- Watkins Glen State Park
Watkins Glen State Park is located on the edge of the village of
Watkins Glen, New York , south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County. The main feature of the park is the hiking trail that climbs up through the gorge, passing over and under waterfalls. The park has a lower part that is next to the village and an upper part that is open woodland.Watkins Glen State Park is in a 400-foot deep narrow gorge cut through rock by a stream that was left hanging when
glacier s of theIce age deepened the Seneca valley, increasing the tributarystream gradient to createrapids andwaterfall s wherever there were layers of hard rock. The rocks of the area are sedimentary ofDevonian age that are part of adissected plateau that was uplifted with little faulting or distortion. They consist mostly of softshale s, with some layers of hardersandstone andlimestone .Fact|date=February 2007Activities and services
The park features a trail - open mid-May to early November - by which one can climb or descend the gorge. Hundreds of stone steps climb over, under, and along the waterfalls. This trail connects to the
Finger Lakes Trail , an 800-mile (1280 km) system of trails throughoutNew York state.There are three trails: Indian, Gorge and Southern Rim. The Gorge and Southern Rim trails are closer to the waterfalls. The Indian trail takes you to the upper entrance, through the woods.
Watkins Glen is in New York's
Finger Lakes region, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake and west of Ithaca.The park has comfortable camping sites, as well as pavilions, picnic tables, food, playground, gift shop, pool, dump stations, showers, recreation programs, tent/trailer sites, fishing, hiking, hunting, cross-county skiing. Entrance fee for a day picnic is $7 per car.
Nearby but unaffiliated is
Watkins Glen International race track.ee also
*
List of New York state parks
*Watkins Glen International References
External links
* [http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=105 New York State Parks: Watkins Glen State Park]
* [http://www.llbean.com/parksearch/parks/html/292lln.html LLBean.com: Watkins Glen State Park]
* [http://www.fingerlakes.com/index.htm Friends of The Finger Lakes] for a bit of history about the region.
* [http://fotozac.smugmug.com/gallery/4223437#246983953 Photos] Watkins Glen State Park.
*Geolinks-US-cityscale|42.368|-76.901
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