Letchworth State Park

July 12, 2021

So did you know there was another Grand Canyon, east of the Mississippi? It was news to us, and sounded like a can’t miss sight. It’s the reason we biked down to this out of the way place and booked two nights here. We were pretty glum last night when it looked like showers and scattered thunderstorms were on tap for all of today, so we raised a cheer this morning when we saw that the showers had pushed out to early afternoon. With an early start we should be able to get in our tour of the park and get home dryish.

First though, an anecdote from our stay back in Rochester that I forgot to include two days back. After returning from our memorable Italian meal Rachael prepared to call up the Brick Inn, our supposed lodging here in Mount Morris, to find out if we could get an early check-in. To our great chagrin we found that our Airbnb reservation was cancelled about two weeks ago. We’ve been cancelled without warning by AirBnB before, but we don’t remember even being notified this time. We called up the Brick Inn to find out what happened, and were told that it had been cancelled at the request of the guests. This draws a total blank from us; something must have gone wrong here, but now we have a big problem - no lodging tomorrow. And the Brick Inn is totally booked now. The saving grace here is that we by chance discovered this news this evening rather than showing up in Mount Morris in the rain and finding out we were stuck without lodging.

We start looking around for other ideas, even other destinations where we can find a room at such short notice. Then, finally it occurs to Rachael to search our email history. We did it to ourselves. We cancelled this booking in favor of what sounded like (and is) a better choice, just two weeks ago. We failed to write it down and add it to the calendar at the time and then forgot all about it.

Seriously folks, we may be getting too old for this lifestyle. I always thought it would be the knees that would go first, or maybe the spirit. Maybe not though - maybe it will be the little grey cells.

So, back to today. We do better this morning and are on the road not long after seven-thirty, climbing up through Letchworth Park. It’s comfortably cool, solidly overcast and slightly foggy but dry.

At the northern entrance to Letchworth Park.

We’re really excited about visiting Letchworth State Park. It has an impressive reputation, even including in 2015 winning the USA Readers’ Choice Award for Best State Park in the United States. It’s a seventeen mile long ribbon park following the Genesee River through a remarkable stretch where it cuts a 600’ deep gorge and drops through another series of three significant waterfalls that from the sounds of it must be comparable to the ones in downtown Rochester.

We start at the northern entrance to the park and follow the river south on Park Road, the only paved road in the park. The waterfalls are all at the southern end so we have to make it all the way to the far end if we want to see the fireworks. Our plan is a forty mile loop - we’ll ride through the park to its other end and then take a minor highway east of the river back to Mount Morris.

There’s no shoulder on Park Road, and I was worried about how busy or unsafe it might feel. This morning though it’s virtually empty and feels like we have the park all to ourselves. It’s beautiful riding and reminds us of biking the Blue Ridge Mountains or Shenandoah.

On Park Road, in Letchworth State Park. It’s a hilly ride, the most climbing we’ve done on the tour - early on, our Garmins alert us that there are eight climbs ahead. We’ll find them all to be fairly short but often steep - one topped out at 16%. It’s a great day to be biking without the panniers.

Not long after entering the park we come to an overlook of Mount Morris Dam. This dam, completed in 1952, was created to provide flood control. prior to this Rochester and the lower Genesee Valley were subject to severe, sometimes devastating flooding on an average of once every seven years.

Biking is slow as we pull off at every viewpoint and pullout to look out across the steadily deepening gorge. it really is quite impressive, and more so than we’d really been expecting. and it’s very green and feels wild. At one point I look ahead and am startled to see an adult deer streaking across the road right in front of Rachael, so close that I wonder if she needed to apply the brakes.

It’s nothing at all like the Grand Canyon of the Colorado of course. What it does remind me of though is some of the gorges in southern France.

The Mount Morris dam protects Rochester and the Genesee Valley from periodic flooding.

The Hogsback, one of the sharp gooseneck meanders the river carves through the gorge.

Overlooking the Gardeau Valley, which was formerly settled farmland. The valley was bought out as park land so it could serve as a reservoir for the dam in times of flooding. When the reservoir is full it covers the tops of the trees in the valley.

In places the road reminds us of Shenandoah or the Blue Ridge Mountains, especially with today’s scattered patches of fog.

The park’s forest and trees are splendid and very diverse. I especially liked this old eastern white oak.

On Park Road. For a brief spell it looked as if the sun might break through.

Along the Genesee Gorge. The famous falls are still further upriver from here.

