Onada Park and Grimes Glen

We drove back through Italy one more time, this time not getting lost along the way. The locust trees were all in bloom, dotting the hills with hints of yellow. We came up to Canadigua from the bottom, and despite the haze we could tell this part of the lake was really pretty, with sheer cliffs rising above the water.

Again our maps really weren't up to finding the roads we needed, but eventually we got to Onanda Park.

Here is our path via GPS. The colors indicate velocity: red is driving in the car. You can see us drive up the switchbacks to the parking lot, and then start walking the uplands trail.
Onanda GPS

It was a pretty trail, and very still, with not many people around. There were plenty of birds; we are always amused by how many birds there are places that aren't bird sancuatires than in places that are. There were fancy gazebos at the overlooks, which is a bit unusual. Here is the upper Barnes Creek Falls:
Barnes Creek Falls

From the same vantage you could see Canadigua Lake:
Canadigua Lake

We continued on to the next falls overlook, but unfortunately the falls were obscured by trees.

After we returned to our car, we drove back down the lake to Naples. The region we were in is wine country, with vineyards everywhere. Naples is the home of Widmer Wine Cellar which stands prominently on the hill overlooking the town. Also in Naples the fire hydrants are painted purple (in honor of grapes?) and multiple places sold "grape pies" which seemed an odd concept to us.

Right near downtown Naples is Grimes Glen. People have built elaborate impromptu stoneworks around the bridges in the gorge, which is an odd touch. For some reason there were tulle bows on many of the trees (was there a wedding there recently?). The breeze off the stream was refreshingly cool.

Walking along the creekbed, a side stream comes in with a big waterfall:
Vince Grime's Glen

You can continue upstream. It is a pretty path, and there are columbine flowers growing along the side of the gorge:
Grime's Glen Columbine

Eventually you reach another waterfall. There is a set of ropes taking you up a very steep cliff to more waterfalls above this one. While we were there someone was doing just that:


We passed on that opportunity, and went back to the car.

Here is a map of the area, as always it is hard for the GPS to get a signal when down in a gorge:
Grimes Glen GPS

We ate lunch, and then started our trip home. We were hoping to see one last waterfall on Keuka Lake. But first, we stopped for ice cream at Seneca Farms again. I got a "Yellow Cake" flavored milkshake; it was very good. As we got in the car to leave, it started to drizzle. By the time we were back on the road it was pouring. The remnants of Tropical Storm Barry were coming through, so we had to abandon the quest for the last waterfall. We returned to Ithaca via Watkins Glen.

And that's the end of our first camping adventure!
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