Camping and Hiking at Watkins Glen State Park

This park is a beautiful example of central NY and it's amazing geological features! The breathtaking gorge was formed by glacial movement and waterfall recession over many centuries. In the past century the state has developed the area into a state park with easy to navigate trails within and around the gorge, as well as a large campground and Olympic-sized pool.

This was the boys first time there and they were very surprised by my announcement of a camping trip! We met my hiking buddy Ken there to share our camp site and set up during a short bout of rain.

After setting up we went to the pool to cool off but of course just as we got there another small storm moved in with wind and heavy rain! It only lasted about 5 min so thankfully we just waited it out under the shelter, then headed into the pool for a couple hours of fun before dinner time.

Ken cooked us all some delicious cheeseburgers while the fire got started to roast marshmallows and make smores for dessert.

We had some heavy rain off and on overnight that interrupted our sleep, so when I got up early the next morning I had to snap this pic of the boys still passed out!

After a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast we got ready to go hike the gorge!

For lunch we headed back to the campsite and cooked up some grilled cheese sandwiches. Then we decided to take a drive around the area to Montour Falls to see a few more beauties!

This one is a great roadside fall with a small parking area right in front of it.

This larger fall is right behind some houses with a small public area right in front to sit and view it. Imagine having this in your backyard!

This next one is Eagle Cliff Falls. There's a short trail from a small town park that leads to the falls. Very pretty and scenic! The boys had fun splashing a bit.

The park had a great old fashioned playground so the kids joined some others and they had fun for about an hour before we headed back to camp.

The day had gotten cooler so it was a bit too chilly to swim again so instead we got the fire started early! This night we cooked chili dogs over the fire followed by more marshmallows and smores to end the last night at camp.

We all slept a bit better that night, and woke up to a beautiful sunshiny day! We had a simple breakfast of oatmeal then packed up camp and headed home in time for lunch. The boys caught up on some more sleep on the way!

I think they had a fun time! More adventures to come.