While home on holidays in Kitchener-Waterloo, I decided to allow each family member to accompany me on their very own private “Alli Day” I figured it was a good way to coach them into how to do it so they can start participating in their own and also a good way for me to explore and adventure with people I don’t often get to see. I also used it as an excuse for a birthday present being as I miss all of their birthdays by living on the other side of the country. I call this a win, win WIN!
On my first combined “Alli Day” (remember I never even have my phone on let alone let someone accompany me! so this was a big change) I chose to drag my baby sister along with me to a park I had heard about somewhere on facebook in New York called Letchworth State Park. I wanted to hike until I felt skinny and I wanted to take in all the incredible waterfalls I had seen online.
We took off for the border around 7am and after answering multiple questions from a stern and serious border guard we were on our way to the park! 3 hours and 20 minutes of car games and license plate decoding later we arrived at our destination!
The trail we had our sights on was 8 miles one way and called the “gorge trail” and ran along the road for some parts but also dipped in and out of wooded areas. Coming across the “wildlife crossing” sign that had a picture of a snake and a crocodile on it confused us a bit, but with our map and the river to follow we navigated pretty well to the three falls. There was an upper, middle and lower falls all along the same trail.
The lower falls was seen best from a descent of 167 stairs which I overheard some people saying “theres no way i’m going down 167 stairs!” which only urged me to yell out “only in amurica”. I refrained if you’re curious.
After climbing up ALL 167 steps we carried on to the middle falls which are the biggest and holy cats were they incredible! We saw turkey vultures and falcons along the way which I got to check off my bird watching checklist (nerd alert!).
The distance between the middle and upper falls was the shortest at approx. 1km. There are dogs allowed in this park so naturally I was in heaven especially in this part because there are several parking and picnic area’s near the falls including an Inn and tuck shop so it’s a popular tourist spot as people don’t need to hike to see the falls. The lower falls have a train bridge that runs over it which add’s to it’s beauty.
We finished off the day with dinner at the most American, country restaurant where I ordered a salad and a plate with ice berg lettuce, a single pepper slice and 2 baby carrots was set in front of me. We drove home around 8pm and as usual crossing the border back to Canada brought back that “it’s so good to be home” feeling. America is a stunningly beautiful country and I love that we had to opportunity to check out some new hiking spots that weren’t so far from home.
Go check it out! Leave me your feedback, I love to hear about your own personal “Alli Days”
Up My Alli 