We were both looking forward to seeing the countryside of the Finger Lakes Region of New York. Watkins Glenn and the State Park are located at the South West end of Lake Seneca. The most westward of the Finger Lakes.
The State Park is very rustic with tall trees and nice campsites, close to 300 sites in all. The main attraction of this park is the Gorge Trail with its many waterfalls and challenging trails, and it did not disappoint. The Gorge Trail itself has 862 stair steps. These steps and other infrastructure were originally built by the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, in the 1930s. Tourism first came to the area as early as 1863 when the Gorge was privately owned. The state purchased the area in 1906.
We started or hike at 10:00 and finished up around 12:30. We chose to hike from the South end at Couch’s Staircase to the North end at Jacob’s Ladder. We then returned via the North or Indian Trail, roughly 3 miles round trip. The weather was overcast, and we experienced drizzle and rain for most of the hike, but it was a blast none the less.
First opportunity to walk behind a fall. 
Second opportunity to walk behind a fall. 
Cracks, called Joints, were caused by the Continental Collisions that created the Appalachian Mountains. 
The Joints run down the wall, through the creek bed, and up the opposite wall. 
A field of Cairns found on the North Trail 
Cairns is pronounced “Kerns” 
Tree Cairns
After our hike we cruised around town for a bit in Jethro the Giraffe Jeep and eventually made our way to the main gate at Watkins Glenn International Raceway. Watkins Glenn is responsible for the resurgence of sports car racing in the late 40s and early 50s after sports car racing had waned during World War II. There is a commemorative sign on Highway 14 in front of the courthouse designating the Start/Finish of the Watkins Glenn Historic Road Course. The races were run on public roads in the area from 1948 through 1952. I found this information and a cool map of the original course at http://grandprixfestival.com/Laps.html . The course was 6.6 miles long and the same roads can be driven today and are marked with historic signs like the one at the start/finish. Across from the start/finish is a flagpole displaying the traditional Green Flag indicating the start of the race, Green Green Green, along with a second pole with and American Flag and a Checkered Flag. Pretty cool stuff for sure. We also noticed the street signs along Decatur street were topped with a silhouette of a vintage grand prix car.
We headed back to Wally to clean up from our adventure and then we headed out for the ubiquitous visit to Walmart. After our rainy day we decided a small waterproof digital camera would be a good addition to our kit and we stocked up on a few more items for the RV as well as filling up our empty drinking water jugs at the Primo water machine for a whopping .39cents per gallon.
Our day of adventure ended with some excellent food at the Village Marina restaurant. We ordered two of their signature burgers and shared them. The Cardboard Boat Regatta burger and the Grand Prix burger were excellent and the sweet potato wedges and onion rings were delicious. Honey enjoyed her “mermaid water” cocktail. I told her I thought mermaid water was mermaid pee and she said it was delicious none the less.
