Day 4 – Keuka Lake Outlet Trail

Today’s Blog Entry

Cindy and I started the day with a short drive into nearby Penn Yan. We parked at their community sports park and found the trailhead for the Keuka Outlet Trail. This trail follows the original tow path for what had once been a bustling canal between Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake.

All of the 28 locks are now gone and the water flow has returned more or less to its original form, but the ruins of numerous mills still remain. There are also two very nice waterfalls at the abandoned Cascade Mills and Seneca Mills sites.

We started in Penn Yan, rode to Dresden (the end of the trail), and then turned around for a total of just under 14 miles. We made a strategic error by starting in Penn Yan, though – riding in this direction meant that we started out with a relatively easy downhill run with the river flow and then had to grind our way back to the starting point. The relatively easy 10-12 MPH speeds outbound turned into a hard-earned 6-8 MPH on the return. Next time we’ll be sure to go the other direction so we finish with the easy part!

On the way back to our campground we stopped for brunch at The Trading Post, a locals kind of place just off the beaten path between Penn Yan and the State Park. It was nothing fancy, but they had nice outdoor seating and serve classic breakfast fare all day long. We definitely earned it today.

After brunch we hitched up and left Keuka Lake State Park for a short 90 minute cross-country run to our next destination, Letchworth State Park. This part of New York is very rural and very agricultural – we’ve certainly seen more than our share of large vineyards and cornfields on this trip.

After checking in and setting up camp at Letchworth State Park we took an easy 3 mile hike through the woods to Kisil Point. This trail took us along a high ridge between two of the gorges that put this park on the map. The heavy tree cover didn’t offer much in the way of views, though – we’ll get those on our big hike tomorrow.

Dinner was ribs and corn on the cob cooked on the grill before we settled down around the campfire to finalize our plans for our three night stay in the area.

Today’s Map

Today’s Photos