2011-07-11 Sunset over Lake Seneca

We saw another spectacular sunset over Lake Seneca at Watkins Glen last night.  The colors were just dazzling!  It was wonderful watching the colors change as the sunset progressed.

One interesting side note about Watkins Glen:

In the photo below you see a tower to the left.  This is the original tower used for salt mining in Watkins Glen.  There is a huge vein of salt deep below ground that runs from just north of the Canadian border down through this part of New York into Pennsylvania.  It is left from some ancient sea.  They "mine" the salt here by forcing steam down into the vein and pumping back up a brine mixture.  Then they evaporate the water away and are left with table salt.  There are two such salt mining operations here in Watkins Glen.  There is also what I think of as a more traditional mine with deep shafts and tunnels about 30 miles from here a short distance above Ithaca.   I believe most of the salt from that mine is used for melting ice on winter roadways. 

2011-07 Watkins Glen Gorge

We will soon leave NY.  We had one last place we wanted to visit - the gorge in near-by Watkins Glen State Park.  It has been so hot lately we held off thinking we would get up early one morning, but that never happened.  So we finally went late Saturday afternoon.  As it turned out, we probably could have gone in the middle of the day.  It is very shady down in the gorge and the cold water makes the walk much cooler, especially when you get hit by the spray from some of the waterfalls.

I'll quote from the park's trail guide:

"The park features a spectacular narrow gorge where you can hike alongside Glen Greek past deep pools, water-sculpted rocks and nineteen waterfalls...Water has shaped the natural landscape of the park.  During the past million years, water in the form of giant mounds of ice, or glaciers, covered New York State several times, dramatically transforming the land in its path.  In this region, the most recent glacier moved through shallow river valleys leaving in its place deep, steep-sided troughs.  When the glacier receded north about 10,000 years ago, water filled these new troughs, creating the 11 Finger Lakes which include Seneca Lake.  Since then water in the form of Glen Creek has poured down the glacially-steepened hillside, cutting away its soft sedimentary rock.  This on-going process has formed this park's rugged gorge and spectacular waterfalls.  Glen comes from a old Greek word meaning "small, narrow, secluded valley.""

Here are a few pictures and short videos from our walk:

This is the first waterfall you walk behind:

This video shows the second waterfall you walk behind and the surrounding gorge:

You can see how we got sprayed with the cool water:

Another short video from another part of the trail: