A Beautiful Day in the Finger Lakes

I went for a hike in Bob's stomping grounds near the south end of Canandaigua Lake.  We hiked up one rim of Clark Gully, down across the stream, up to the opposite rim and then back down to where we started.  A fine hike on a fine day.  Only a few miles, but the change in elevation made it challenging nonetheless.

The view from the parking area was encouraging.

Bob leads the way on the pretty trail down to a nice viewpoint.
It's great to have a personal guide.

That's far enough.

It was a pleasure to just sit and look at the distant foliage.
The cloudy day provided even lighting that made the yellows leap from the greens.

Here is a disorienting look down a waterfall.
Please do not fall headfirst into your computer screen.

The same falls with Bob properly oriented.

The view from the opposite side on the way down.

Looking out of the gully, over the West River, and to the wind turbines on the hills beyond.

One last look.

 Bonus #1

Longhorns on the hill...not a bad view for grazing.

What the heck are these shaggy things?

I think they were also wondering,
"What the heck is this shaggy thing?"
Truth be told, I do need a haircut.

"We're Scottish Highland Cattle.
Snort...Don't get any closer...Snort"

 Bonus #2

A short walk on the trail...

Led to this vista over the Italy Valley.
Bob says the hang-gliders launch from here.
From the force of the wind coming up the hill, it's easy to see why.

Two Boys at Conklin Gully

Conklin Gully is a ravine south of Canandaigua Lake in the High Tor Wildlife Management area.  Don't confuse it with the High Tor State Park along the Hudson River.  Or Maxwell Anderson's 1936 play.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a tor is a high craggy hill.  So High Tor is a high high craggy hill.

Photographs never adequately capture the change in elevation.
This trail is steep!

Bob enjoys the forest.

Lovely deep shades of mossy green.

Down from the rim trail, we followed the gorge downstream.
Bob is standing on the musical ledge.

Don't miss Bob's fine rendition of...well...some tune.

Maybe you can figure out what tune it is.

Did I mention the rain?
It was quite the soggy hike on the slickest surface known to man...
wet mossy rocks.

This beautiful cascade appeared after we rounded a bend.

Bob looks down from the top.
How was the vantage point reached for this photo?

Uuuuhh...Carefully!!

Made it...without falling into the bathtub.

This is the view down from the mid point.
I decided to leave the descent for another day.

The water drops about 30 feet to where I'm standing,
and then another 30 feet behind me.

One last look.  So pretty.

Here's a chunk of sculpted rock typical of many seen in the ravine.
Bob thinks this may be fossilized wave action.

Lots more fun and things to see as we headed back upstream.

Bright shrooms on a gray day.

Another nice cascade

We headed past this point and farther upstream.
You can just see the rope we used to help us up to the right of the falls.

Easier going past another drop.

The big falls is beyond this last obstacle.

Bob ascends.

Not only did we reach the falls...it stopped raining!

It's about 18 to 21 meters high.
For those of you conversion-challenged,
think of 18 to 21 parking meters stacked atop each other.

This woman we met on the trail
promised her party would not follow us
to the falls she had never heard of until Bob told her about them.
Surprise!

But it's OK.  We gave her the wrong directions back to the parking lot.

Going down the rain-slicked rocks is much more dangerous than climbing up.
So we opted to scale the side of the gorge to get up to the rim trail.
The loose stone makes following closely a mistake.
Bob must have mountain goat ancestors.

From the rim trail, you can look through the trees way down onto the bathtub. 

Looking toward the Canandaigua Lake valley from the south rim trail.

Don't step back.

A small cloud works its way up the gully.

Bob brought his GPS device.
He downloaded the data and got this plot showing route, elevation and speed.
No records were broken...safety first!