Category Archives: Watkins Glen

Tunnel through Glen Obscura

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Where is this tunnel in Watkins Glen State Park? In the past you couldn’t go here.

One of four tunnels along the Gorge Trail in Watkins Glen State Park in New York's Finger Lakes region.

Climbing through a tunnel by the view once known as The Vista in a section of Watkins Glen once called Glen Obscura.

This short tunnel, the third in a sequence of four in all, is in a quiet, shady section of Watkins Glen once called Glen Obscura, and the view was called The Vista in the 1800s. It is just upstream from the “Suspension Bridge.” Back then, the trail did not traverse this section of Watkins Glen, but instead bypassed it on the gorge rim above.

The tunnels were built between 1906 and 1908, shortly after the creation of Watkins Glen State Park. Before the tunnels, there were only wooden staircases around obstacles.

Historic photo of Watkins Glen State Park showing the Suspension Bridge and the Swiss Chalet

In the 1800s, one had to climb this staircase out of Watkins Glen to the Swiss Cottage, rather than continue under the bridge into what was then called Glen Obscura, as one does today. Back then another path led back into the glen past Glen Obscura. The bridge, then known as the Iron Bridge and now called the Suspension Bridge, remains today, although without the awning. The Swiss Cottage is long gone, as is the building on the left side of this drawing, the Glen Mountain House hotel. Image courtesy of Bill Hecht

In those old days, your detour of Glen Obscura was rewarded by the chance to sit down and order refreshments at the Swiss Cottage (also known as the Swiss Chalet). Today, you have to climb all the way out of the gorge and up to the swimming pool on the South Rim to find Watkins Glen State Park‘s snack bar. But many will agree that the glen is more beautiful without buildings hugging its cliff tops.

Learn more about Watkins Glen State Park’s human and natural history in my award-winning book, A Walk Through Watkins Glen: Water’s Sculpture in Stone.

Step Up in Watkins Glen

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150 years ago, the gorge in what is now called Watkins Glen State Park was known as Freer’s Glen, at least for awhile. Beginning in 1863, wooden walkways were built into the narrow chasm to pass along cliffs and climb above waterfalls. These were all replaced when the state park was created, beginning in 1906, first with concrete and later with stone structures. Here is a comparison of one of the early pre-park, 19th century wood structures with the stone steps of today, climbing up and around Central Cascade halfway through the glen.

19th century photograph of a wooden staircase climbing to Central Cascade in Watkins Glen.

One could only climb past Central Cascade in Watkins Glen via this wooden staircase during the pre-park days in the 19th century. Image courtesy of Bill Hecht

Stone staircase climbs to Central Cascade in Watkins Glen State Park in New York's Finger Lakes region.

This stone staircase climbs out of a section of Watkins Glen called Glen Cathedral to "Folly Bridge" in the background, above Central Cascade, on the Gorge Trail in Watkins Glen State Park.

You can find out more about the gorge at Watkins Glen State Park in my book, A Walk Though Watkins Glen–Water’s Sculpture in Stone.

Winter Arrives in the Finger Lakes

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Two snowstorms left more than a foot on the hills, fields, towns, and gorges around Ithaca, NY, as winter began at the end of 2012. Join host Tony Ingraham in this first episode of 2013 in his public access cable TV series, “Walk in the Park.” Go on a video visit to Taughannock Falls accompanied by Duke Koistra’s ethereal piece, “First Snow.” See photographer Deanna Stickler Laurentz’s pictures of a beaver feeding along the bank of Fall Creek on January 6. Travel into winter in Ingraham’s video, “Winter Water,” visiting Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls, Ithaca Falls, Cayuga Lake, and Watkins Glen State Park. Hear about the award-winning documnentary, “Chasing Ice.” Learn about the extra deer hunting season that began today and will continue until the end of January in the state’s new Deer Management Focus Area in Tompkins County surrounding Ithaca. See more Walk in the Park episodes and short videos.

This is episode 33, recorded on January 9 at PEGASYS public access TV studios in Ithaca, NY. Walk in the Park appears on Ithaca’s cable access channel 13 on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m., and Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m., and at other times of the station manager’s choosing. As of this posting, the next showings of this episode will be tomorrow, Sunday, January 13 at 10:30 a.m., and Tuesday, January 15, at 8:00 p.m. Or, watch it right here!

