Letchworth State Park (3 Days / 26km)

Dare I say a hidden gem? Or have we just been out of the loop this whole entire time?

The Cover:

My favourite shots that are 'cover-worthy' for this little story.

Rating:

This is a really great park and I'm so glad that it was brought to our attention. It makes for a nice weekend get-away if you're prepared to tackle larger crowds and step away from a true wilderness experience for a little while.

I Want to Live Here Rating: 1/5

People-Meter: 5/5

Anxiety Scale: 3/5

Pain Train: 1/5

10/10 Recommend: 5/5

The Prologue:

Letchworth State Park is a magical place. Not the most traditional, outdoorsy locale in the universe, but offers a wide-range of activities for those that are looking for an accessible, beautiful, and family-friendly retreat with the possibility of a hike thrown into the mix!

Known as the 'Grand Canyon of the East', this park features a magnificent gorge and a series of increasingly stellar waterfalls. There are viewpoints galore, and during our three-night stay we just couldn't get enough. Thank you to Heather who recommended this place to us.

Here's our trip report!

The Story:

Day Zero:

Cambridge to Letchworth State Park

Does it count as a day? We left our home in Cambridge, Ontario and started the 3-hour trek to Letchworth State Park. A majority of the journey was made under the cover of darkness, which is what happens when you leave on a Friday night. We rolled into our campsite at 9:30PM and very promptly set up our tent/tarp combo before going to bed.

Highlights

Traffic wasn't a dumpster fire. The wait to get over the border was pretty seamless. Hallelujah!
We picked up some weird and funky snacks at a local grocery store in Buffalo along the way. This is one of our favourite things to do when we're travelling out-of-Province. What did we find?
- Twix Cookie Dough Bites - 1/5
  - Sickly sweet and dry in a bad way. I would not recommend eating these or buying them unless you plan on slapping them on top of ice cream or something.
- Nature's Raspberries Hyper-Dried in Dark and White Chocolate by Tru Fru - 4/5
  - Tasty, tart, and surprisingly large. Expensive for what you get, but overall (and I'm biased because of my never-ending love for anything chocolate raspberry), a worthy treat.

Lowlights

Day One:

Letchworth State Park Campground to the Gorge Trail

And the fun begins! We started our day with a homemade granola filled breakfast at 8AM. That quickly transitioned into a micro road-trip to the park office and camp store so we could formally check-in. We returned to our campsite with our permit in hand and took a look at our hiking options.

Letchworth State Park has a number of hiking trails to choose from - over 100 kilometers worth - and if you know Isaac and I well enough, you know that we're always looking out for a mild suffer-fest. While the Finger Lakes Trail looked very tempting, we ended up settling with the Gorge Trail, a 26km out-and-back.

While very much situated along the road-side (this is a super car-friendly park), the trail dipped in and out of the forest offering some quiet moments amid the chaos. I especially liked all of the man-made stone paths, walls, bridges, and arches. Made for some really magical scenes. I could only imagine what a photo shoot would be like here!

We slowly hiked along throughout the afternoon and stopped for lunch right after the Big Bend. We thought that the views couldn't get better, but once the waterfalls came to play - wow! We didn't expect that there would be so many to choose from, in addition to countless vantage points offering unique angles and views. I feel like we saw every detail of the Lower, Middle, and Upper Falls, in and out of the crowds.

I guess this is the benefit to hiking? Lots of time out on the trail to take in the views?

We hung out at the Upper Falls for a hot second, before hiking the remaining 13km back to our car. We arrived back at our campsite at 6:30PM, cooked a tasty dinner (sausages and pasta for the win), and played Cribbage until sundown forced us to sleep.

Highlights

The camp store comes with a farmer's market?! Super duper stoked to have access to local produce, baked goods, and other wares. We picked up some fresh strawberries, blueberries, and were hypnotized by some donuts. We did pick up a post card as well - there were plenty to choose from to showcase the beauty of the park!
Countless viewpoints overlooking the Genesee River that showcase the many waterfalls and scenic gorge. It was a literal feast for the eyes - a gift that kept on giving!
Got to reenact Tarzan while hiking through the woods. A large vine was a paid actor and man, did I have a good laugh!
The playgrounds in this park are spectacular. No, I didn't re-live my childhood dreams and test out every single one, but if I had kids this would be a serious consideration. When I say that this is a really family friendly park, I mean it. I've never seen so many playgrounds and picnic areas. You could throw a rock and hit one. It was incredible!
With so many people, there are so many dogs. I was greatly entertained.
We saw so much wildlife. It was a day filled with snake sightings left and right.

