Camillus NY Trip

 Events were such that I had a consulting job in Camillus NY (think Syracuse), and since I never had a chance to explore that area we decided to take some extra days before and after the job to look around.

The region near Syracuse has a particular geology heavily influenced by glaciation. The bedrock is Paleozoic sediment and includes significant deposits of halite and dolomite. The surface was sculpted by the Laurentide ice sheet which retreated about 12000 years ago. This action created significant features such as the finger lakes and several meromictic lakes.

We started  our trip between Senaca and Cayuga Lakes. On our way to Watkins Glen Park we stopped by Hector Falls. Easily missed, the falls appears from the road as a simple bridge over a stream. But if you stop and take a look to the east you see the water cascading down to feed into Seneca Lake.

We continued on the Watkins Glen State Park. Construction work is blocking off the trails by the main entrance, so now you can effectively only get to the Gorge Trail by the South entrance or the Upper entrance. The trail at the Upper end includes Jacob's Ladder, 180 stone steps. Depending on your knee function, you may prefer to climb these steps rather than descend. That requires starting at the South entrance. We did not know this, but by chance started at the South entrance anyway so were happy.

The trail maps show the Gorge Trail as 1.5 miles, but the first quarter mile or so is blocked, so it is now effectively about 1.25 miles.

Next we headed over to the western side of Cayuga Lake to see Taughannock Falls State Park. The name, Taughannock, is very similar to the name of the highway near my home, the Taconic, a mountain range along eastern New York, a lake, the Taghkanic, and several others. Maybe these words are all of the same origin, but there doesn't seem to be any definitive agreement. At any rate, Taughannock Falls is quite impressive, with a 215 foot drop.

We stopped by a creamery/cheese-making company next, but were so disappointed in their offerings I don't even want to write their name.

We stopped for dinner in the village of Skaneateles, which is on the northern shore of the lake with the same name, Lake Skaneateles. Dinner was quite good - a Mexican place named Elephant and The Dove. I have no idea how they came up with the name. I had the Smokey Beef Quesadilla and my wife had fish tacos. We were both happy.

I learned that the locals pronounce the name of the lake and village, Skaneateles, as "skinny atlas." So now I can name the area like a local.

The next day was when I was actually working, so most of the day was spent with other math teachers. Texas Instruments has released a new model in the TI-84 line, called TI-84 EVO, and we were introducing colleagues to the capabilities of the machine. That's not the focus of this blog post.

After the workshops we went to an early dinner at the golf course at Green Lakes State Park. The place is called Yards, and I think it was good enough that we wanted to go back another time. I had a fried haddock sandwich (next time I would opt for the side salad instead of the potato chips) and my wife had a salmon salad.

After dinner it was still long before sunset so we set out to hike around one of the two lakes that gives the park its name. The larger lake is named Green Lake and the smaller one is named Round Lake, but they are both quite green. They are glacial lakes that were formed by the plunge pools created by waterfalls on massive rivers from when the glaciers melted and receded. Round Lake now covers about 36 acres and in places is over 160 feet deep. It is a meromictic lake, meaning the layers of water at different depths do not mix. The bottom layers of Round Lake are almost totally anoxic (without oxygen) and so there is almost no animal or plant life at depth.

The next day we continued exploring the natural features around Syracuse. First stop was Clark Reservation State Park. This is the site of another meromictic lake (I never heard the word "meromictic" before this week) again formed by the plunge basin of a no-longer-present waterfall some 10,000 years ago. The lake, named Glacier Lake, covers about 6 acres and is 50 feet deep. 

As we finished the trail and were heading back up to the level of the visitor center I noticed a sign warning of quick sand. I have never seen anything like this except for in movies and TV shows, but I guess there actually IS something called quick sand. I did not investigate to see if I would sink into it.

Next stop was Chittenango Falls. 

The next day we continued our tour of waterfalls (or cascades, depending on your definition) at Tinker Falls. There was not a lot of water flowing at the time of our visit, but it is probably very dramatic right after the spring thaws hit the region. There is a large amphitheater behind the lip of the falls, and the trail takes you right up there.

One intriguing thing the NY Department of Environmental Conservation is doing at Tinker Falls asks visitors to contribute to recording that state of the falls over time. They have installed a stand for cell phone cameras, to ensure everyone takes a shot from almost the same angle, and provide an address to send the photo to. The result is a time lapse movie of the falls. 

We are quite happy we took the time to explore some of the parks and natural wonders of  the region around Syracuse. We did one more hike around a lake but didn't take any pictures of the trail around Lily Lake at Chenango Valley Park.