 

Jobs in Parks

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For the second year, I was asked to come to DeWitt Middle School in Ithaca to be a speaker during their “Looking to the Future Day,” their annual career day for 8th grade students. So, on November 30, I used my Powerpoint to explain the broad range of parks, preserves, and similar sites and organizations where one might pursue a career in “Parks and Recreation.” After fumbling for several minutes with wires, I hooked up a lapel mike to myself and started my video camera and recorded my talk for Walk in the Park TV (episode 31). Later, I exported all the Powerpoint slides as jpegs and then imported them into my video editor to illustrate my talk. 95% of the show is the slides with my voice beneath, while I navigate across each image on the screen as I discuss the topic. This is essentially a version of a talk I gave at Wells College last winter. You may find it interesting. It also is being shown on Ithaca’s public access cable TV channel 13, with airings scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, each day at 10:30 a.m., and finally on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., though the station manager does show it at other times as well.

Below is my description of my talk for the students when they signed up for it:

Mary is a bookkeeper, Doug is a carpenter, Jane is a Jack-of-all-trades, Mike likes working with people, Brittany loves hiking, Sam loves landscaping, Jody loves kids, and Jorge is interested in law enforcement. Which among them could find a satisfying career in parks and recreation?

All of them.

It takes a broad team of professions to run a park, or a park system. Parks are natural places, but parks serve people. Every park has to strike a balance between preserving nature and making it accessible, safe, and enjoyable for the public. There is a career for you in parks and recreation, whether you are purchasing land, making a landscape plan, mowing lawns, or training staff; or constructing and maintaining park trails, roads, campgrounds, buildings, swimming areas, boat launches and marinas, golf courses, and playgrounds; or conducting nature education activities, running a concert series, staffing a recreation center, designing publications and exhibits; or managing a payroll, personnel records, grant writing, or secretarial and administrative work. If you want to be a biologist, geologist, historian, or biological technician, there are jobs in parks and recreation.

Fall Colors in the Finger Lakes

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Episode 25 of Walk in the Park TV, “Fall Colors in the Finger Lakes,” is now showing on television and online. It begins this evening at 9:00 p.m. on Ithaca’s public access cable TV channel 13 and continues for the next week according to the schedule below. Meanwhile, you can see “Fall Colors in the Finger Lakes” online.

Cornell University Fall Creek Gorge Cascadilla Ithaca NY Fall Colors aerial photograph

Most of the Cornell campus is bounded on the north and south by gorges: Fall Creek Gorge on the north (left) and Cascadilla Glen on the south (right). Photograph by Bill Hecht

Join me, Tony Ingraham, in this visual trip around the Finger Lakes region, from the ground and in the air, marveling at the fall foliage extravaganza nature has put on for us in October. Visit Taughannock Falls and Buttermilk Falls State Parks, Cascadilla Gorge, Ithaca Falls and Fall Creek Gorge, Cornell University campus, Cayuga Lake, Myers Park and Salmon Creek, Seneca County, Seneca Lake, Keuka Lake, Canandaigua Lake, Watkins Glen State Park, Sixmile Creek in Ithaca, and more. Photographer Bill Hecht’s views of Taughannock Gorge from the air are incomparable, as are his views of the Cornell campus situated between Fall Creek Gorge and Cascadilla Glen and other aerial vistas around the region. We also visit Cesar Chavez National Monument in California, Fishlake National Forest and Zion National Park in Utah, and Glacier National Park in Montana.

See the show right here!

Or, you can catch the show on Time Warner Cable public access television channel 13 in the Ithaca area:

Thursday,  9:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday,    10:30 a.m.

Tuesday,    8:00 p.m.

It also is shown at other times as the station manager chooses.

Episode 21: Flying Over Cayuga Lake and Other Adventures

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This week’s new episode of Walk in the Park, the TV show, will first air this evening (Thursday, Sept. 20) at 9:00 p.m. on Ithaca’s public access cable channel 13. Or, you can see it here online!

Taughannock Falls State Park, Cayuga Lake, Finger Lakes, Tompkins County, Seneca County, Cayuga County, NY

Taughannock Gorge cuts toward Cayuga Lake, which winds to the north. Photo courtesy of Bill Hecht

Recorded on Sept. 19, 2012, “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Host Tony Ingraham invites you to Heritage Day at Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca, then flies you over Cayuga Lake and Taughannock Falls with the East Hill Flying Club. Next over to Watkins Glen State Park to look at invasive species, to a waterfall and pool in Buttermilk Falls State Park, and  to look at white snakeroot up close!

Walk in the Park, the TV show, airs weekly on Ithaca, NY’s public access cable TV channel 13:

Thursday,  9:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday,    10:30 a.m.

Tuesday,    8:00 p.m.

It also is shown at other times as the station manager chooses.

