisurely way back, stopping here and there. There were some lovely wildflowers growing by the side of the road in some places, with the autumn colour as a backdrop.

  

Inspiration Point was recommended as a nice place to see the sunset, but I ended up at Archery Overlook, a bit before there, enjoying the late light on the gorge, trees, river and hills beyond.

  

I got to Inspiration Point a bit after sunset, and it probably would have been a good spot too, with the waterfall views. It was still pretty with the pink sunset sky. I left before it got dark, and got back to the campground a bit after 7. Sunset was getting earlier as the season advanced, and it was quite dusky by then. I manoeuvred the van into the spot, with a little difficulty, making sure not to back too far and drive into the creek! Phone reception there was pretty sketchy.

  

I investigated where the nearest facilities were, and it was a bit of a trek to get there, I had to go along the creek, over a little bridge (which was narrow and rather makeshift-looking, and apparently cars could drive over, though I’m not sure if I would have been game!), then walk along the other side, out of the campsites a bit, to a toilet block apart by itself. I took note of a few landmarks so that I could navigate there in the dark.

  

The shower was 50 cents for 5 minutes, one of the cheapest places that wasn’t free. There was a money box that took two quarters, and looked as though it had been there since the 80s! There was also a mechanical timer which you could turn, which I realised was so that you knew when the 5 minutes were about up. The shower was good though.

I found my way back, and went to bed. I was starting to realise around this time, that my time in the van was coming to an end. This was a bit sad, having been through so many adventures together, though on the other hand, staying somewhere where the toilet and shower were under the same roof also had appeal!