Hey guys! Welcome back to the blog. I’m so excited to share the adventures Tommy and I had from this past weekend. We had so much fun and a few funny incidents that we can do nothing but laugh about. This was technically our first vaca where we weren’t visiting family and friends and it was a well needed little time away from the world. I blogged all about how we prepped for this trip in part 1 and part 2! Make sure to check those out 🙂
Honestly, we had a very stressful day Friday…. We had a lot to do that morning so my plan of leaving early in the morning didn’t happen. Letchworth State Park is about 3.5 hours from where we live so it’s not exactly close. We borrowed a couple coolers and extra long extension cord from my sister (thank you!) so we picked those up first after we packed up the car at home.
After, we ran to the grocery store, then we grabbed some ice for the coolers, made a sammich (I was starving and it was lunch time), and headed out!
We filled up my car with gas before we left and it lasted the entire trip on one tank and only stopped once to use the bathroom at the NY border/welcome area.. GPS took us out of NY through Pa and back to NY again… I don’t even know.
The view was beautiful there. We checked the coolers, made Tom a sammich and I just had some snacks. I packed fruit but I couldn’t find it so Dorito’s it was lol. I try and be healthy but sometimes ya just have to live a little and go with the flow.
We headed back on the road and ended up at the Dam where GPS leads you. This is not the campsite… it’s an additional 11 miles away from there. We had called for directions so we weren’t driving around for awhile and it was already 6pm.
We finally made it about 15 min later and checked in at the office. The staff was super friendly, let us know where our site was, the state park convenience store, and where we could potentially buy firewood cheaper if we wanted to. We ended up just getting ice and wood at the store since it was already pretty late after we set up camp. Tom drove to get everything will I blew up the air mattress and organized stuff.
The air mattress was so easy to blow up and fast. I love that it has an internal pump and its a high mattress so you don’t have to get up from the floor. I feel old when I have to do that lol. The top sheet stayed in place the whole weekend too. I move a lot in my sleep so the fact that it didn’t budge on this air mattress was a miracle.
If you go camping make sure you get an electric site! The plugs are tamper proof so you really have to push hard to plug anything in. We thought ours was broken at first so we called and someone came up shortly after we had already figured it out. She was very friendly as well and it really shows how amazing the staff actually is. Check in is after 5pm but they said most of the time you can check in as early as 2pm if you call and you check in as late as 9pm. If no one is there, you just check in the next morning.
They give you a little paper to put in your car windshield which also makes for a very easy check out process. You just have to stick it in a little box on the way out and they check you out when they go through them!
When Tom got back, we started to prep the griddle and season it (cast iron) so we could finally make dinner. It was such a long and exhausting day and we ate some burgers around 9:30pm. Tom started a fire and we sat around roasting some marshmallows and having s’mores.
Shortly after, I heard something behind us by the picnic table. I didn’t see anything so I ignored it. About 10 min later I went to get some water and saw the garbage was gone.. except some of it wasn’t. I picked up a container from the burgers… a Gatorade bottle… and a beer can lol. I looked around for the rest and couldn’t find it anywhere. We were thieved by a little bandit aka a raccoon. *face palm*.
We planned to walk the garbage to the dumpster when we went to shower and the raccoon beat us to it. Lesson learned.
The showers at Letchworth are pretty small and not exactly the cleanest. I’m also not a huge fan of public bathrooms to begin with. I’m that person that will hold my pee 10 hours if I have to. The staff did a good job about keeping everything picked up and stocked.
We finally went to bed and just as I was falling asleep I woke right back up to the sound of coyotes down the hill behind us. I was a little freaked out but apparently they don’t come up to the campground anyway. There’s also a fence lol.
Saturday morning was an early one. Woody woodpecker was right above us round 5am lol. We slept until about 7:30ish and got up.
We had some coffee, made egg and cheese sandwiches on the griddle, and it’s safe to say that our site smelled like a NY deli. We hung around the camp site until 2-ish and prepared our bags to go hiking.
The front desk has maps so try and pick one up when you first arrive.
These hiking boots are from REI and they were so comfortable. I broke them in beforehand which helped but my feet didn’t hurt or get blisters the entire time I wore them. They are kids unfortunately lol. I have an extra small foot. These are a size 4. Normally I’m a 3 in kids but with thicker socks, they fit perfect. Socks are from Animal Pak… I bought them at the Arnold Classic bodybuilding expo a few years ago. They’re deadlifting socks which I recommend if you do deads.
The map shows the 7 mile trail with all three waterfalls (The Gorge Trail) HOWEVER, it neglects to tell you that it starts at the St Helena trail lol and it’s all connected. Just park your car at the first pull off spot and hop on the trail. If you don’t want to do the entire hike, you can start at any point.
It was a hot one so we made sure to bring plenty of water and Gatorade to replenish electrolytes. The trails are not a beginner level either. There’s a lot of up hill, down hill, narrow, wide, stone steps, no steps lol. It’s intermediate to advanced depending on the part you are on.
I got this bag from a previous job and it came in super handy. The two side pockets are insulated to keep things cold. I recommend it if you can find one similar! My water bottle is from Walmart! It’s an Ozark and it stayed cold the entire day. I recommend!
I was definitely winded and felt like I haven’t worked out a day in my life lol.
I brought a sammich for Tom (I ate mine before we left) and some snacks. I packed some Nature Valley granola bars and brought my homemade granola too. These came in super handy for the times when we needed to fuel up.
