Westward we travel again, to the Finger Lakes, another Upsate New York stop for us. While Long Island is an example of what happens when a giant sheet of ice just dumps a bunch of dirt and rocks somewhere before melting, the Finger Lakes are an example of what happens when that sheet of ice picks up a bunch of dirt and rocks. These long narrow lakes were carved out by ice sheets in some ice age or another (yes there were many, no I have no idea which ones caused which features). The valleys they lie in have since been growing as the rivers that feed them continue to erode the surrounding rocks at the south end of each lake creating some absolutely gorgeous features, but more on that later.
The Finger Lakes hold a lot of different things for different people. For the science inclined people there’s all that geology I mentioned above. For the history people there is the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, which I’ll mention below. For the academics out there there’s Cornell, which I will mention no more, because Ithaca is thoroughly depressing in winter (the only time I’ve ever been there) and I still harbor a grudge for them dominating Ivy League wrestling for decades and making me do over half an hour of monkey rolls after a particularly brutal match. But for the drinkers among you, there’s wine, which I’ll get into right now.
Wine tasting is definitely one of the big draws of the region. There are a ton of wineries lining Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. Last year we hit a lot of the ones on Seneca’s eastern shore, this year we hit a lot of the ones on Cayuga’s western shore. Sarah will give you a lot more of the specifics, but I will say that there’s more than just Rieslings to enjoy. We had quite a few good Chardonnays and some great reds too, mostly things like Cabs and a smattering of other Burgundy grapes. One thing worth mentioning is that a lot of wineries in the region also work with some of the local varietals, things like the locally developed Cayuga grape and the native Niagara. For those of you that don’t love wine, these might be a nice thing to try, they tend to be sweeter and a bit more like something you could imagine drinking out a juice box until you realize you just had 4 and you’re very drunk. A special mention also goes to Grist Iron brewery on Seneca Lake. I think there’s a bit more to the story and they were probably more inclusive than this, but I like to think that the founders thought, ‘All these wives drag their husbands up here for them to do wine tastings, we should make beer for those guys.’ They have some amazing brews and provide a nice change of pace.
As I said there’s a ton of history in the region too. There’s Revolutionary War historical markers for the British march from Toronto to Saratoga, where local resistance slowed the British enough to allow the Americans to win the battle there. There’s a museum dedicated to the Women’s Rights movement in Seneca Falls, where that woman from those old dollar coins (Susan B. Anthony) organized that convention you learned about in American History class and promptly forgot about. The entire region was home to the Iroquois Confederacy (you might recognize that the lakes share names with the Iroquois tribes) and many of the local hiking trails contain historical markers detailing aspects of their history and culture.
I’m going to return to the natural stuff now, because it’s pretty amazing. The lakes themselves are deep blue, surrounded by rich green farms and forests and just plain beautiful. As I mentioned there is active erosion going on at the southern end of each lake many of which take the form of immense gorges each holding a series of waterfalls carrying water down from the Appalachians. We hiked Watkins Glen last year, and Taughannock Falls this year. The former is a series of 10 to 40 foot falls running the length of the gorge; the latter is a massive gorge that ends in one massive 200+ foot waterfall. I recommend both and want to check out some of the other local gorges at some point too.
So those are the highlights from the Finger Lakes. Next we head south, then south, then south again before continuing west. This is going to be far from a direct trip.
Bicoastal Surf 