Watkins Glen Gorge Trail from the upper entrance: Rainbow Falls, a Seneca Lake vineyard and the Thousand Islands Bridge

In mid-to-late June 2021, our family came to Watkins Glen and turned around a little short of Rainbow Falls. It was hot, and we were behind schedule.

My parents still remembered the photos I sent them from that day. This summer they came to stay with us, and we toured the East together on a loop from Montreal to Niagara Falls, Toronto and Tobermory. On the drive from Niagara back to Montreal, I asked whether they’d like to stop at Watkins Glen if we had time. They said yes.

This time the GPS sent us to the upper entrance. We followed the gorge down from there, and Rainbow Falls came up quickly. Five years later, I saw the falls I’d missed, with my parents.

Our five-day route from Montreal to Niagara Falls, Toronto and Tobermory is in the hub post, and the night before in Buffalo and Rochester has its own post. This one covers the last day of the trip, from Rochester back to Montreal.

01Rochester to Watkins Glen: the Seneca Lake road

About 40 minutes out of Rochester on the New York State Thruway (I-90), we pulled into the Clifton Springs service area. We had a lot to see in one day, so lunch was going to be quick fast food. The newly built service area had both a Chick-fil-A and a Shake Shack.

Off the highway, you come to Geneva, a small city at the north tip of Seneca Lake. From there we headed south on the road along the lake’s west shore.

This is the Finger Lakes. Open a map and you’ll see the reason for the name: 11 long, narrow lakes running north to south, side by side like spread fingers. Glaciers gouged deep north-south grooves into the land, and water filled them. Seneca Lake is the largest. Rochester, Syracuse and Ithaca, home of Cornell University, ring the area, so you could fairly call it wine country set between college towns.

The lakeside road was easy the whole way. Vineyards on one side, the lake flickering in and out between trees on the other, and winery signs one after another along the shoulder.

02Which entrance to start from

Watkins Glen State Park sits beside the village of Watkins Glen at the south end of Seneca Lake. The heart of the park is the Gorge Trail. In 2 miles (3.2 km), Glen Creek drops 400 feet (120 m) and makes 19 waterfalls between 200-foot (60 m) cliffs.

Most people start at the Main Entrance in the village and walk up. So did we in 2021. The upper entrance sits about 160 m (525 ft) higher than the Main Entrance, and roughly 40 m (130 ft) of that comes all at once on the Jacob’s Ladder steps at the start. Begin at the top, and after that it’s a gentle downhill.

This time the GPS routed us to the upper entrance. We hadn’t realized you could get in from there, and a different way in sounded good, so we went with it. At 1:15 p.m. we parked in the grass lot at the upper entrance and paid $10. The shaded rest area under the trees was peaceful.

The Main Entrance tunnel and Sentry Bridge, closed for construction since July 2025, reopened in early July 2026 with a new bridge. The 1908 stone bridge was replaced with a stainless steel one. Since the reopening, you can walk the entire Gorge Trail from any of the three entrances.

03Walking down the Gorge Trail

Partway down the 180 steps of Jacob’s Ladder, the air changed. It was midday in July, but the gorge was cool. The walls on both sides were shale, like thin pages stacked layer on layer, and the water wound its way down between them, cutting as it went.

A little past the mile-point bridge is a rock with a sign that reads Frowning Cliff. This is where the gorge is narrowest. It gets so little sun that plants barely grow, and ice is said to linger into late spring.

Farther on is a stretch where water falls from the cliff top like rain. The streams sparkled in the sunlight, and walking under them left our hair and shoulders damp in seconds.

An arched stone bridge spans the gorge. Most of the trail’s stone railings, steps and bridges were rebuilt by young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, after a major flood in 1935 washed out the old trail. More than 2 million people a year walk this stonework, now nearly 90 years old.

In the spray at the foot of a waterfall, a small rainbow appeared. We saw a rainbow before we even reached Rainbow Falls.

04Why Rainbow Falls felt close this time

We reached Rainbow Falls at 1:55 p.m. Several thin streams fall from the top of the cliff, and the trail passes right behind them. Passing between the streams, drops fell on our shoulders. On sunny afternoons, true to the name, a rainbow forms.

In 2021 we were walking up from the Main Entrance and turned back before we got here. It was hot, and we were behind schedule. Back then this waterfall felt very far away. Coming down from the top, it was right there. The same gorge feels a different length depending on which gate you walk through.

