Finger Lakes

the Bicycle Tour was with "In Motion Events & BD Tours"

 (www.fingerlakesbicycletour.com)

(September 2004)

Introduction

In late September I drove to the Finger Lakes and hiked in Taughannock, Buttermilk Falls, and Robert Treman State Parks then I drove north to Seneca Falls and spent a little time in the Historical Visitor's Center of the Women's Rights National Historical Park before meeting the bicycle group at Cayuga Lake State Park in the afternoon. 

The next day we started a five day bicycle tour of the Finger Lakes area with one layover day. We camped at Keuka State Park Sunday night, Stony Brook State Park Monday night, Watkins Glen State Park Tuesday and Wednesday, and Treman State Park Thursday. We had an option to ride a century on the layover day or tour the park. I opted to tour the park and enjoyed it tremendously. 

After the tour I drove to Dansville and stayed two nights while I hiked in the  Letchworth and Stony Brook State Parks. 

I enjoyed both the hiking and the cycling. The hiking was easy and very scenic; however, the cycling was very difficult because of the hills, and I had to quit early on the 2nd and 3rd days. I also jumped ahead and started at the first rest stop on the 4th day. Coming from relatively flat Indiana and having just recently converted to a recumbent bicycle I just wasn't ready for the ride. I plan to return in better shape and try the route again. 

The Finger Lakes region is a land of long, deep, skinny lakes arrayed on a north-south axis; harsh but exotic gashes in the earth; cool damp forests and tumbling waters.  As attractive as the Lakes are, the hanging valleys are the true glory of this area, which boasts the densest concentration of such glens in the United States.  Together, glens and lakes constitute one of America’s greatest scenic spectacles in a relatively compact area. Watkins Glen State Park is the most famous of the Finger Lakes State Parks, with a reputation for leaving visitors spellbound. Within two miles, the glen's stream 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 Cavern Cascade. Rim trails overlook the gorge.

The first map shows you the general location of the finger lakes within the state of New York and the second map shows the lakes that make up the finger lakes. The third map shows the location of the largest finger lakes by counties and the state parks in these counties--including all of the parks I hiked or cycled in except Letchworth which is not considered a Finger Lakes park.                                                                

Taughannock State Park

Located just north of Ithaca, Taughannock Creek plunges over two spectacular waterfalls and winds through a deep gorge before the stream enters Cayuga Lake. Taughannock gorge was formed as Taughannock Creek eroded through more than 400 feet of shale and deposited it in a broad delta on the west side of Cayuga Lake. The lawn, beach and marina areas of the park now occupy this delta. It may have been cut and filled during more than one glacial-interglacial episode.

The 3/4 mile gorge hike from the parking lot to the falls carries you through a rather flat, broad, very high-walled gorge. This shape is in marked contrast to the more stair-step form of many of the other gorges in the Finger Lakes. It is due largely to the relative homogeneity of the Geneseo Formation through which the stream has cut the gorge. With few resistant layers to form ledges, the soft shale has been carried away almost completely, down to the harder limestone known as the Tully Limestone at the bottom of the gorge. The "caprock", the resistant rock over which Tauhannock Falls tumble, is sandstone of the Sherburne Formation; the rocks immediately above these, along the rim, are the Ithaca Formation.

Waterfalls Cut Gorges   Taughannock Creek pours over light-gray limestone with weaker, dark shale beneath it. As the shale erodes, limestone blocks eventually break off, causing the waterfall to move slowly upstream. By the same process, Taughannock Falls has eroded the gorge 3/4s of a mile into the hillside since the end of the Ice Age.

pictures of the Finger Lakes

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view of Taughannock Creek from the Rim Trail

Taughannock Falls from the Rim AND from the Gorge

At 215 feet, Taughannock Falls is 33 feet taller than Niagara Falls. It is the highest free-falling waterfall in the northeastern United States and one of the highest waterfalls of any kind east of the Rocky Mountains. 

View of the upper falls from the South Rim trail.

The gorge as seen from the rim. 

examples of dissolved solution pits caused by chemical weathering (acidic rainwater)

Notice the vertical joint fractures. The flat walls and corners were left behind where stone has fallen away along joints that cross at nearly right angles, an effect called architectural jointing.

Taughannock Falls is a little bit of rugged, mountain wilderness in a gentle landscape. The waterfall is 215 feet high, and the rock walls around it are nearly 400 feet high, equal to the depth of Cayuga Lake off Taughannock Point shown in this picture.

Buttermilk Falls State Park

One of the most accessible glens, Buttermilk Falls State Park, on the southern boundary of Ithaca, takes its name from the foaming cascade formed by Buttermilk Creek as it flows down the steep valley side toward Cayuga Lake. The upper park has a small lake, hiking trails through woodlands and along the gorge and rim. The lower park has a campground and pool, beyond which is Larch Meadows. Larch Meadows is a moist, shady glen and wetland area through which a nature trail winds. 

 Buttermilk Creek flows down the east side of the Cayuga Valley, dropping more than 600 feet over 10 separate waterfalls and through two discrete glens. Most of this drop is over rocks of the Ithaca Formation, which is of Late Devonian age. A particularly striking feature along Buttermilk Creek is Pinnacle Rock, a 40-foot pillar of shale left by erosion of the stream around it (probably through cracks that caused weakness on either side). Look for plunge pools and potholes.

pinnacle rock

Treman Gorge, also known as Enfield Glen, exposes approximately 400 feet of shale and sandstone along a moderately steep two-mile trail. Enfield Creek flows through the gorge over 12 discrete cascades, including the impressive, 115 ft. tall Lucifer Falls. The rocks of the Glen are assigned to the Ithaca Formation (in the lower part of the glen) and the Sonyea Group (upper part of the glen). These are Late Devonian in age (~370 million years old).

