Letchworth State Park, NY

[dthurk]

Photos can be found at:
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=550943406&security=NfaBoF
 
Letchworth State Park in NYS is a beautiful park. It's large, about 20 miles long from north end to south. There are 4 entrances to the park, at the north and south and 2 along the length of the west side of the gorge. There are no road bridges that cross over the gorge in the park. The campground is situated about 5 miles south of the north end of the park. Use exit 7 off I390, turn west off the ramp and into Mt. Morris. Turn right onto Main St. and the entrance will be just down the road on the left. The campground office closes at 9 PM. Late arrivals are not permitted into the campground. If you arrive late, you would set up in the parking lot at the office and check in when the office opens at 9 AM.
 
We reserved site 817. We arrived Thurs. eve, 5/25/06. The site was somewhat damp, but not a problem. We completed our set up, then it began raining. The rain continued all night and until about 4 PM on Friday. When we awoke Friday morning, our daughter opened the door, looked out and said WOW! It didn't sound good, so we rolled over and went back to sleep. When we did look out ourselves, we found that all the water from uphill had collected in our site. It was a sea of mud and water that caused us to squish until we took down on Monday morning. There are other sites that would be much more suitable.
 
We drove to Rochester on Friday, about 35 miles away, and toured the Science Center there. We enjoyed the day. Saturday found us hiking, stopping at some of the lookout points and exploring the park in general. We visited the Mt. Morris dam, which is the largest dry dam east of the Mississippi. In the evening, we took part in a river raft ride of the Genesee River, riding through about half of the gorge in the park. The trip included dinner on the banks of the river partway through the ride. Sunday found us looking to go to church. DW got up early and drove back home to conduct her church choir. She took the Jeep. It wasn't until a bit later that I discovered that, and realized I only had keys for the Jeep. The van was sitting right there in the campsite. Luckily we had left the tailgate unlocked and could still access the things stored in there, but we weren't able to go anywhere, at least in a motorized manner. We had bikes, and spent some time riding that morning. We drove down to the south end of the park after DW returned, with the intent of viewing the balloon rally that evening. Every Memorial Day weekend has a balloon rally at Letchworth, and we would strongly recommend seeing that if you can. The launch didn't take place Sunday eve due to poor weather conditions, but a number of them did inflate balloons without taking off just to give us some photo opportunities. We got up about 5:30 Monday morning to drive down again and try to see Monday morning's flight, but that was canceled also due to thunderstorms in the area. Such is the unpredictability of ballooning.
 
I included a number of site photos in the album of photos listed above. My criteria for selection included proximity to a water faucet, spaciousness of the site, the level conditions, and lack of neighbors. There certainly would be other sites that would be suitable, but some do get rather close to your neighbor. I would not recommend the 700 loop at all, as these sites tend to be some of the tightest in the park. I belive the 100, 200 and 700 loops are the pet loops. 400 and 600 can get sites very close to the gorge. This can be quite beautiful or scary depending on your family situation.  Do take an extra power cord for your camper.  Some of the electrical boxes can be more than 25 feet away from where you would want to set your camper.  Also, 50 to 75 feet of water hose would allow you to refill your water tank directly from the faucet without carrying water.  
 
Please ask if you have any other questions about Letchworth. I'll do my best to answer.

[GeneF]

Thanks for the info.

DW and I are spending a few days there in July.  We drove thorugh the park once a few years ago, were impressed, and now we are able to make a trip there.

[SpeakEasy]

I used to live in Perry, NY, which is right on the doorstep of Letchworth. Therefore, the park and I became close friends. (In fact, I was a member of a group called "Friends of Letchworth.")

A little-publicized feature of the park is its area on the east side of the river. Few people go there; there are few facilities there. If you are interested in a more wilderness experience, including long hiking with solitude, I recommend the hiking trail on the east side of the gorge. The trail runs the entire length of the park, and with twists and turns and so on, it is about 22 miles long. Near the middle, but a little south of the middle is a lean-to where you can spend the night if you are so inclined. There are areas near the southern extremity where you can stand on rocks that are on the very precipice of the gorge. (Not recommended for young children!) You can stand and look straight down about 500 feet into the river bed (with absolutely no guard rail or barrier.) Sections of this hiking trail, at its southern end, are what used to be a railroad, so you can see evidence if you look closely. Prior to being a railroad bed, it was a canal, and again, if you know this, you can look for and find evidence of it. Because of this canal-railroad history, the trail is very level and straight in long sections. It's a very easy and very pretty hike. In this same area there have been beavers in recent years. The park does not appreciate the beavers, and they try to discourage them. But I would bet that the beavers are winning the battle and are still there. Look for evidence. If you don't do the whole 22-mile trail, at least sample the southern end. You won't be disappointed.

[dthurk]

I used to live in Perry, NY, which is right on the doorstep of Letchworth. Therefore, the park and I became close friends. (In fact, I was a member of a group called "Friends of Letchworth.")
 
