Watkins Glen State Park is one of my favorite places to visit. The campgrounds are wonderful, bathrooms are clean with flush toilets and running water, and the hiking trails are great. The best trail is called the Gorge Trail and is the one that everyone comes to hike. The trail is carved right into sides of the gorge and goes up over 800 steps over about a mile and a half. It goes over, under and through 19 waterfalls along the way. Although the waterfalls weren’t flowing as much as I have seen in the past, it was still an extremely beautiful place to visit!
Go early to avoid the crowds. There are trails that break off from the Gorge Trail, but they have very limited views (if any) of the falls so I would suggest hiking the whole Gorge Trail from the bottom to the top. Once there you have a few options – you can take a shuttle back to the parking lot (check to make sure it is running when you go because it doesn’t run year round), you can take the Indian Trail most of the way back to a point where it meets back up with the Gorge Trail (like I said there are very limited views of the water, but the trail is nice to walk on although a bit steep in places), or you can hike back down the gorge trail! There is also a trail from the campground that connects to the Gorge Trail, but does so at the mile point.
Unfortunately dogs are not allowed on this trail so JoJo had to stay home (even though I saw 3 dogs that people snuck in – why risk it people?? The trail is too busy for that!)
Enjoy a few more views from the trail:
Is Watkins Glen on your list of must go places? 🙂
Happy trails!
blisters and bug bites 
This park has been on my list forever! The gorge trail looks so amazing! Thank you for the tips especially good to know that dogs are not allowed. Your pictures are stunning! Thanks for the great post!
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s a must!! Make sure when you go that there isn’t a NASCAR race at the nearby track- it’s PACKED way more than usual when there is a race! It is a really great place and the town of Watkins Glen is cute with a lot of good places to eat- that’ll be my next blog post! LOL
LikeLike
Lovely post and photos! The trail seems amazing. I have just started blogging my hikes too, hope you can check it out here: http://www.hjkhiking.wordpress.com 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for checking out my post! Way to go with starting your blog- I’ll check it out!
LikeLike
Beautiful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, What an amazing place! You captured it beautifully, Dana! Too bad about no dog rule but I understand. I hope you shared the photos with JoJo though. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The one guy snuck his Pomeranian in by putting it in a backpack!! It was crazy- LOL but also kinda cute at the same time- no way could I carry JoJo around in a backpack! 😁💗🐾 thanks so much for reading!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yea, it would be hard to “sneak” in JoJo. 😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] next day we set off to hike the Gorge Trail which is the most popular trail in the park – and it’s easy to see why. Click […]
LikeLike
I loved your article! I posted as well about Watkins Glen, as I have been hiking as much around upstate New York! You took a lot of great pictures! Check mine out too sometime!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
awesome I will for sure check it out – isn’t it amazing there?? 🙂
LikeLike
[…] of railings to hold onto. The trails wind their way around the waterfalls and remind me a lot of Watkins Glen (another favorite place of mine!) except there are wooden steps and railings instead of stone. […]
LikeLike
Spectacular!!! Is swimming allowed in those splendid swimming holes?
LikeLiked by 1 person
No- no swimming- it’s actually pretty steep in a gorge- although I know someone, the first time I went YEARS ago, who jumped the fence and tried to cross on a log, slipped in and fell 20 ft and then had to get helicoptered out- sorta ruined the trip!
LikeLike