Today we visited Letchworth State Park which is also referred to as the Grand Canyon of the East. Much like the Grand Canyon, pictures certainly don’t do it justice. You really need to see it to understand how huge the gorge along the Genesee River really is. We highly recommend visiting here.
There are three sets of waterfalls within the state park (Upper, Middle, and Lower). Although you can drive to parking lots that are fairly close to each of the falls, we were trying to get in shape for hiking out West. Having had no changes in elevation to practice on in Florida we elected to hike from Inspiration Point (North of the Middle Falls) to the top of the Upper Falls at the South end of the park. This 2.8 mile hike was definitely good practice. We climbed down 91 steps (and back up on the return) from Inspiration Point to the Middle Falls and then up 262 steps (and back down on the return) to the top of the Gorge Trail above the Upper Falls. Beth had packed sandwiches and we stopped near the top of the Upper Falls and ate lunch on a rock cutout. We were famished and the sandwiches were delicious. Needless to say, the hike “whooped us” and when we returned to Inspiration Point, we didn’t have the energy to hike to the Lower Falls. We’ll see them next time.
We followed the park road out to the North entrance (we had entered via the South entrance) and stopped at numerous overlooks along the way. This is a must see State Park and we enjoyed every bit of it.
The Gorge 
Beth at the Middle Falls 
Beth on the Stairs to the Middle Falls 
The Upper Falls 
Inspiration Point – Overlooking the Middle and Upper Falls 
Humphrey’s Overlook 
Hogback Overlook