A little-publicized feature of the park is its area on the east side of the river. Few people go there; there are few facilities there. If you are interested in a more wilderness experience, including long hiking with solitude, I recommend the hiking trail on the east side of the gorge. The trail runs the entire length of the park, and with twists and turns and so on, it is about 22 miles long. Near the middle, but a little south of the middle is a lean-to where you can spend the night if you are so inclined. There are areas near the southern extremity where you can stand on rocks that are on the very precipice of the gorge. (Not recommended for young children!) You can stand and look straight down about 500 feet into the river bed (with absolutely no guard rail or barrier.) Sections of this hiking trail, at its southern end, are what used to be a railroad, so you can see evidence if you look closely. Prior to being a railroad bed, it was a canal, and again, if you know this, you can look for and find evidence of it. Because of this canal-railroad history, the trail is very level and straight in long sections. It's a very easy and very pretty hike. In this same area there have been beavers in recent years. The park does not appreciate the beavers, and they try to discourage them. But I would bet that the beavers are winning the battle and are still there. Look for evidence. If you don't do the whole 22-mile trail, at least sample the southern end. You won't be disappointed.

Interesting comments! Yes, Perry is actually the park entrance to use to get to the campground if you're coming from the West. The eastside trail speakeasy is referring to is part of the Finger Lakes Trail. See http://www.fingerlakestrail.org/. Detailed trail maps are available from them.  We have a map and were going to hike a portion of the trail, but didn't have the opportunity to do so.  That'll have to be another trip for us.  
 
Be very careful, though, when getting near the edge of the canyon. People have died in Letchworth Park from sliding over the edge. The eastside rim is not as well maintained as the westside, and yet while river rafting, our guides pointed out a westside prominence of rock that jutted out from the upper rim. The prominence was about 20 feet wide and about 50 feet tall, with NOTHING UNDERNEATH it. It also had a fissure that extended from top to bottom at the point it joined the main rock wall. This fissure was wide enough that we could see daylight through it from the river. This cannot be seen from above. People would walk out on the prominence to look down at the gorge and river below, completely unaware of the danger they were risking in doing so.
 
Be VERY careful when dealing with the canyon rim at Letchworth Park.

[tedski]

Nice park - they did mess up our reservations and gave us a flooded site.  They did have a back up site they gave us - very secluded (that was ok), but very narrow.  Other than that, it was a nice place.

Now if you've got the extra time, take another week off (sure why not) and go up to Lakeside Beach State Park on Lake Ontario.  Very scenic views of the lake.  Then you can drive to Niagra Falls and Canada for day trips - TONS of stuff to do.

[tlhdoc]

Nice park - they did mess up our reservations and gave us a flooded site. They did have a back up site they gave us - very secluded (that was ok), but very narrow. Other than that, it was a nice place.

How did they mess up your reservation?  Was your reserved site flooded or didn't you get the site you reserved, and that site was the flooded one?:confused:

[dthurk]

It looked to me like quite a few of the sites had water problems.  Seemed drainage isn't too good.  We did get a lot of water Thursday night and during the day Friday.  It was a good test for this.  We just happened to be unlucky and get one of the really wet ones.  tlhdoc, this is the same site (817) you said you had when you were there.  There wasn't much to do about it, though.  The campground was filled for the Memorial Day weekend.

The sites I photographed and included in my webshots album seemed to be dryer than most, also.

[tedski]

Tracy,
they rented out the site we reserved in advance, gave us another one- it was flooded.  They realized their error and gave us a back up.  I cant remember the number, but very narrow and secluded.  Sorry I can't be more help as to remembering the site that flooded.

[raptor]

We're headed there for a stay right *after* the memorial weekend rush this year so we don't have much competition for sites.  So, does anyone have a recommendation for a good particular site number to request?  We've just got a 10 foot box and need electric hookup is all.  got two little girls (5, 3) so sort of close to a restroom would be nice.

Thanks!

[dthurk]

We're headed there for a stay right *after* the memorial weekend rush this year so we don't have much competition for sites.  So, does anyone have a recommendation for a good particular site number to request?  We've just got a 10 foot box and need electric hookup is all.  got two little girls (5, 3) so sort of close to a restroom would be nice.
 
 Thanks!

Take a look at my photos of Letchworth (see link at the bottom of the page).  I photographed several sites that I thought were more worthy than most. IIRC, the first one was right next to a bathroom.

[kathybrj]

We've always stayed in the 200 loop because we have a dog...and we've always stayed on the same site because there's a water spigot across the road.  

I *think* all the camping sites in all loops have electric if I'm not mistaken. I do know that in loop 100 and loop 600 you have to be careful about the edge of the canyon....there may be one or two sites where there isn't a fence up!

Each loop has a bathroom adn shower facility, which is nice. They aren't particularly big, but the walk to the bath house isn't usually very long.

The Reserve America site has gotten a little better about showing where the facilities are.

Have fun! We love Letchworth- it's one of our favorite trips!

[SpeakEasy]

I usually don't make recommendations about particular sites because everyone's ideas of "the perfect site" vary so much.

The 100-loop does have a section of sites that overlook the gorge. That is one of my favorite places to stay because I like the view of the gorge. The view is certainly not as good as the view in other parts of the park, but it is the best spot in the camping area for a view. There is no fencing in loop 100 to keep you from the gorge, but the campground is located in an area where the slope toward the river is more gentle. It is not an "edge" that you need to be protected from. If you camp with a pet, your choices will be limited to certain loops. Unless they've changed the rules, that would be loops 100, 200, and 700.

The 600 loop also has some gorge-edge sites, and in the 600 loop there is a chain-link fence to keep people from wandering toward the gorge.

The 300 loop is more open and grassy, and it connects to the large open playing field. The rest of the loops are all pretty wooded.

All the sites have electric. The 700 and 800 loops are newer.

Hope this helps some.

-Speak