Lowlights

Day Two:

Letchworth State Park Campground to Warsaw

A sort of early day? We didn't leave the tent until 8:30AM due to morning showers. We ate granola yet again and decided that with the risk of rain, it was probably going to be a good day to find mainly indoor activities to do.

To start things off, we checked out the Mount Morris Dam and some of the viewpoints along the way. Honourable mention goes to the Hogsback Overlook - absolute madness to think that with lots of rain this valley can completely fill up! We stopped by the Visitor Centre and spent some time learning about similar infrastructure in the watershed. We love a good educational moment!

We returned to our campsite, packed up some lunch, and decided to stop by the William Pryor Letchworth Museum and Nature Centre before driving to Warsaw to find some ice cream. We were successful - thank you Yummies for meeting our ice cream needs!

We wanted to hike to Warsaw Falls just outside of town, but we struggled to find the trailhead. By the time we did, the radar was truly showing rain. In the time we had left before the downpour, we decided to visit the Upper Falls again for more pictures. We were treated to less crowds and some rainbow action before the rain decided to truly come down.

Under the shelter of our tarp, we cooked a dinner consisting of pork chops and potatoes. The day came to a close with several rounds of Cribbage and Jaipur, two iconic games.

Highlights

The Mount Morris Visitor Centre was an interesting stop. We really enjoyed learning more about the dam, its history, and the purpose of similar types of infrastructure within the watershed.
We treated ourselves to some lovely ice cream in Warsaw from Yummies.
- 'Wake Up Warsaw' - 2.5/5
  - A tasty, yet typical coffee bean flavoured ice cream. It hit the spot.
While eating our ice cream we were treated to quite a show! Yummies is situated by the Oatka Creek and a Kingfisher was having a fun time searching for an afternoon snack in the weeds. We ate our ice cream while watching the little guy dive and swoop around madly. It was very wholesome.
Rainbows at the Upper Falls!

Lowlights

Day Three:

Letchworth State Park Campground to Niagara Falls and Cambridge

Let the driving commence again! With the weather still keeping us on our toes, we decided to leave just after 8AM after cleaning up our gear and eating leftovers for breakfast. On our way home, we tried to find some sights to see, but were mostly out of luck, aside from finding a cheese vending machine in Perry (it was awesome).

We checked out a covered bridge, but we didn't realize that it was recently constructed as of 2022, so while very interesting, the allure was a touch diluted. For whatever reason we were expecting a heritage feature like the Kissing Bridge in West Montrose, Ontario. Our mistake and foolish thinking for sure - we set our expectations way too high.

We did decide to continue our waterfall adventures though. Interestingly enough, both Isaac and I have never seen Niagara Falls from over the border. We briefly stopped at a coffee house in Alden before heading to the River Way Parking Area to check out the rapids and falls. As always, we're always impressed to see the power of water, especially at this set of falls. I think that we take for granted that we live so close to such an incredible landmark. It's well worth the visit if you've never been, or simply wish to stop by.

Once we crossed the border back into Canada, we considered stopping to check out the view of the falls from Niagara, but the cost of parking was far too high considering the time we had left in the day (sunset was coming in fast). With heavy hearts, we declared our weekend finished and completed our trek back to Cambridge.

Highlights

We got to use a cheese vending machine. I repeat, a cheese vending machine. A bucket list item I didn't know existed was checked off.
The Alden Bakery & Cafe is a whimsical place with so many themed coffees and treats (they have the most hilarious names).
- Seasonal drink, scone, and lemon bar - 2.5/5
  - Similar to our ice cream experience the day before, the food we ate was pretty standard. The theming and experience of this cafe however, was top notch. I would love to return and try some of their other foods!
The River Way Parking Area was free! If you are willing to walk, it's worth avoiding the potentially steep price (and loss of time) finding a parking spot. I will note that there are not much in terms of parking in this location - it's a slight test of luck.