Last night, I was very comfortable in my woodland campsite. The grass that I set up the tent in was very deep, so when I compressed it with the tent it made for a very cushy mattress. Near the end of my ride yesterday, I had a very long and difficult walk up a very steep hill, so I knew that I would have a very long and steep descent today to enter the Genesee River valley. And once in that valley, most of the climbing for the day would be over. I was fairly close to the New York border, and once I crossed the line, the shoulders became wider and more rideable. The Genesee is a fairly wide valley but the road I was on for the rest of the day didn't hug too close to the river, so there were some ups and downs, but nothing too significant.
An example of a cable operated oil pump. These were quite common in this area of Pennsylvania.
My goal for the day was to reach Letchworth state park campground where I had booked a site. After two very hot days riding in the sun i needed a shower just to clean the dried sweat off of me. I reached the southern entrance to the park around mile 74. At mile 76 after walking the bike up the toughest climb of the day, I reached the information center where I was told that the campground was another 12 miles into the park. So, at 6:10, I headed down the road to the campground, alternately flying down steep grades and walking the bike up the other side. Fortunately, the northern end of the park is at a lower elevation than the southern end, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
A large and very aggressive snapper in the road. A man in a pickup stopped and prodded the beast off of the road. He said they're nasty creatures, but they deserve to live just like the rest of us.
William KatzinI remember seeing these spectacular views of the Genesee River gorge in Letchworth State Park when we were on a vacation that included several locations in the beautiful state of New York. We were impressed by how well the Letchworth State Park is maintained. The lack any blue in the sky is a clear record of the smoke from the Canadian forest fires. Reply to this comment 10 months ago
