Return to Rochester

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We left the Rochester area just about two years ago and have seen a lot of things during our travels predominantly out west. We have been methodically working our way east and north since early April and are now on the doorstep of being back. The drive from Warren Pennsylvania started to look very familiar to us. After so many months of always driving in places that were new to us, it felt a bit odd to experience sights and places that are ones we know. Of course some things have changed and I’m positive our memories have faded a bit in the intervening time but much of it looked the same as before. We used to spend a lot of time in the southern tier of New York and northern parts of Pennsylvania especially the Allegany State Park and Allegheny National Forest regions. We swing through Salamanca to get some relatively inexpensive diesel fuel for the motorhome at one of the many fuel stations on the Indian reservation. 

From there we head north, working our way to our next stop at Letchworth State Park. One thing that we notice all along the drive is the devastating impact the emerald ash borer (EAB) has had on the forests. Even at highway speed, I am able to distinguish many types of deciduous trees and nearly all the dead ones appear to be ash. When we left 2 years ago, we were told how bad things would get and by being away the whole time, we didn’t experience the decline in the gradual manner those living here have seen. It’s definitely a sad thing to see and is going to continue to cause havoc as the trees die and start to drop limbs. 

When we were planning for our return to the area, we found it difficult to figure out where to stay. We did a lot of camping prior to going full time, but we usually headed at least one or two hundred miles from the area. We didn’t have a ton of experience camping near home. One exception is Letchworth SP. It is only about 25 miles from our old home, but we have camped here a couple times during some geocaching events that are held here every fall. The park itself is tall and skinny - about 15 miles tall by 1.5 miles wide. The campground is about a third of the way down from the north. The Perry entrance brings us right into the campground area of the park. As we are coming around the last curve before entering the park, there is a 9’ 8” clearance sign. Definitely not the thing you want to see when driving a rig at least 3 feet taller than that. I was worried they had changed something since last being here but the sign only referenced the one lane that goes underneath the overhang at the entrance station. The other lane is without overhang - phew!

Possibly the main draw for tourists coming here are the three waterfalls along the Genesee River within Letchworth Park. The Upper, Middle and Lower Falls are all in the southern portion of the Park. The Upper Falls are at the location of a railroad bridge that spans the gorge. This was a new experience for us since the old trestle bridge has been removed and a new arched bridge is in its place. I had heard about the change and was concerned how the new bridge would compare to the classic old bridge. But I will say that we were pleasantly surprised. The new bridge no longer has the supports that reached down to the river so the view of the river is now wide open. Plus the arched bridge is nice looking. It is still being worked on, in fact the Portageville entrance to the park is currently closed while the work on the bridge continues. Next time we are in the area it will be complete.

Upper Falls with New RR Bridge

The Middle Falls are an easy walk from the Upper Falls. There are several viewing spots along the walkway next to the river. The Lower Falls are a bit further downstream and is better to be driven to unless you’re up for a good walk. It’s a wonderful park and definitely worth a visit, even if just a day trip to see the falls.

Middle Falls

Rainbow in Mist from Middle Falls

Selfie at Middle Falls

Walkway Just Beyond Lower Falls

Coming in on a Tuesday afternoon meant it wasn’t too busy and the loop we were in only had a few other campers. Letchworth camp sites are electric only with a few water spigots scattered about each loop and a dump station on the way out. We had reserved a spot that was next to a water spigot and near the restrooms which gives us a bit of buffer for our holding tanks. The weather was gorgeous our first day so we were able to do one of the many hikes within the park. Trail #18 heads right past the camping area and extends out along the Genesee River.

For our first day in town, we called our former neighbors to see if they might be around. We drive up to Rush and visit with them for a couple hours. There is a lot to get caught up on. Before heading out, we walk halfway up the driveway of our old place to visit the grave site of our beloved dog Shelby. We had lost her just a few months prior to selling the place so we had buried her next to one of her favorite spots on the 50 acres - next to the compost pile. The flowers Chris had planted at her grave, while not in bloom, made it easy to spot the location where the painted stone marked the spot. 

We were sad to see that the ash trees we had left in place when siting the driveway during home construction have also succumbed to the EAB. We didn’t head up the rest of the way to see the house figuring it was better to live with our memories. We headed to the town of Avon to have lunch at one of our favorite spots from our past - Tom Wahls. It’s a burger joint with an old time diner feel to it. Next was a bike ride along the Lehigh Valley Trail back up in Rush. Some local cachers have placed a whole bunch of new geocaches along the trail. It was a good way to see the area, get some exercise and find a bunch of caches. 

