Finger Lakes Region

The gorge near the upper entrance of Treman State Park

The Gorge trail in Watkins Glen State Park looks so amazing, but it is closed between Nov to May. So we made the best out of the 3-day trip without it.

Where to stay: We stayed at Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel, clean and spacious. The staffs were very friendly and helpful. They provided coffee and tea every morning, and freshly baked cookies in the afternoon.

Day 1. Corning Glass Museum

Unique museum with live demonstrations. Its history includes discoveries of ceramic glass and glass fibers for communication by its scientists.

Day 2. Treman State Park

It had been raining for the three days, but we had our rain coats on wondering through the gorges. We took the gorge trail and the rim trail loop, which is about 4 to 5 miles, a perfect work out for the family.

Lucifer Falls is a 115-foot cascade.

Just be careful of the slippery ice on the stone bridges in winter.

Day 3. Buttermilk Fall state park & Ithaca

We took the gorge trail to the rim trail loop again, plus the bear trail (a very quiet trail compared to the roaring water trails). The trip was totaled up to 3 miles. The park is near Ithaca, so we had lunch there and visited Cornell University.

Glad to find out that the state parks have cabins and camping grounds, and even with swimming pools under waterfalls in season!

The buttermilk Falls

Mohonk Mountain

A great hiking (& rock climbing) site in NY, just three hours away north of Princeton, NJ.

Where to stay: New Paltz, which is a lovely little town with a lot of good restaurants and great mountain views. There are many hotels. The one we recently visited is Hampton Inn by Hilton New Paltz.

Parking: we like to park either at the West Trapps Trailhead or the Mohonk Preserve visit center.

To reach Mohonk Mountain House, we made a loop by taking the upper cliff trail out and the lower cliff trail back, about 10 miles. These two trails are long and flat. The days when we were there, it was showering and cloudy, and the mist in the mountains made it so mysterious and fun.

At the Mohonk Mountain House property, our favorite trails are Labyrinth Trial and Lemon Squeeze trail that lead to the Skytop Tower. These trails are very challenging, not for an inexperienced hiker.