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.
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:
From the same vantage you could see 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:
You can continue upstream. It is a pretty path, and there
are columbine flowers growing along the side of the gorge:
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:
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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