Letchworth State Park - the Grand Canyon of the East

The International Student and Scholar Services at the University at Buffalo arranged a trip for about 200 students, to Letchworth State Park, a New York State Park, which is about 60 miles southeast of Buffalo. Letchworth State Park lies along the banks of river Genesee, and is about 17 miles long. The big and steep gorge, on to which the thickly vegetated hill-sides slope down, makes Letchworth State Park famous as the "Grand Canyon of the East". 

Note that the pictures given here are taken using my mobile camera. These do not and should not speak about the real beauty of Letchworth State Park, and are given here for the sole purpose of making this article colourful.

A blurred panorama of Letchworth State Park

 The ride from the university to the park, in school-buses arranged by the university was never a moment of embarrassment, for most of us were kept occupied with the anticipation and expectation of the park that we were about to visit, and so none had time to imagine the days when we used to travel in school-buses. The driver, whose name I don't remember now, was kind enough to give a commentary of the different landscapes, farmlands and villages that unfolded in front of us as we travelled from the university to the park. The buses moved in unison through beautiful American countrysides, which had corn fields, infrequent houses that were so tidy and beautiful that they looked like cup-cakes!

One of those beautiful houses

I know that is not a good comparison, but that is what came to mind when I saw those houses. As though wishing us a safe trip, many windmills conversed with the wind on either side of the road, their stances reflecting a forgotten quixotic pride. Up in the sky there was a big round patch in the white-clouded sky, which made me think whether that was an ozone hole! As we approached the park, the colours on either side of the road increased in intensity and glow, and it was maple trees, maple trees and maple trees all around. Every now and then, yellow, red or green flashes lit the eyes, and as gradually it became bright colours all around, I felt as though I was inside a kaleidoscope. The scene of the six yellow buses floating on a grey-black road sandwiched by all the shades of yellow and red, was artistic. I thought about India's, especially Kerala's, greenery that is famous. If something could be at par to that beauty of the God's own country, it was this - the changing colours of autumn in the western world. As though watchmen who stood to warn us of the imminent cold winter, fir trees occupied their position, not affected by the drama that played around them in the theater of autumn. 

The middle falls

So much about the travel to the park. We reached the park at about 11.00 A.M. At the park, the buses halted in front of a small restaurant near the falls. The falls were wide and steep, but not enough to arouse amusement for someone who has already seen the Niagara Falls. But the gorge that stood tall on either side of the river were mighty. The bouquet of colourful trees on top of these steep precipices made the rare combination of 'the beauty and the beast'. When bored of taking photographs that would become facebook profile pics tomorrow or sooner, our group decided to start the hike after filling our stomachs. We had carried with us lots of bread, jam, peanut butter and ranch. And water too. An empty stomach from the morning helped make this lunch with only bread very delicious! We walked downstream but climbing up the hill, and took a left turn before the 'Inspiration point', a war memorial. With about four hours left (as we were to be back in the buses by 3.45 P.M., we decided to go to the interiors of the forest, following a trail. It was a stupid decision, for we did not have a map with us and if we got lost, then that would be the end of our adventure. But without this worry in mind, we headed into Trail 3, and then proceeded forward. 

Start of Trail 3

 Less photography and more observation this time, as we were overwhelmed with the halo of the colours around us, and we understood that these brilliant shades were beyond the scope of any cameras that we had. As one of my friends rightly remarked - "Beautiful things are beyond the power of cameras. Just try to soak in as much as you can with your eyes, and then try to carry and cherish that memory for ever" - I soaked in as much as I can with my eyes, and took many pictures too, which would come of use if I ever desired to replenish my memories in future.  

An imagery apparently dull in the photograph but divine in reality

 After walking for about an hour, we found ourselves in Trail 2A. This was narrower and had denser vegetation on either side. Some time later, we were taken aback when we saw we the path bifurcated in front of us and we had to choose on of the paths ahead. One was named 2A, and the other was not identified. Of course, we had the option of returning back the same way we came, but we did not want to do that. To our help, a man and a woman, possibly hunters, came with their dogs, and told us to follow the 2A trail, and confirming that eventually we will reach the same point we started from. We never thought for even a second to doubt the veracity of their guidance, and continued our hike through Trail 2A. As we walked along, the desperation to get back to the starting point reflected in everybody's actions - many of us thought the sound that the wind made when it gusted past the trees was that of the falls, and believing so meant that we were almost close to the falls, the place where we started from. But soon it proved wrong for we couldn't find any better signs of the falls anywhere, than the sound. Some time later it dawned upon me that keeping faith in those strangers' words was not so wise, for we ended up in a place where there was no path ahead - it was just bushes everywhere ahead. And the driver had warned us - that there could be hunters and it is better not to give them a chance to fire at us, mistaking us for deers or anything else, for that matter. Dreaded by the sense of being lost with no mobile network and no maps, we were soon hikers drained of wanderlust in that vast forest, that was frighteningly and surprisingly silent except for the sound of the wind and the dry leaves crumbling beneath our feet. 

