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| driving into New York State |
This leg of our journey started out with a rather strange,
awkward Boondocker’s Welcome experience.
A heatwave was passing through and since we would only have 15amp
electricity, thus our fans would work but no A/C, we decided that we would stay
at our next stop only 2 nights instead of the 4 nights that we originally
planned on. Boy were we glad we had made
that decision before we even got there. We stayed at “Forsythia Forest,” in Columbia
Station, just outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
The homeowner wasn’t going to be there when we arrived so she emailed us
instructions of where to park our rig.
When we got there a young fellow showed up who called himself “the air
bnb guy.” He pointed out the “RV port”
up near the house but after we told him of our instructions to park in the
front yard on the edge of her 2 acre property, he said that yes, others had
parked there before and yes, he thought he remembered her having an electrical
line run underground to that area.
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| Forsythia Forest camping spot |
Well, we parked there but couldn’t find an electrical outlet anywhere or
any nearby water source. We decided we
could still make it work by only using our solar and our lithium battery. We did find a water source in the middle of
poison ivy and we were able to fill a couple of 5 gallon jugs of water to put
in our water tank. When the owner
arrived the next afternoon we found out she was NOT pleased that we were in the
“wrong” spot. Apparently there was a
miscommunication on her part. Thank
heavens that she and Jerome got along well and he saved the day so to
speak. By the time we left all seemed to
be okay, but who knows about after we left.
She may be cursing our names for leaving deep ruts in her rain softened
yard! Oh well all-in-all, it was a
pretty place and we were able to go into Cleveland while we were there to see
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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| Rock & Roll here we come! |
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| "The King" of Rock & Roll |
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| Alice Cooper's boots |
We spent
three hours enjoying the history and the exhibits yet it felt like we had only
been there for minutes. There was so
much to see and we really had a good time.
Admission was rather pricey but we decided it was worth it. The fun there sort of balanced out the
weirdness of the camping situation.
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| Thunder Rocks in Allegany State Park |
Driving into New York State added a whole new dimension of
beauty to our drive with its thick green forested hills and mountains sparsely
interspersed with farmland and big, older farm homes for as far as the eye
could see.
As we drove into Allegany
State Park (ASP), near Salamanca, we were filled with excitement and
anticipation of what our stay here would bring.
It’s just beautiful here.
We were so lucky to be able to book another
campsite for the two additional days that we had cancelled out on in Ohio.
It was the last available spot that would fit
a rig our size for those two days!
The
site we reserved was described as having a severe incline but we decided that
what the heck, we could make it work.
Once
we got there we realized why it probably was still un-booked.
Remember
our Indiana “gravel slide” incident?
Well,
this time it was sort of a reverse situation and minor compared to that
incident, but this time the
“incline”
truly was “severe” and our truck tires were once again spinning on the loose
gravel as we tried to back our trailer uphill to our camping spot.
Once again, Jerome reasoned it out and made
a last ditch effort to make it up the hill backwards by removing the equalizer
bars to the trailer, shifting the trailer tongue weight to the back truck tires
so we could get more traction.
Yeaaaaaa….. it worked!
What a
GREAT spot once we got up there.
We had
to raise the front of the trailer higher than we ever had before though to get
it mostly level.
That was
interesting!
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| Our campsite in the Cain Hollow A campground - the bear box for food storage on the left, lots of wildflowers, and notice how high the front of our trailer is jacked up! |
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| The great view from our campsite |
Allegany State Park is HUGE - 65,000 acres! They offer an incredible amount of
activities (including artist in residence concerts) and environmental education
and interpretation programs. It seemed
more like a national park than a state park.