200 March in Watkins Glen

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LPG gas Inergy Reading, NY, Watkins Glen, Seneca Lake

Inergy Corp.'s huge LPG (liquified petroleum gas) storage and distribution depot is being built in abandoned salt mines under Seneca Lake two miles north of the Village of Watkins Glen. Photo by Bill Hecht

WALK IN THE PARK episode 17 (recorded August 22), is now viewable online here and on Ithaca public access cable TV channel 13 (Thursday 9:00 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 10:30 a.m., and Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., each week).

[The first 15 seconds of the video below are silent. The show lasts 29 minutes.]

On August 17, 2012, more than 200 people marched from park to park through the streets of the Village of Watkins Glen, NY at the south end of Seneca Lake, largest of the Finger Lakes. They were protesting the construction of a huge northeast U.S. LPG (liquid petroleum gas) storage and distribution depot just two miles up the west shore of the lake in abandoned salt mines. Participants expressed their fears of pollution of the air by diesel and other fumes, pollution of the lake by spills of brine and other chemicals, the risk of accidents and even explosions that such facilities sometimes experience, and irreparable damage to the wine and tourism industry the region depends on. Speakers at rallies before and after the march included Dr. Sandra Steingraber, an acclaimed biologist, Lou Damiani, owner of Damiani Wine Cellars, and Nate Shinagawa, Democratic nominee for the 23rd Congressional District of New York. The march proceeded from Seneca Harbor Park to Lafayette Park in the village, then Watkins Glen State Park, and then returned to the waterfront at Seneca Lake Park.

This historic event, probably the largest protest ever to take place in this village, was well covered by newspapers in Elmira, Corning, and Hornell, but it was completely ignored by the Ithaca Journal and YNN TV news.

 

 

Walk in the Park, the TV show, episode 15, August 8, 2012

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woodland sunflowers picnic area upper Buttermilk Falls State Park Ithaca NY

Woodland sunflowers bloom near the Lake Treman picnic area in upper Buttermilk Falls State Park, Ithaca, NY.

With more aerial views of gorges and Ithaca, Yosemite Falls in California, a trip through Enfield Glen and Lucifer Falls at Robert H. Treman State Park, a visit to two peace parks in Japan remembering the atomic attacks at the end of World War 2, music with the Horseflies on the Cornell Arts Quad, a walk looking at wildflowers and listening to frog songs along Lake Treman in Buttermilk Falls State Park, watching waterfalls in Glen Alpha and Cavern Cascade in Watkins Glen State Park, and celebration of National Lighthouse Day at Cayuga Inlet. See it all on this week’s episode of Walk in the Park, the TV show, on Ithaca public access cable channel 13. First showing will be tonight at 9:00 p.m., and lasts 29 minutes. See the full schedule.

Or watch it online here!

Walk in the Park TV show, July 18, 2012, episode 12

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Drought in Buttermilk Glen, waterfall swimming at Robert H. Treman State Park, forest fire in Shenandoah National Park, music at Taughannock Falls State Park, and an eloquent video essay about the looming prospect of dangerous LPG gas storage in old salt mines by Seneca Lake near Watkins Glen. These are topics, images, and video that host Tony Ingraham presents on this episode of his public access cable TV series on cable channel 13 in Ithaca, NY. You can watch it here online, or you can catch its remaining scheduled TV showings on Sunday, July 22 at 10:30 p.m. and Tuesday, July 24 at 8:00 p.m.

The next episode of Walk in the Park will be recorded on January 25 for showings on Thursday at 9:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday both at 10:30 a.m., and the following Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.

 

Angry Faces, Placid Water: Fracking, LPG Gas Storage, and Seneca Lake

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LPG gas storage facility, hydrofracking, Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen, Finger Lakes

Inergy Corporation, though it has yet to receive a permit from the DEC, is going ahead with construction of its northeast regional LPG gas storage depot on the west shore of Seneca Lake. Photo by Bill Hecht

The oil and gas industry plans to build an enormous liquid petroleum gas storage and distribution depot in abandoned salt mines under Seneca Lake near Watkins Glen, one of New York’s most popular scenic tourist attractions. Part of the Marcellus Shale hydrofracking nightmare, this huge facility threatens the pure water of Seneca Lake with petroleum gas and salt pollution, would burn off excess gas with a towering flare stack, produce air pollution, and be a visual and noisy blight along this gorgeous lake. Worst of all would be the constant risk of gas explosions. Local resident, writer, and activist Elaine Mansfield eloquently presents this issue in her blog entry last week. She also reads it aloud in this short, illustrated video I shot in Smith Park along the shore of Seneca Lake. Learn more about this issue from the citizens group Gas Free Seneca.