Letchworth State Park

At over 3 1/2 hours, Letchworth State Park is hardly in Kayuta Lake's neighborhood, but still possibly a day trip for the travel hardy.

Renowned as the "Grand Canyon of the East," the park comprises of more than 14000 acres of magnificent scenery along the Genesee River. From numerous overlooks along the main park road, we were able to see the winding river below the cliffs, approaching 600 feet high in some areas. The park lists 27 waterfalls, although a number of them can only be appreciated after a heavy rainfall. Two of the three major waterfalls can be seen at the overlook on Inspiration Point.

There are numerous picnic areas in the park, most of which have nice clean bathroom facilities with running water. We had our lunch overlooking the 70 ft high upper falls.

Downstream, the middle falls demonstrate the rainbows that inspired Letchworth to name his home Glen Iris, now a popular inn just above the falls.














To get a good view of the other major waterfalls, the lower falls, we had to climb 127 steps following the Lower Falls Trail.

We can't wait to return to try out some more of the 66miles of hiking trails around. Maybe even go kayaking or whitewater rafting, maybe even go on a hot-air balloon ride.

The Observation Deck on Moss Lake

We finally found the observation deck that missed on our first visit to Moss Lake.

From the observation deck, one can view almost the entire 115-acre lake.

Wildlife abounds on this lake. The most remarkable is a pair of ospreys that have nested on the island in the middle of the lake.

And the loons are not too shy to come close to the deck for good viewing.

Still, a good pair of binoculars would be most useful.

Another visit to the Jackson Hill Trails

July 4th weekend was relatively quiet for us so we took the opportunity to explore the Jackson Hill trails again.

We followed the intermediate cross-country ski trail to Sunfield hoping to reach the Adirondack Field which supposedly has the "most impressive view of all, sweeping north and west over the vast wilderness of the Adirondacks".

The trek was easy enough but we ended up in this wildflower field bordering some private property. With wire fencing around, we could not find a way to continue onward. Did we miss the turnoff? Doubling back, there was really no other way to go.

Back where we started, we then followed the Hillside Trail to the Telemark Trail. The toboggan before the descent was not too reassuring. At least, we weren't skiing downhill.

True to its black trail billing, the trail went uphill and downhill several times...a real workout.



It turned out to be quite an enjoyable hike although we did not get to see any really spectacular landscape.  Maybe next time.

The Skyfields on Jackson Hill

Our 3rd weekend at Kayuta and we're still waiting for that nice sunny day.  At least, we got a visit from this small red backed salamander, supposedly the most common salamander in this area. All the rain must have encouraged it to come out of its hiding place to go hunting.

During the brief respites from the rain, we were able to go on short walks around the camp and even go on a short canoe ride.

Desperate for something new to explore, we headed out towards Jackson Hill in search of a trail. About 2.1 miles after turning from Route 46, we found the parking lot for the Skyfields on Jackson Hill, one of the cross-country ski trail systems maintained by BREIA which is open for hiking and biking in the summer.


The trails are closed to the public on Mondays to Friday from 9am to 1:30 pm and on this drizzly Sunday morning, we had the trails to ourselves.

We started walking on the Hillside Trail hoping for a nice easy stroll but ended up going down towards the Telemark Field. We got our aerobic workout climbing back up.

The Skyfields Trail system is said to offer the "finest views and the most spectacular landscapes" of the 3 BREIA trail systems. Today was not the day to enjoy these views. With a lot of area to cover, as seen on the map, we will have to spend more time here in the future...when it's not raining.

2011 Season Begins

We finally were able to go to Kayuta this Memorial Day weekend, the latest date we've opened our camp for the summer. Our hummingbirds are back and we got news of a fox den on our property. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see it this year.




With a change in my husband's work arrangement, we might not be able to spend as much time at the camp as last year. Working from home like below may be a thing of the past.