I’ts also nice when you reach a pull off spot because they have bathrooms and picnic tables. So convenient especially for a long hike. That’s one thing I really hate about hiking long distances is the lack of bathrooms lol. I guess I could go find a spot but your girl is pee pee shy haha.
We finally made it to the lower falls. Let me remind you, a lot of this is up hill because you are hiking lower middle and then upper falls.
The view was okay-sh where you first see it. it’s a smaller water fall and a cute little stream leading to it. There is no swimming but there was a lot of people and children in that part. I couldn’t take a pic until we were hiking back. By then a park cop was clearing them all out. It’s pretty dangerous to be in the water at that part since the lower waterfall is right there. If you get caught in the current, you’re going down a waterfall. YIKES.
Anyways we crossed over the stream and were met by MORE STAIRS…. Intense leg day is an understatement. My quads were screaming at this point *cue Alicia Keys*.
We hiked for a little while longer and found a GORGE-OUS (see what I did there lol) view of the river. I recommend if you’re going to do the hike, get past the lower fall and go until this point at least. You won’t regret it.
You have the most breath taking view and I honestly didn’t want to leave that spot.
We hiked a little more and saw on a tree “RIP Lil Peep”. Another reason just to be careful when doing this trail. If you slip, you’re going down to the river in some spots. Right past that little tree carving was a small area you can walk down to and see more of the gorge. Tom went, I stayed in the safer zone haha.
I saw a white feather and later on another feather at 333. I’m a huge fan of synchronicity and signs. I love looking up the meanings behind everything but most of the time I take it as a little sign from spirit guides and angels that I’m doing a good job, pat on the back, keep it up, you’re on the right path- kind of thing.
There’s some wildlife around too if you are paying enough attention.
We turned around shortly after the pretty overlook and decided since it was already almost 4:30 we should head back and do the rest of the hike next time we visit. I snapped a couple pics of the little creek area where all the people were gathered earlier lol. The cop was sill there at the time to make sure everyone left.
The way back always seems faster than the way through lol. We stopped in town to get gas and looking for a place to get some firewood. we ended up at the one that was around the corner from the state park entrance.
The farm was huge and right in the front by the drive way is a cute little set up. You put your money in the box and take what you paid for which is so different than around here. A lot of places go by the “honor policy” up there. I had Tom get me a jar of honey as well. It looked too good to resist! I spotted it from up the road haha. The firewood was $5 per bundle compared to the $9 at the camp store.
When we got back to the campsite, we unpacked and started making some dinner. We split a steak and I had some more zucchini on the side. I don’t normally eat ketchup with my steak but it sounded good and it was in front of me lol.
We went down to shower **brought all garbage with us to throw away lol** and Tom started another fire after we were all clean again. You can also see how far the other campsites are away from you in this pic. You have a decent amount of space to yourself which is great. Those neighbors were barely there and super quiet. I can’t say the same about the ones on the other side of us haha. The one guy kept beeping his truck lock…. even at 12:30am when we were trying to sleep. I loudly said “I’m pretty sure it’s locked” lol. Couldn’t help it!
The sunsets are way too pretty there. I couldn’t stop watching them.
We made some s’mores and had some plain toasted marshmallows when it got dark out and just hung out by the fire. It was so relaxing and very needed after a long couple of days.
That night I forgot that I put the marshmallows and chocolate in the cooler with the drinks… They were melted from being in the car and I had them stored in my reusable ziplocks.
WELL, a couple little bandits came back around 2:30am and stole those lol. Tom caught them red handed and they froze with their hands in the air then booked it over the fence. One apparently got stuck on top of the fence and he was laughing so hard that it looked like two drunk friends who got caught by the cops. I’m sure they have the Diabetus right now. I felt bad and it was entirely my fault for forgetting. We locked all food up in the car both nights. Or at least tried haha.
Around 3:30am I woke back up to a bunch of racoons making their little gerbil noises around the tent. I joked with Tom that they smelled his cheeze-its and came back for more.
Raccoons kind of freak me out even though the baby ones are cute. They have thumbs and can open things. That really creeps me out haha.
The next morning we got up around 8am to pack up and head out.
We started by organizing things in the car and then deflating the mattress. We laid on it to make the process go a little faster haha.
You have to have fun with the clean up or it’ll be a drag.
I made us some coffee to have while we finished cleaning up! I also forgot to mention, there are water spickets everywhere. One was right across the road from us so that was super convenient.
I wrote a note with the rest of the firewood we left behind to watch out for the bandits and enjoy the firewood! I left an address for the farm that I thought was where we got it since that’s what the honey was labeled with…. hopefully the didn’t follow it because it was the wrong address haha. My bad… I tried to be a good human.
I made sure to leave the snacks and the rest of my bloobs/cherries up front with us so we had them for the ride home.
We stopped at a town about 15-20 min away and grabbed some McD’s breakfast sammiches since we couldn’t find a deli anywhere and honestly we didn’t want to cook on the griddle then clean it and then wait for it to cool off to pack it lol.
The ride home wasn’t so bad. It was just so hot and we were driving down into more heat but we made the most of it. I also packed us some sammiches for the ride home so we didn’t have to stop again. I also prefer to bring my own food on trips.
We got home around 2:30pm and unpacked a bit, did some laundry, and took it easy the rest of the day. Travel and camping is pretty draining.
We are making plans to go back next year and do this annually. It’s a beautiful and clean campground. We definitely want to explore the area more. We barely made a dent!
I hope you enjoyed this blog! I know it was a longer one <3
Questions for you!
1. Have you ever camped at a state park?
2. Have you ever been to Letchworth state park?
3. What’s your favorite part of camping?
