Rock-Village.com

Menu
Rock Village Website banner picture, a rocky area with cairns

The Finger Lakes Pg 4: Watkins Glenn

October and November 2011

Watkins Glen is the 'premier' state park in this area. It is a mile gorge with a stream cascading down various falls, plus another half mile above that is a more placid stream. This is a photographer's paradise. I'm sure you can find a lot of pictures on-line of the park, and we will add ours to the collection. (There is a car race track in Watkins Glen as well, which you will see if you do a search on the internet.)

The park closes the second week or so of November, since water gets on the paths and makes it slippery in cold weather. So our timing for vacation was good. We went to this park on two different days.

The view starts in the parking lot, on the way to the gorge entrance. One of the park's stone bridges welcomes visitors.

Stone bridge spanning the gorge above a waterfall near the entrance to Watkins Glen

The actual entrance in is through a tunnel that brings you to that bridge.

Woman standing at the tunnel entrance that leads into the gorge

Once inside, there are some lovely falls with the path along side it. The path is wet in many places, which is why they close the gorge in the winter. The pictures are roughly in the order that you encounter the scenes when walking from the main entrance.

Waterfall cascading through the narrow layered-rock gorge with wet leaves on the stone ledges

Tall narrow waterfall dropping between steep dark rock walls in the gorge

This next image is a mini-falls within a slightly larger falls (although of course the size pales in comparison to the one behind them).

Close view of a broad waterfall spilling over a rock ledge into the gorge below

Waterfall and gorge walls with stone stairs carved into a wall

Cavern Cascade plunging in a smooth white sheet into the narrow chasm below

It was very, very, very hard to narrow this down to which pictures to share. Some very nice pictures had to be left out. I did leave a few of my more abstract pictures in, though, despite the competition. I figure you need a break from all the water.

Close-up of a metal ring set among wet autumn leaves and layered rock

Curving layered rock ledges beside the stream with fallen leaves caught in the grooves

Here is a view back towards the entrance. There is a little viewing (and picture) platform that they provided for visitors. One of the things that amazed us is how straight the rock layers were. We are used to seeing upheavals, where every layer is at an angle.

View back toward the entrance showing the winding gorge and a stone viewing platform

One of the major falls in the gorge, called Cavern Cascade:

Cavern Cascade viewed from the wet stone path with the gorge wall close beside it

Woman and man standing beside Cavern Cascade on the viewing platform inside the gorge

Portrait of a man beside Cavern Cascade with the waterfall blurred behind him

Woman standing on the path beside Cavern Cascade with the waterfall filling the gorge beside her

Close-up of spray and water streaking past the stone wall beside the falls

I find this next image very peaceful.

Abstract close view of water flowing in translucent sheets past the dark rock wall

The gorge is very deep in many places. These next few shots emphasize that.

Deep section of the gorge with pale green water and a distant waterfall framed by high rock walls

Central Cascade is this next large fall.

View through the gorge toward a waterfall beneath a stone bridge, with a photographer standing near the path

Tall narrow waterfall dropping beneath a stone bridge into the rocky gorge

Notice on this sign the "You are here" mark, which is well inside the cliff.

Interpretive sign titled Cutting a Canyon explaining how Glen Creek carved the gorge

Woman standing above the sign for Central Cascade on the stone bridge over the falls

Multi-tiered cascades flowing through the gorge beneath tall forested rock walls

Peaceful series of small cascades and pools winding through the dark layered rock

Close view of stepped cascades flowing over flat rock ledges beside the stone stairway

That is a lot for one page, so on to the next:

Updated April 2026