Finger Lakes Region, New York State Parks, Waterfalls, Hiking, Trails, Pictures, Movies and Maps

Finger Lakes State Parks New York are the most dazzling and mesmerizing series of waterfall bonanzas that I've ever Hiked. I wondered, how could awesome natural beauty like this have been created. Once again the answer came with a little basic Geology. The many waterfalls are left over from the last ice age. Mother Nature sculptured out her master pieces using time, cold weather,heavy ice, water and gravity. I wish I could have been around all those years to witness it.

Like giant fingerprints of Ice Age glaciers, the Finger Lakes span across Central New York. Water and its works are the attractions and State Parks are jewels on the fingers. Eleven parks front on lakes, while six feature gorges with waterfalls. Taughannock Falls State Park, near Ithaca, does both. One of the highest waterfalls in the east, Taughannock plunges into a canyon that opens to Cayuga Lake, the longest Finger Lake.

If you want to swim in a natural pool by a magnificent waterfall, or hike a tame trail through a wild gorge, then try Stony Brook, Fillmore Glen State Park, Buttermilk Falls State Park, or Robert H. Treman State Park or walk behind waterfalls at Watkins Glen State Park, which also offers 305 campsites.

Cayuga Lake, with its 286 campsites and 14 cabins, and Long Point, with its newly developed day-use and boat launch areas, are two of the five state parks that ring Cayuga Lake's basin. On Seneca Lake, the deepest of the Finger Lakes, Sampson, Seneca lake and Lodi Point State Parks offer camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, bird watching and swimming. Allan H. Treman State Marine Park boasts New York's largest inland marina; and you can put your boat, fishline or yourself in Lake Ontario at Fair Haven Beach State Park, which also offers 185 campsites and 35 cabins.

No one can teach us about Native Americans better than Native Americans themselves. Ganondagan State Historic Site, just east of Rochester, serves as New York State's only historic site dedicated to Native American history. Featuring a replica of a bark longhouse, this 17th century site highlights Seneca history and culture.