Gauging the Gorge

Hi Blog! After waiting most of the day for the UPS truck to arrive with our brother-in-law's favorite wine, Dirt Cheap Red, we had just enough day light left to run over to Watkins Glen State Park for a quick hike up the Glen Creek Gorge. Here is our first glimpse of of the creek.

The centerpiece of the Watkins Glen State Park is a 400-foot-deep narrow gorge cut through rock by Glen Creek.  The walls of the gorge consist mostly of soft shales, with some layers of harder sandstone and limestone.  The Sentry Bridge you see here in the photo below is the first of several times we cross the creek.

Here is Kathy about to begin her climb up the gorge.

Here is the view from Sentry Bridge looking back toward the parking lot.

As the Cavern Cascade beats down, it created a heart shaped pool.  Since the water flow was so high, it is difficult to see the left side of the heart.

The trail goes right behind this waterfall. This is possible by the wearing away of a thin layer of shale rock underneath a tougher layer of sandstone.

If you look closely, you can see Dave peering out from behind the water curtain.

After crossing behind Cascade Falls and climbing the spiral tunnel, we can peer down into the Narrows.

After the Narrows, the gorge opens up into Glen Cathedral.

Here is the far end of Glen Cathedral.  We can hike no further today.  The trail is still closed because of ice built up over the winter. It was hard to believe as we were hiking in our shorts and t-shirts that the trail could still be icy. No sooner did we say that, then we saw large sections of ice on the side of the trail.

As we turned around and headed back down, we took the high road to give us a view from the rim of the gorge.  Here is a view looking down from the Suspension Bridge toward Seneca Lake.

Coming down from the Suspension Bridge, we had to pass once more behind Cascade Falls. This time, Kathy got to play with the water.

This photo really shows the power that water has to change rock.

It was a short hike, but well worth it.  If you are ever in Watkins Glen, you must hike the Glen Creek Gorge!