But the universe was conspiring to our rescue. At least the forest was. On the other side of the bushes, about two hundred feet ahead, we could see the familiar barbecue grills that the campers use - we had seen those just before we entered Trail 3. A sigh of relief escaped from everybody. Some were ecstatic with a feeling of surviving an unknown forest. We now knew all the ways on earth that would take us from behind those bushes to the clearing where the grills lay, and reached there with ease even though the path was thick with bushes and wet mud. I captured a video of that last part, which reflected everybody's happiness on coming out of the forest unscathed!  

Our hiking group, from left to right: Sarith, Siddharth, Unni, Hari, Nithin, Jeff and Nikhil. I am missing in the photo as I was behind the lens!

The ring-cupped oak tree fruit - remembering the Ice Age!

Nthin dodging his way through the thicket - the last lap

Taking rest for about thirty minutes to have some more food and lie relaxed on a slope for a sport named 'snow tubing', we walked back towards the falls. When we found that we had an hour left with us, we decided to have some more fun(!). Up ahead of the falls, we could see a sky-high bridge that connected the banks of the river, at the top-most part of the hill. Considering that we had to walk up and down all this distance in less than an hour, we increased our pace, and so were out of breath by the time we reached the top of the hill. The bridge carried a railway line from one side of the hill to another. The falls down below appeared very small, which gave a frightening realization that we were then on top of a two-hundred-and-forty feet tall bridge, with only scarcely piled wooden planks and some loosely secured metallic grills here and there. Every inch of movement had to be taken carefully when on top of the bridge, because there were space enough for a person to slip through between the planks, and have a three-hundred meter jump down to the mouth of the falls. After enjoying the the scenery with a sense constrained by the fear factor, we returned back to the bottom of the hill, where we had our buses waiting for us. 

River Genesee, upstream. Photo taken from atop the bridge near Upper Falls

River Genesee, downstream. Photo taken from atop Portage bridge near Upper Falls

The Upper Falls and the Portage (railway) birdge

 It was a nice ride back to the university. Tired by a sleep-drought-Friday-night and by a good-day's hiking, we were all asleep in the bus for the entire of an hour and a half, except when the driver got all excited and sang over the microphone (that woke up everybody in the bus) a song that she used to sing to and teach the kindergarten children - one about the "Bazooka bubble gum"! 

Some lessons learnt and lots of photographs and memories to take home, we reached back at the university at 6.00 P.M., where a cold and rainy evening welcomed us. 

Here is the map which highlights in red the path that we covered in our hike. And underneath the map, are given a few tips to all those who would like to visit Letchworth State Park.   

Letchworth State Park - the trail we covered (marked with red lines and arrows)

Tips to tourists:

1. Enquire about which time of the year is the best to visit, based on what you plan to do there. If you want to do snow-mobiling, skiing, etc., you would want to visit the park in winter. If rafting is what you like, you better visit in spring. For hiking, any time of the year other than winter should be fine. But to catch the fall/ autumn at its best, visit in fall, by mid of October at least. 

2. Get maps and instructions at the gate. Refer http://www.letchworthpark.com/ for more details.

3. Carry to the park more than the amount of food and water you would want, especially if you plan to hike - because there is only one restaurant, and that is near the middle falls, and once inside the forest, there is a probability of getting lost even if you have maps with you.

4. Keep a constant track of time while hiking - because if you are walking into the forest for long, you would require the same amount of time to return as you travelled already, unless you find a short-cut out.

5. There is no network at most places in the park, so do not rely on GPS.

6. Do not get off the trails, as you might end up reaching nowhere. 

7. Follow all park rules and instructions carefully.

8. The trip up and down the hill to the bridge over the upper falls will take about an hour, even at a good climbing pace. For a relaxed trip up and down, use about an hour and a half. Or two, if you want to stop at view points and take pictures or enjoy the beauty.

