CNYHikes

           Last summer, I detailed a great hike in an area named Pharsalia Wildlife Management Area, tucked away in a corner of rural Chenango County.  Essentially in the heart of Central New York's rolling, glacially-carved, bucolic countryside, Chenango County also happens to be the home of a magnificent 70-mile or so stretch of the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) , passing through 32 state forests.  Most of this I have yet to explore, so this region is somewhat of a hiking "frontier" for me, having only reached the deep gorge-like banks of Canasawacta Creek in the summer of 2019 in my furthest east venture on the FLT .      So now that summer is closing and fall is close at hand, the weather is cooling and drying a bit (although it has been a remarkably rain-free, hot summer).  I decided to tackle a part of the trail that I've only seen once - in early winter a few years back - and recall it being rugged with more than a few hills ...

     At the southern tip of Seneca Lake sits the small, charming village of Watkins Glen, NY - home to what many consider the best park in New York State's whole system.  This is a place, admittedly, I've visited once before and absolutely loved but put off coming to again because I knew it is popular and gets crowded with tourists.  But one day early in July, I finally put that all behind me and decided to take the drive out to the park and revisit its famous deep gorges and plunging waterfalls like I had several years earlier.      Watkins Glen State Park isn't necessarily wide but it is long - longer, in fact, than Robert Treman State Park, and, as a result, there are within its boundaries many enclaves that call for exploration.  Of course, the most popular path through the park is the Gorge Trail (1.5 miles long) and the Indian Trail  (1.0 mile long) which, if taken together, form a flattened type of loop through and above its go...