Yesterday we (Mom & brother) went to Letchworth State Park. As my brother has never been there before, we saw High Falls again, a site I never get sick of seeing:

and the Middle Falls, viewed from the Glen Iris Inn:


We then walked the Mary Jemison trail:

up to the railroad bridge:

and up to the railroad tracks:

those same tracks that my Dad is standing on in Nov of 2006:

I took a photo of my Mum and brother near the same spot that my Dad was standing. Oh, how we miss him soooo much.
Hmmm, since when did they start using this configuration of holding the rails down? Something for me to investigate later.

On the way back down the trail I found a log with fungi, moss and lichens:


At the end of the trail, we saw this skull:


After hiking the trail we saw the cabin Mary Jemison built for her second daughter, Nancy, with the Antique Seneca Council House in the background:



Mary Jemison was called Deh-He-Wa-Mis, “The White Woman of the Genesee” or “The White Woman of the Valley.” Here’s some information about her from one of the information panels:

There are old books about her on Google books, and contemporary books can be found on Amazon or at the library.
Here’s a replica of the Viewing Pavilion:


Here’s the bronze statue of Mary Jemison. This statue was cleaned up recently which I heard about when I attended the Archives Week celebration at Genesee Country Village & Museum on October 11, 2006.



Next to her statue is a black walnut tree planted by James Shongo, grandson of Mary Jemison ca. 1875.


After this, we drove up to Inspiration Point (reminds me of “Happy Days”). This is an into the sun view of the Portage Bridge, High Falls and Middle Falls, all very hard to see due to the sun:

We then stopped to view Big Bend, view looking southerly:

view looking northerly:


And just as we were leaving the turkey vultures appeared. We saw turkey vultures all day, and they’re hard to capture with my little camera, but here’s a little silouette:

We then went to Gardeau overlook, which is where Mary Jemison lived:

The name Gardeau comes from the Seneca word Gah-Da-Hoh, or “bank in front.”

Soon this valley will be in full color as you can see from this photo taken at the Mt. Morris Dam overlook:

and Letchworth State Park will be very crowded. Stay tuned. We plan on going back there more! Post leaf-viewing and arts & crafts show crowds, that is.
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