We take another day to do a bit more exploring of Letchworth itself. It is a beautiful park. It was even voted as the top state park in the country a couple years back. Since it was always so close to home, we may not have fully appreciated just what a gem it is. Coming back as a “tourist” gives us that opportunity. The nature center had been under construction during our last visit to the park in late 2015. With it now finished and fully landscaped, it is a very impressive building. We search for one of the newer geocaches that is now in place nearby before heading into the facility to check out the displays. 

New Nature Center at Letchworth

Falls Again

Great Bend Overlook

I have been getting in touch with many of our friends from the area to see if we can arrange for some sort of meet up. Our first one was to meet with a handful of former Kodak workers - during our working years, we would often head out for lunch on Fridays and have tried to get together once or twice a year after we all departed Kodak. For the past two winters, I have FaceTimed into their get together just before the holidays. Since we likely won’t ever be back in Rochester during the December timeframe, we managed to get much of the remaining group for a good lunch. It was nice to get to see them all and hear about how their work and families are doing.

We have a few overcast and rainy days during our stay in Letchworth. We do manage to get to a Geocaching event while we are in the area. This one was an ice cream social followed by a kayak/canoe ride on Canadice Lake. We came for the ice cream but aren’t big on water sports especially on a breezy day with rain threatening and a bit of chop on the lake. It was still fun to get to see many of our caching friends again after so long. Being in the area also allowed us to check on a few of our caches and do some maintenance. One of them was hidden years ago at the southern tip of Hemlock Lake along a nice trail. The trail may technically be there, but it hasn’t been mowed yet this season so the grass was nearly chest high and wet from the rains. It wasn’t a real fun one to check up on.

Cacher "ChickenElbows" Heads Out

Cacher "Mud Dancer" Tries a Kayak

Found While Geocaching Near Canadice Lake

Southern Tip of Canadice Lake

We also used a rainy day to go and tour the dam at Letchworth. We had lived in the Rochester area for over 30 years and hadn’t actually done the dam tour until a year or two before we left. It was a fun stop so we decided to go back for an encore tour. The dam is run by the US Army Corps of Engineers and they offer a free daily tour. There is a nice visitor center to explore prior to or after the the tour. Dam construction started in the late 1940’s and finished in 1952. It was built predominantly for flood control of the Genesee River and the downstream towns as well as downtown Rochester. It’s just over a thousand feet wide and about 230 feet above the river bed. They did design it to accept turbines for hydroelectric power generation, but that use would have backed up the water 17 miles to the lower falls and completely ruined the look of the gorge. Being the dry season, the dam is not holding back any water. In fact, the outlet side of the dam seems to have more water pooled than the inlet side which might confuse some visitors. A small hydroelectric dam in the town of Mount Morris, a few miles downstream, holds back a bit of water causing the pool to appear on the “wrong” side of this dam. 

Display at Dam Visitor Center Showing Last Bucket of Concrete

Floodplain Below Mount Morris Dam

Reasonably Dry Inlet SIde of Dam

Outlet Showing Backed up Water

For the tour, we walk down the steep service road giving us a view of the dam from the top in an up close and personal way. Our guide describes in detail about the design, construction and present day operation of the dam. Before the dam was built, there were floods roughly every 7 years with some of those being quite devastating for Rochester and other surrounding towns. The dam has only come close overrunning the spillway once in 1972 during Hurricane Agnes. In that case the gates of the dam needed to be opened to prevent damage to the dam itself. Our tour then heads inside the building and takes an elevator down into the interior of the dam. Unfortunately no photography is permitted while inside but it is impressive to see some of the inner workings of the dam. We are also at the level of another observation deck on the output side of the dam still well above water level. It is an interesting viewpoint from this far down inside the river gorge. If you ever happen to be in the area, check out the dam tour.