Enfield Glen is actually two interwoven glens. Erosion from the creek, during a long period between two glacial visits, created the wide, deep sections with forested slopes. This section is called an interglacial gorge. During the shorter period following the last glacier, the more rugged portions of the gorge were carved in places where the stream's course detoured from its original path. These rugged sections are considered post-glacial gorges.

Beginning at the upper entrance, the first half-mile of Enfield Glen clearly displays the rugged, scenic effects of a post-glacial gorge. A beautiful stone pathway and steps lead to 115-feet-high Lucifer Falls, the highest in the park. Shortly past these falls, one can see a mile and a half through the deep, wooded interglacial gorge as it winds its way to the lower park.

Lucifer Falls

in the summer they block these exits and create a swimming pool in front of the waterfall

all of this area up to the retaining walls becomes the swimming pool

Located at the southern end of Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen State Park is a spectacular 1,000-acre park in the Village of Watkins Glen. It has an erosion-sculptured chasm, craggy rock formations, and the cascading water of 19 waterfalls. All of the 19 waterfalls are within two miles, as the glen's stream descends 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade and Rainbow Falls. Rim trails overlook the gorge. Initially, the gorge was privately owned and operated as a tourist attraction. The State of New York established a State Park in 1906.

this is the first of two waterfalls that you walk behind on the gorge trail

these ripple marks were once ripples in sand on the bottom of an ancient sea but have turned to stone

Recycled New England

The rock layers  are made from sediments eroded from ancient mountains in eastern New York and New England that preceded today's Appalachian Mountains. Rivers carried the sediments into a sea that covered much of New York State and eastern North America.

the 2nd falls you walk behind on the trail

looking down into the glen from the ridge trail

The precipitous walls, dramatic waterfalls and snaking pathway of Genesee Gorge through which flows the Genesee River, an Indian name meaning "Great and Beautiful River," have earned Letchworth the title "Grand Canyon of the East."

The river is mild-mannered and almost the width of a city block as it enters the park at its south end. But it picks up steam as it passes 16 miles through the park before plunging over three magnificent waterfalls, highest of which is 107 feet high. The cliffs, created by the river are 600 feet high.

The historic, completely restored Glen Iris Inn offers overnight accommodations and is open to the public for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Letchworth Museum

This papoose sling was made by an Oglala Sioux woman for the Sioux chief Red Cloud. It represents the peace treaty between Red Cloud and Gen. John E. Smith of the 14th Infantry at Ft. Laramie, WY 1870.

Seneca man's hat - This is the common hat worn by the Iroquois from about 1750 to 1850.

clothing of a typical Seneca woman

 clothing of a typical Seneca chief

  This log house was built by Mary Jemison--"the white woman of the Genesee"--for her second daughter Nancy. She lived 78 years of her life as a captive and adopted member of the Senecas during which time she became the wife of Chief Hiokatoo and gained great influence in their councils.

  "In memory of Mary Jemison whose home during more than 70 years of a life of strange vicissitude was among the Senecas upon the banks of this river and whose history inseparably connected with that of this valley has causes her to be known as The White Woman of the Genesee.”

This ancient Seneca council house stood at Ga-o-ya-de-o (Canadea) on the Genesee River in days antedating the American Revolution. In it gathered the war parties that devastated the frontiers and before it their helpless prisoners ran the gauntlet. Around its council fires sat famous warriors and chiefs. For its preservation, it was carefully removed to its present location by William Pryor Letchworth and was re-dedicated October 1, 1872 by the last Indian council on the Genesee. 

There are eight clans in the Iroquois Confederacy. They are the Turtle, Wolf, Beaver, Bear, Snipe, Hawk, Heron, and Deer. The clans represent the family system for the people of the Iroquois. When two people get married they must be from different clans. The children born from this union belong in the clan of the mother. This is known as a Matriarchal Society.

The clans are grouped into two moieties. The Bear, Beaver, Turtle and Wolf Clans belong to one moiety and the Deer, Hawk, Snipe and Heron Clans belong to the other. One function of the moieties is to assist in times of grieving, so one moiety can help the other with chores and other responsibilities.

Mount Morris Dam

The largest dam of its type east of the Mississippi River--it was completed in May 1952 and stands 245 feet tall. It stretches 1,028 feet across the Genesee River Gorge and contains over 750,000 cubic yards of concrete. 

Stony Brook State Park's terrain comprises hilly woodlands, a deep gorge with rugged cliffs overlooking three waterfalls and fascinating rock formations. It is a new valley in an ancient landscape; a "post-glacial" stream. Since the end of the Ice Age it has eroded a gorge in the soft shale of the hillside creating high cliffs and waterfalls. The rocks of the gorge are older than the dinosaurs and represent compressed sediments which accumulated in an ancient sea. Fossils are occasionally found.

the area shown here is dammed at the end and made into a swimming pool in the summer with steps leading down into the water and markers indicating the depth of the water

this is where the water is dammed

for pictures of other vacations return to the Vacation Photos page