The first night we were there we went to a “Synchronous Fireflies” program
which was a wonderful experience to start off our stay there. Did you know that there are over 2000 firefly
species worldwide, 150 species of them in the U.S., and that fireflies (or
lightning bugs as we called them in the South) aren’t flies, but are little
beetles? Synchronous fireflies are rare
and this is one of the few places known to have them. Also, they can only be seen when it’s totally
dark (about 10pm here) between late June to mid-July. Unlike the Chinese Lantern fireflies that we
typically see, that seem to float along in the air, these synchronous firefly
sightings are like seeing tiny, twinkly-blinking, white Christmas lights
everywhere around you. If you ever get
the chance to see them, don’t miss the opportunity.
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| 4th of July on Red House Lake in Allegany State Park |
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| The Red House Lodge in Allegany State Park |
Unlike our first campsite in ASP, which was up in a hillside
meadow with wild flowers and mountain views, our second campsite was tucked
down in a heavily forested hollow beside a rippling creek. We were so glad that we had more time here
than we had originally planned.
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| hiking The Gorge Trail in Watkins Glen State Park |
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| hiking on The Gorge Trail and looking down at the hikers on the trail below us |
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| one of the 19 waterfalls along The Gorge Trail and one of the stone bridges in the background |
From ASP, we headed east to Watkins Glen State Park, voted
the 3rd most popular state park in the country. It’s noted for The Gorge Trail hike through
the glen along a rushing creek with 19 waterfalls, several bridges, and a
famous 180 steps climb at the end. Hiking
the trails and bridges, being immersed in the beauty of Mother Nature and
hiking on the amazing trail that hugs the side of the gorge was such a
treat. The trail and bridges were built by the CCC
(Civilian Conservation Corps) between 1935 and 1941 as part of The New
Deal. It is quite an amazing feat to behold. While in the area we were also able to see 4
more beautiful waterfalls, all within 2 1/2 – 3 miles in either direction of
the glen. Another interesting fact
about Watkins Glen is that the first cross country road race after WWII, in
1928, started and ended here.
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| Hector Falls, just north of Watkins Glen |
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| Aunt Sarah Falls, in Montour Falls, just south of Watkins Glen |
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| Eagle Cliff Falls, in Montour Falls, just south of Watkins Glen |
We figure that camping in NY State makes us honorary members
of the “Wrong Way Corrigan” Club, if there is one.
Trying to back into the campsites at the two
state parks we camped in was near impossible because most of the sites were
angled in the opposite direction of the one way roads in the campground loops.
Unless we risked jack-knifing our rig to back
into our site we had to drive the wrong way around the campground loop to be
able to back in safely.
Fortunately some local campers validated our
decision by telling us that it is common for people with “larger rigs” to drive
the “wrong way” as we had to do.
We just
never have thought of our 24ft. trailer as being a “larger rig!”
In Watkins Glen the campground loop had
several blind curves and knolls to traverse so Jean walked ahead of our rig with
a walky-talky to insure that Jerome wouldn’t encounter another camper coming
our way as we were leaving.
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| Our campsite in Mohawk Village Campground in Watkins Glen State Park |
Our last campsite in NY State was in Hideaway Campground, a
private campground, in Central Bridge.
It was a pretty, quiet place with plush green grass and many seasonal
residents but it was a nice place (with great WiFi) for a short stay. While we were there we drove 45 minutes into
Albany to a Whole Foods store to stock up on much needed groceries. This was the first time we were able to find
a health food store in NY State. Each time we had asked about nearby health
food stores, no one even seemed to know what a health food store was!
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| our campsite in Hideaway Campground |
While we were at this campground we also
took a cave tour at nearby Howe Caverns.
The cave size was remarkable but we felt that the formations were sparse
and small compared to other caves we have toured. We think that maybe we have become spoiled by
having seen Carlsbad Caverns and now, unless there is something rather unique
about a cave, we are not impressed.
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| Howe Caverns |
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| short boat ride in Howe Caverns |
We found New York State to be somewhere we are looking
forward to visiting again and exploring more of in the future. Now we are on our way east again... Vermont
here we come!
We send our best thoughts your way and are delighted that
you have taken the time to share a bit of our experiences with us. ‘Until next time, Jerome & Jean (and Carly, too)
