Letchworth State Park pt. 1

Tea Table/Wolf Creek.

Gabe, Peter and I went down to Letchworth State Park in Upstate New York to go camping over the Victoria Day long weekend. We were going to test out some of the stuff we bought for our June Banff trip. Emily was supposed to come too, but her workplace messed up her schedule and she had to back out last minute.

We met at Gabe's condo shortly after 8:30 on Saturday morning. I parked my car there and we took Peter's. He has a Thule roof-top cargo box that can carry a lot.

Our first stop was to pick up Vietnamese sandwiches at a place around Wilson and Jane or something. Well, we kind of got lost. It took us quite a bit longer than we planned to get the sandwiches and hit the road again. C'est la vie.

The drive towards Niagara Falls (where we were going to cross the border) wasn't too bad. There were some slow downs on the QEW past Hamilton, but it wasn't terrible.

After seeing some road information signs we decided to cross at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. We were hoping it would be the quickest way over. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes which was great for a holiday long weekend.

Though, we had to make our way back up to the Queenston/Lewiston Bridge because we were going to the store near there where Peter has his post office box to pick up some stuff people bought and had shipped there.

After that we went to the nearby Walmart for "supplies". We bought beer and chips and a whole BBQ chicken for dinner that evening. Just so we didn't eat only junk food, we bought some pre-cut veggies (carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower), fruits (bananas, oranges and pears) and a half dozen eggs too. We also bought a bag of ice for the cooler to keep the perishables fresh.

The park is about 1-1/2 hours from the border. After all our stops we didn't arrive until late afternoon. We had hoped to get in some hiking after checking in and setting up our tents, but it was a bit late for that.

Instead we drove the length of the park and stopped at different outlook points and took photos. That's all we really had time for.

Dinner was good. We ate the whole chicken along with some boiled veggies. We drank beer and ate chips by the campfire. We bought the wood at a stand just outside the park where you pay on the honour system. There's a box for the money depending on how many bundles you take (1 for $4; or 3 for $10).

I tried to take some star shots at night, but I couldn't find a wide open space. And the clouds started to move in too.

Overall it was a great day. The weather forecasters had predicted rain and we received nary a drop. As well, since it was still relatively early in the season... there were no bugs! Wonderful.