Gorges Friday Morning with My Brother

So last weekend was a nice and relaxing weekend at the cottage, filled with kayaking, swimming, and overall being a bum. It was great. This past weekend I changed it up a little, as I had family visiting up from PA, and had a tradition to keep with my brother.

If you've never been, Watkins Glen State Park is one of the jewels of the Southern Tier of New York. Inside, is a massive gorge, with walking trails following the creek that cut it almost all the way to the top. The hike is manageable for most people, though there are a lot of stairs. But it's worth it. The views inside the gorge are one of the things that I love most about New York.

Like this one

Every corner is another perfect piece of scenery, with little waterfalls intersecting the trail along the way

For the past 2 years, my youngest brother and I have made it a tradition of walking the gorge when I come home from school. It's an awesome bonding experience and if you go early enough in the day (before 9am), you almost have the run of the place on your way up. We usually take our time, as we both like taking pictures of the landscape, and enjoy sticking our heads under the waterfalls (even if the water's cold. damn cold.)

Obligatory Bonding Selfie

After we went up and down the gorge, we went into town for some lunch, and went down to Seneca Harbor to walk the breakwater and get some more landscape pictures.

As we were walking on the breakwater, we were incredibly surprised to find a pair of muskrats running along the rocks and overall being sneaky. It was hard, but we managed to get a couple pictures of them

We would've followed them along the rocks for a lot longer, but my 2 hour parking spot was just about running out of time, so we had to go. It was a great morning, and a good memory that my brother and I will have for a long time.