Sunday December 12th, Whetstone Gulf State Park (NY) - About 6 miles, 600 feet elevation gain estimated

 Whetstone Gulf State Park

North and South trails (as guided by 50 hikes in Central NY)


Basics:
Length - ~ 5 miles
Elevation gain - Estimated at 600 feet

Nearest city - Lowville, NY

This was the same hike we did in April of 2018. Several things were different this time.  First, Brian wasn't with me.  Second, there was only a slight dusting of snow and ice to be found.

It's an amazing natural site and seemingly a lightly visited one at least during the winter.  Read the previous entry for more details.  This isn't the easiest place to photograph.  The views into the gorge were usually obscured with close up bushes or tree branches.  The trail is as much as 300 feet above the stream below and almost the entire trail is within eyesight if not one wrong step away from the nearly vertical walls.  Still, there weren't a lot of really great shots.  Here are the new photos:









After lunch in Lowville I did about 10 miles north on NY-812, allegedly the quietest road (by which they probably mean state highway?) in the state.  Everything around the area of Whetstone Gulf is quiet and NY-812 went 70 miles farther north than I went but it wasn't particularly interesting or obviously more devoid of cars than other roads so I just went until the next highway crossing and then started the long trip home.  The quietest road website it worth a look.

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