This was wonderful. I saw this heron flying upriver, first tracking its flight a few hundred yards from here. At first I thought i was seeing a plane in the distance. He shot straight through the air high above the canyon, aiming for this tree.

Wolf Creek, a small tributary flowing into the gorge.

Wolf Creek falls off here at the beginning of a several hundred foot cascade to the river below. There was no good vantage point to get a view of the fall itself.

The three falls (the lower, middle, and upper) are all clustered closely together within two miles of each other at the southern end of the park. We heard but couldn’t see the lower fall, but the other two really are magnificent, and very similar in feeling and size to the two major falls in Rochester. We feel really lucky to have had this break in the weather so we could make it out here.

The lower fall is around the bend, audible but out of sight. If we’d remembered to bring the lock we could have hiked there and maybe crossed that scary looking footbridge across the river.

The middle falls is awesome. Like the high falls in Rochester but without a city surrounding it. And especially awesome because you can get so close up to this one. Loud and wet.

Looking down from above the middle falls.

The upper falls makes an especially dramatic sight with the rail bridge arching above it.

Video sound track: I Wonder (Song for Michael), by Yasmin Williams

It’s nearly noon when we leave the south end of the park. Because of a few unplanned detours the ride so far has been longer and hillier and has taken longer than planned for, and as a result Team Anderson is in the midst of a minor Food Crisis - not such an infrequent event, and one that most often occurs in situations like this when not enough calories have been packed for the ride and there’s the risk of someone on the team expiring before we make it back to port.

Fortunately we immediately pass through the hamlet of Portageville; and they do have a convenience store, and it is open. We make a quick stop, some calories are purchased, some calories are consumed. Crisis averted!

In the meantime though the sky has gotten gloomier and it’s starting to sprinkle. Suddenly we’re back in yesterday’s predicament, 20 miles from home and wondering if we’ll get there before we get soaked. Fortunately it’s a very fast ride - smooth road, a good shoulder, and generally downhill. The last five miles in particular are a pure delight as we speed down a steady incline and see the skies lighten up ahead of us.

Mount Morris has a quite limited set of dining choices, particularly on Monday night. Borikén, the pleasant Puerto Rican place we ate at last night, is closed Mondays. As is the High Banks Tavern. Likewise Brian’s USA Diner and Suzea’s Gluten-free Cafe. That leaves the Golden Arches, which we have to be really desperate to patronize; an out of the way Chinese restaurant that gets lukewarm reviews; and the Leaning Tower, a pizza place. Pizza it is then. Always a safe choice of last resort.

Except tonight. Leaning Tower serves us up a pretty disappointing pepperoni, green olive and mushroom pizza. Thick, doughy, and way more than we can eat. We take four slices back to the motel with us, thinking we’ll have it for breakfast or lunch tomorrow - but when the time comes we’ll scrap it because it just wasn’t that appetizing.

One thing Leaning Tower does not have, surprisingly, is beer. Between planning the day’s ride, riding it, and helping the team navigate its latest Food Crisis, I feel I have a beer coming. Or two. While Rachael heads back to the room I stop in at the Dollar General, the only thing around resembling a grocery store. They do carry beer and beer-like alcoholic products, but have a really crappy selection and not available in singles. I could buy a six pack of Bud, or a six pack of Sam Adams Summer Ale, or a twelve pack of PBR, or a 26 can of The Big One, whatever that is - I’m not even sure it’s beer, but it only costs $4 and contains 9% alcohol so it’s a pretty cheap drunk if that’s your goal.

I pick up a six pack of Sam Adams, the best off a bad lot, with the idea that I’ll have two and leave four as a tip for the cleaning staff. Someone will know what to do with it, I’m sure. I go to checkout, and get carded by a young woman who confesses she’s only been legal for two weeks herself. She suspects I’m of legal age since I’m olde nough to be her grandfather, but has to be sure. I hand over my drivers license, she stares at it for a few minutes, and then apologetically hands it back. She can’t find my date of birth on it so she has to deny the sale. I point it out to her, she agrees that a date in 1946 qualifies, and I leave with my prize.

Back in the room, one last crisis for the day. I can’t find the bottle opener! I’m afraid that scamp the GBO has gone off chasing some tin floozie again, but then finally I find him hiding at the bottom of the tool bag and put him to work.

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Ride stats today: 42 miles, 2,900’; for the tour: 1,658 miles, 44,300’

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 1,658 miles (2,668 km)

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