Rainy Day Dam Tour

Sumac Tree Taking Root in Dam

Looking Down River Past Dam

We did get a couple more days of nice weather. We headed to Mendon Ponds Park near where we used to live. It is one of the many nice county parks in the area. There are numerous geocaches here, some that are recent, so we were able to get some geocaching in during our walk in the park. We also checked up on one of my puzzle caches I had placed years ago. It’s a custom made cryptex constructed out of PVC pipe and fittings. It seems to be holding up well to the elements and the numerous cachers that have attempted to get inside of it to sign the log. It’s one of the more favorited caches within the county. 

Math Based Cryptex

Beautiful Day for a Hike at Mendon Ponds Park

We took advantage of the last good weather day we would get by doing one of our favorite hikes in Letchworth - or so we thought. We started the hike on Trail #2 at the Council Grounds parking area. The sign said the trail was closed ahead but we hoped it wouldn’t interfere with our goal. Unfortunately the railroad bridge construction effort had forced them to close the trail we wanted at the tunnel that leads underneath the railroad track. The signs looked serious enough that we decided to not tempt fate. We ended up taking a couple other trails and after 4.5 miles, made it back to the car.  

No Hiking on Trail #2

Old Schoolhouse in Letchworth SP

Civil War Monument

Beautiful CCC Stonework

Mary Jemison Statue at Council Grounds

We got one last good hike in that afternoon doing another trail not far from the campground area. At one point in the hike, we had the choice to hike back up the hill out of the gorge to the car, or up the hill to the campground. We picked the second option and got in another 4 mile hike that day. The plan to bike back to the car was messed up a bit when I realized that my cycling shoes, helmet and gloves were all in the car - doh!

After 9 nights in Letchworth, it was time to move to another state park - Hamlin Beach SP is on the northwest side of Rochester right along the shore of Lake Ontario. We had reserved our site for 11 nights hoping that would be long enough meet with other friends. Being a short drive, we pulled out of our spot and sat in one of the large parking areas in Letchworth before heading out after lunch. There are lots of low bridges to contend with so it is quite nice (necessary?) to have a GPSr that allows our dimensions to be entered so it can route us around the problem areas. It wasn’t able to predict that there was a paving project on the Lake Ontario State Parkway the last couple miles prior to entering the park. With one lane closed and the big construction barrels sitting in the open lane so the paving equipment could work, it was a very tight fit but as far as I could tell, no barrels were knocked over as I drove by.

We have never camped here before but have been to the park numerous times over our years living here. Our first 15 years in the area were on the north side of town in Greece which made for a pleasant bike ride to Hamlin Beach. This spot was more convenient for some of our friends to visit. And we definitely had lots of visitors. Some came to our “house”, for others we went to their house and some larger groups we met at a restaurant. It was really fun to catch up with our friends. We hadn’t seen many of them for two years but for others it had been even longer. It seemed like each visit went way too fast. There wasn’t enough time to get fully caught up but we did the best we could.

Meeting with the Cirullis at Hamlin Beach

Ex-Kodak Friends

Our stay here had some very hot days - in the mid nineties with high humidity. We had run into nearly triple digit heat in Phoenix but that was a dry heat. The heat index was well over 100 and it felt nice to sit inside the air conditioning. We did manage to get some bike rides in usually early in the morning. Some days we walked across the field to the beach area and went into the cold lake water to cool off a bit. Hamlin Beach is quite a nice park. They even had fireworks for us the weekend prior to July 4th. They weren’t even close to what we had seen during our stop in Lake Havasu City earlier this year, but no fireworks will live up to that lofty display. 

Unexpected Lighthouse Find Along Lake Ontario

Lighthouse Now a B&B

Our schedule was so booked with visiting people that we nearly didn’t find time to get out for any sight seeing. Of course, many of the things we would recommend for visitors to the area are places we have done numerous times and didn’t feel obligated to go do them again. That’s not to say we didn’t get out. We made it to Ontario Beach Park one afternoon to get custard at Abbotts - another one of our favorites that we miss being away from the area. We did get to a place we had never been before - actually never even heard of it. A friend of ours placed a new geocache in Wesley Hill Preserve. It was a nice hike in the woods and was mostly shaded making the heat a bit more tolerable. 

Boats Coming in at Charlotte Pier

Coast Guard Station at Mouth of Genesee River

At Overlook in Wesley Hill Preserve

The time at Hamlin Beach seemed to fly by. In fact, it’s hard to believe we were in the area for 20 nights but we need to slowly work our way further north and east as we make our way to Maine. 

Chris Chases the Gulls

Sunset Over Lake Ontario