Hiking the Gorge Trail in Watkins Glen State Park

Sam led him along several passages and down many steps and out into a high garden above the steep bank of the river. He found his friends sitting in a porch on the side of the house looking east. Shadows had fallen in the valley below, but there was still a light on the faces of the mountains far above. The air was warm. The sound of running and falling water was loud, and the evening was filled with a faint scent of trees and flowers, as if summer still lingered in Elrond’s gardens.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Exploring Rivendell

When I was young, I oftentimes imagined what it would be like to live in Rivendell, the sanctuary of the Elves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is a refuge in times of trouble, an outpost of aid and friendship, and a bounty of history and folklore. Blessed by magic and peace, Rivendell is a place saturated with the kind of ancient, otherworldly beauty that only an immortal race could build.

So would you be surprised to know that Rivendell is in upstate New York? We definitely were. (If you’re curious to read more about the actual filming location of Rivendell for the Lord of the Rings movies, read this post about our trip to New Zealand!)

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Watkins Glen State Park is located just south of Seneca Lake in New York’s Finger Lakes region. Visitors know the area for its vast expanses of vineyards that grow against the backdrop of dozens of long, skinny lakes that run north to south (thus the name, “Finger Lakes”). We visited the park on a morning trip from Rochester, New York, about two hours away.

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The park, like Rivendell, feels ancient. A narrow, deep gorge (400 feet) divides the park. During the Ice Age, melting glaciers chiseled the Seneca valley into a rushing stream. The different types of rock that form the walls of the gorge–limestone, sandstone, and shale–erode at different paces. This irregular erosion exposes any areas of hard rock to waterfalls, rapids, plunge pools, and cascades.

Indeed, our two mile hike on the “Gorge Trail” exposed us to nineteen different waterfalls. Although Watkins Glen offers three different trails, the Gorge Trail should be your focus if you’re visiting for the first time.

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Tips for Visiting

• Arrive early. Watkins Glen State Park is an incredibly popular tourist attraction. During our visit, we saw no less than four tour buses of school groups and church groups proceed through the Gorge Trail in a swarm. The earlier you arrive (gates open at 8:30am), the better chance you have of avoiding this type of crowd.
• For the Gorge Trail, start at the Main Trail entrance on Franklin Street. You should find yourself walking uphill.
• There are 800 steps on the Gorge Trail. Wear sturdy shoes.
• Wear clothes you’re not afraid to ruin. Bring a raincoat. By the end of the trail, my shoes, pants, and jacket were soaked through, and my shoes were so covered in mud that they turned brown. The park has 19 waterfalls. Parts of the trail require that you walk behind or directly under the falls. You will get wet.
• Bring a camera with video–taping capabilities. A video has the ability to showcase the power, speed, and size of the falls far more convincingly than a photo alone.
• The Gorge Trail is not out-and-back; it is two miles into the park. At the end of the trail, you have the option to take a shuttle back to the main visitor’s area. If you go early in the season (we visited in late May), the shuttle may not be running yet. This happened to us, and we had to walk another two miles back on the Indian Trail.
• As of the time of writing, the shuttle is cash-only.
• Pets are not allowed on the Gorge Trail.

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Finally, make sure to admire the geography and history of this place. We learned that the two different sides of the gorge have very different flora due to the way they receive sunlight. Shadow falls almost exclusively on one side of the gorge, so its plants are different than the side of the gorge that receives exposure to sunlight. Most importantly, notice the ferns, the most ancient and beautiful of plants (in my opinion). So, enjoy the water; take in the layers of sediment that formed millions and millions of years ago; and maybe even say hi to a fern.