October/November 2021 Vacation Day 5 · · PAGE 9.

October 30 2021:  We stopped at this river access location north of the little town of Belfast, New York at 2:34 PM to give Chase a rest stop, to refill his water bowl, and put some kibble in the other side of the dual pet bowl.  This pit stop was complete at 2:43 PM when we headed north again.

When you are entering the town of Fillmore, NY on state route 19, this sign lets you know to take route 19A to get to Letchworth State Park about 8 miles north of here.

The Genesee Falls Inn is at the heart of Portageville, NY.  It is the village close to the entrance of Letchworth State Park.  We drove down to the inn to see it for real on October 30 at 3:07 PM before heading up to the state park.

Taking a very short ride from the Inn on NY 436 takes you to a bridge across the Genesee River above a shallow set of falls.  The river enters Letchworth State Park just around the bend in the river as seen from the bridge in this image below.

Letchworth State Park - West Entrance 

I called the state park a week before we began our journey and learned their peak tourist season had ended.  The gate to the park is wide open and an entrance fee is not charged.  This Google Earth image from June 2014 has the sign out front to pay the entry fee.  We entered the park at 3:10 PM.

I used Google Earth to look down on the main gate seen in the image above.  There is a BLUE dot there that when clicked revealed the image seen below.  When you drive through the park, you see the NEW high railroad bridge shown here about half a mile from the West Gate entrance.  The old bridge on the right side of this image has been removed as you will see when you drive through the state park.

This is the first information sign seen after entering from the west gate of the state park.  Mount Morris is at the other end of the state park.

There is a parking area near a trail that goes in two directions.  One trail crosses the road and continues down toward the railroad bridge across the Genesee River.  There is another parking area around the corner beyond the RR bridge.  That second parking lot was where we parked the car at 3:15 PM to take some photos of the bridge.  This image from 2014 shows part of the old bridge.


My photo from October 30, 2021 shows the new bridge and the rock wall for safety along the trail.  We are getting plenty of colorful fall foliage on our trip.

This second view under the new railroad bridge shows the river down below at the first of the large waterfalls.

To easily get down to the falls, drive down the main road seen here.  We passed this way at 3:32 PM heading for the next water falls.  We drove past the road that went down to the upper and middle falls.  Getting on that road was a very sharp turn coming from the railroad bridge on the main road.

We drove to the museum to turn around and come back to this point to get access to the road going down to the Upper and Middle falls.  The left turn is mostly hidden until reaching the road itself.

Google Earth drove their camera vehicle down from the main road to the picnic area and prime viewing locations for the waterfalls.  We went down this road also during our visit.

This walkway goes to the viewing areas below the first high waterfall. 

This view from river level is looking back toward the waterfall that is under the bridge.  This image below begins photos taken by me on October 30, 2021.

Linda is taking her photo of the waterfall while standing next to the puddle by the best viewpoint.  October 30, 2021.

I let her dog Chase join her when she stepped back from the puddle of water.  October 30, 2021.

I moved away from the prime viewpoint to another area along the walkway adjacent to the Genesee River.  This image reveals the details of the railroad bridge and visitor viewpoints.  October 30, 2021.

Linda is standing by the second waterfall showing the river in full flow on DAY 5.  October 30, 2021.

Same location as above on October 30, 2021.

I moved up away from the falls to get a higher perspective.  October 30, 2021.

I took this image from a position off to the north side of the waterfall.  October 30, 2021.

This is the same waterfall seen from a few more feet down stream.  October 30, 2021. 

This Google Earth image from June 2014 shows the same waterfall seen above, but with a a much lower flow of water.  They brought their back-pack camera system to get these images and others you will find using Google Earth to "walk the trails" adjacent to the river.