Late September 2020

When you say you’re going to New York, everyone’s first impression is that you’re talking about New York City. Granted, NYC is fabulous, but New York State, especially northern New York, holds natural wonders and some very decent wineries and breweries – if you know your way around.

The Finger Lakes

We have been going to the Finger Lakes area for years, but we used to go the B and B route. This was our first time camping in New York State Parks and at a number of Harvest Hosts sites. These different accommodations changed up our trip and opened our eyes to some new experiences. New York State Parks are much larger than we expected. The camping loops often surround an open, grassy meadow. The individual campsites are usually tucked into the woods, with plenty of space and trees in between neighboring campsites.

We started our trip in Watkins Glen at the foot of Lake Seneca. The camping area is part of the larger Watkins Glen State Park, which we’ve visited often to hike the Gorge. This hike never loses its appeal. The massive rock formations are dramatic. Thank you, glaciers!

Along the trail, you can observe how thousands of years of flowing water have worn down the rocks and deepened the gorge. Trees, ferns, and wildflowers sprout from cracks in the rocks, thriving against all common sense thinking about what plants need to survive.

After a good rainfall, mini impromptu waterfalls spring from cracks along the canyon walls. At Rainbow Falls, about halfway up the trail, the walkway goes a bit deeper into the rock, passing behind a curtain of waterfalls – a favorite spot for tourist photos and usually the biggest traffic jam on the hike. If you plan to hike a popular spot like this one, choose a weekday morning to avoid crowds.

We took day trips from our campsite, to explore the area and familiar haunts. One day we packed a picnic lunch and stopped at Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars, a great winery on the east side of Seneca Lake. Another day in the area, we drove to Ithaca and hiked the trail along Buttermilk Falls. The overall hiking distance may be a little shorter than Watkins Glen, but we thought the scenery was very dramatic in its own right. There were only a handful of other hikers on the trail, so we could really take our time and enjoy ourselves.

The hiking trail follows the water, going up one side of the stream, and then down the other. Each turn along the way brought a new view. The water was lower than normal, but we considered that a bonus because it offered a more revealing view of the streambed and rock formations.

We shifted over to Keuka Lake to continue our trek. We camped at Keuka Lake State Park for a couple of nights – also a great park- and another evening, we stayed at Heron Hill Winery near Hammondsport.

We’ve always thought that Heron Hill is one of the best wineries in the area. It keeps expanding and growing larger. There’s now a café, which wasn’t open during our visit, due to Covid. The winery was sort of quiet mid-week, although there were small groups of people coming in for tastings. Instead of a tasting, we chose to purchase some white wine to enjoy with tapas at our van. After a busy day, we’ll often opt for a dinner of appetizers and finger food. So much easier, with little clean up.

Harvest Hosts guests park in the winery’s lower lot, where limos or buses would park during the day. There was only one other Harvest Host camper on the property – a nice couple with a young baby. After the winery closed we had the whole place to ourselves. We chatted, shared a little happy hour and compared travel notes. Our parking spot overlooked acres of vineyards rolling down to Lake Keuka in the distance.

The evening was quiet and crisp, but not cold. The last rays of the day highlighted the orange sugar maples off in the distance, almost making them glow. In the morning, we were greeted by a brilliant sunrise. As the first of the winery staff returned to start their work day, we packed up and moved on. Along the way, we had a picnic lunch at Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Winery a longtime favorite for their champagnes.

Sonnenberg Gardens

We drove to Canandaigua to visit Sonnenberg Gardens. This is one of the few gardens in the NY State Parks system, but unlike most other parks and historic sites, it is not funded directly by the State. A non-profit “Friends” group provides all of the funding for operating costs through fundraising events, memberships, and onsite revenue. In regular times, this would be a daunting financial challenge, but during Covid, when revenues are down, it’s beyond daunting.

Like other places we’ve visited, these gardens also look like they missed having volunteers early in the season. Some areas got late season attention and looked great, but other display gardens obviously weren’t planted this season. The empty beds, urns and containers are waiting for the TLC of volunteers in 2021.

Sadly, this garden with such a rich history and great bones is in dire need of funding for restoration and upkeep.

The Japanese Garden, constructed in 1908, was one of the first in the United States. It’s charming and has some wonderful landscape specimens, but the structure needs some attention and fresh paint.

The historic Conservatory and Greenhouse Complex was designed by Lord & Burnham and, at one time, housed 13,000 square feet of gardens under glass. Palms, fruit trees, orchids, roses, vegetables, grapes – all had their own section of greenhouse. There was even a mushroom cellar. Little remains today but an orchid house in real need of repair and some tropical plants.

We did see a masonry crew working to refurbish one of the main fountains, which was a good sign. However, the mansion and other areas will need significant maintenance soon in order to prevent major damage.

We hope the coming year will bring more funding and opportunities for the garden. It deserves another chance to be a showstopper.

Climbing Bines Brewery and Hop Farm

Before we left the Finger Lakes area, we stayed at a Harvest Hosts location in Penn Yan, Climbing Bines Brewery and Hop Farm. We parked along with a few other HH campers, behind the barn and headed up to the Brewery to give it a try.

John said the beers were good; the Shipwreck Ale was his favorite. I opted to try a guest hard cider, also on tap. It was the first time I had lavender cider and it was excellent.

The brewery invites local vendors to bring food trucks, which is a great collaboration. We enjoyed some fresh-roasted tiny red potatoes. Yum. I must say that I’ve never met a potato I didn’t like.

Touching Lake Ontario

We spent our last few days in the area at Westcott Beach State Park, near Sackett’s Harbor.

We checked out Sackett’s Harbor and also Sodus Point. Sometimes, the travel brochures wax poetic and lead you astray. There wasn’t a lot going on in either spot, which was a little disappointing.

However, the real highlight here was a day trip to Chimney Bluffs State Park in Wolcott. The park is located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, east of Sodus Bay.

We hiked the bluff trail and marveled at the other-worldly looking clay formations at the water’s edge. It was a clear, sunny afternoon, and a great way to wrap up our northern New York visit.

After pizza at a lakeside café and a quiet Sunday night at the campsite, we headed east to Vermont. Our timing was good for a drive with colorful scenery and dramatic skies.

A postscript about electrical power and this trip

During this trip, we became confident that we really don’t need to “plug in” at campsites. Our bank of batteries provided sufficient power for our needs: lighting, hot water heater, fans, and juice to power the microwave, TV, charge tech devices, etc. The triumvirate system coordinates the lithium batteries, battery to battery charger, and top off from the solar panels. John will likely say that I have oversimplified all this (sorry, John…) but the bottom line is that it all works! And we can stay at less costly non-electric sites and be ready for “sans-power” camping opportunities coming up in the future. This will change if we camp where we need to run our air conditioner, but for this trip, we buzzed along easily under our own “steam.”