9. Enjoy!

AMERICAAAAA..

On the 5th of August, my life changed. Until then, my future and I dangled on a balance at the crossroads of destiny for about an year. Not that I had a chance before to change tracks - but this change, that culminated as a result of a series of lousy efforts last year, is huge. I feel goosebumps of that realization every minute I stay awake - yes, I do manage to get good sleep amidst this adventure.

Okay. I am in America. Did you just say "So what?"? Then please note, I meant THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAAAA!!! No, that's not a "SO WHAAAT?" again, I hope I heard you wrong. I hope so. Is this a game that we are playing? Sounds so.

This photograph is to prove that I am in the USA :) That's I, the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls (the thin strip that originates from a tenth of an inch to the left of my left ear) and the Horseshoe Falls in the increasing order of depth (!) in the pic. These three falls together are called the Niagara Falls, And that's Canada on the right-hand-side-bank of the river Niagara

Now this game could go on and on for ever, until either of us gives up and says I don't care where you are or what you say. Now that is simple, isn't that? Why don't we do that now? Okay, so that's it, so now that you and me have reached a consensus, which is not to care about where the other one is or what the other one says, let me get into some business now. Let me try to woo you back into listening to what I say - oh come on, not a game again. I will, in this and the following posts to come here, share some of my experiences with you, and you may read along if you find those interesting. That I choose to write those down should imply that I found that worth. Now you may agree or disagree after reading those, or even before reading if you don't care, or even if you read a post and find that not interesting to you, keep reading relying on the hope that one fine day I might write down something really interesting! Okay, enough of the verbose, let me get started. I am sorry, I don't have pictures to make this piece of writing look better than it actually is, I would have loved to, but not this time. May be next time.

1. Yes, I dare!

Here in the USA, I, like every average Indian here, starts to do things which I don't even dare to think about. At least not during undergraduate engineering studies. One example: here at the University at Buffalo, NY, I pack lunch at home and bring that to my classes - no, not to get occupied with eating when I get bored with my classes (now I don't think I enjoy the luxury of having an option to get bored in classes - oh! how I miss my undergraduate classes), but to serve better purposes than the former. There are many many reasons to why I pack my lunch. (i) to make the most of the opportunity to develop my culinary skills (oh yes, I love cooking!), (ii) to stay healthy and rich (cooking food at home not only keeps me healthy - I say this although I have not had a chance to provide a counter-example to prove myself wrong, it also reduces down my expenses because cooking is much cheaper than buying food outside - oh my god! The restaurants inside the campus are positive multiple times (>=1)expensive than those outside! I wonder why it is not the other way round), (iii) to ascertain the crazy notion of many non-Indians that Indians and their food smell nastily (no, I don't try to seek anybody's - especially that of non-Indian girls' - attention with my lunch box opened and a fan beside it to spread the aroma of Indian food across the entire library floor), (iv) to save about an hour and a half by not travelling back and forth home for lunch, and (v) many others. 

2. I am a Brownie

To quote my friend, "Indians are not EXOTIC anymore". In this place which was almost free from Indians (not the Red-Indians, but Indians from South Asia) to SIX SIGMA SPECIFICATION (3.4 Indians per million Americans? Should have been so once upon a time - I am leaving the statistical clarification to the demographers), now it is less than 3.8 sigma (about 10,000 Indians per million Americans - find the data here in Wikipedia)! That's so big and it is difficult to walk on the roads and not come across an Indian. This task is impossible when walking in or around any university in the USA that provides some course, preferably master's, in engineering. So we Indians are neither this nor that (by using these pronouns I am trying to express the fact that I am not a racist) which means that I we are brown! And I have many a time overheard people referring to me and my friends here as "Hey! Brown guys started coming here.." Now let me tell here that I didn't feel bad when I heard that. Why should I feel offended? I am what I am and I cannot change myself. Nor do I have a desire to change. So even though I tend to belong to a group that is decreasing in its rarity, let me declare myself exotic, may be not as exotic as I would have been had I come here a decade ago, and enjoy my stay in this absolutely welcoming place as much as I can.

So that's it for the time being, now that I have thrown enough light on my American life here. But if you happen to believe that the upcoming posts are going to be similar to this, beware! Visit this page often - many more stories in the pipeline, and you will feel that you are touring the USA. And yes, I will be back with more color as I promised. Bye.