My parents both loved it. They had only seen the gorge in photos before, and now they had walked it. The best moment Watkins Glen gave us on this trip was right there in front of that waterfall.

A little farther down past the falls is Central Cascade, the tallest waterfall in the gorge, dropping more than 60 feet (18 m). A sign beside the trail uses drawings to explain how the vertical cracks in the cliffs formed. Somewhere near here is where we turned back in 2021. Put the two visits together and we’ve walked almost the whole Gorge Trail.

05Getting back: walk or take the shuttle?

We’d been told about the shuttle at the upper entrance. But we didn’t know how long the ride would take, and since this was a new route for us, walking it seemed like the better idea. So we walked back up the same way. The falls we’d had at our backs going down came at us one by one, face on, going up.

The water was clear in the round pools the current had carved in the rock, and we could see the stones on the bottom. On the Gorge Trail, entering the water or leaving the path to climb down to the gorge floor is prohibited. The park map lists a $250 fine per person.

There were more steps on the way up than I expected. The upper entrance is higher than the bottom, so of course there were, but I’d forgotten that on the way down.

My parents walked it easily. If anything, they wanted to go farther. I was the one holding the schedule, and with that night’s drive in mind, I hurried us along. They didn’t push back, but I could tell they were sorry to leave. Looking back, we should have set aside half a day. Add the shuttle, and you can walk the Gorge Trail end to end.

06Three visits to Seneca Lake wineries

Ten minutes north of the park, at 3:35 p.m., we stopped at Lakewood Vineyards. We skipped the tasting. My parents had already bought wine at a winery near Niagara, and here they picked out one more bottle to remember the trip.

After buying the wine, we took a long loop through the vineyard. Mowed grass paths ran between the rows all the way down the hill. The signs named the grape: Vignoles. The bunches were still small and green.

At the end of the hill, Seneca Lake stretched out long beyond the vines. In 2021 we had seen this lake from Fulkerson Winery, south of the village of Dundee on the west shore, and in 2022 from Belhurst Castle in Geneva. Those were quick stops. This time we walked the vineyard as much as we wanted, and of the three visits, this was the best. If the gorge at Watkins Glen is a landscape made by water cutting rock, this hill was one made by people tending the land.

On the way back, the lake opened up again from a hill near Dundee. The hills on the other side were covered in vineyards too. The east shore we only looked at from across the water.

What we skipped this time

About 30 minutes south of Watkins Glen by car is the Corning Museum of Glass. It looked good enough that we went back and forth on it until the end. This time we chose to spend more of the day outdoors together and saved it for later. If you’re driving, a ticket bought in advance is all you need.

07Syracuse and the Thousand Islands Bridge

We left the lake and headed north again. After a short stop at the Dunkin’ in the Port Byron service area, we drove through downtown Syracuse around 6 p.m. Syracuse University signs and a big mural on the side of a building went past the car window.

We made a quick stop at Trader Joe’s in DeWitt, just east of Syracuse, for snacks and gifts for my parents to take home. On one shelf was a Jeju Matcha Latte. In an American grocery store, the name Jeju was what caught my eye first.

About two more hours north on I-81, the sun was getting low. Past Alexandria Bay, we drove onto the Thousand Islands Bridge. It was the same bridge we had looked up at from below on our Thousand Islands cruise a week earlier. Everyone was glad to see it, and our kid recognized it right away. In one week we had seen it from underneath and from on top.

After the US span and Wellesley Island comes the Canadian border crossing on Hill Island, right next to the 1000 Islands Tower. The line was short and we were through quickly. After the long wait at the Rainbow Bridge going into the US, it felt almost too easy.

On the Canadian span, the sun set across the river. From there it was a little over three hours to Montreal, and we got back at 11:45 p.m. In five days and four nights we had covered Toronto, Tobermory, Niagara, Buffalo, Rochester and Watkins Glen, and we watched the last sunset of the trip from the Thousand Islands Bridge.

08Where we walked in 2021 and 2022

Cornell is one of the eight Ivy League schools. If you want to see the campus, consider a night in Ithaca to pair it with Watkins Glen and Taughannock Falls. That’s what we did in 2022. You can also walk to the gorges and waterfalls on campus.

After three trips, the Finger Lakes feel less like a place you see in one go and more like one you see a piece at a time. Each lake has its own roads, and each waterfall has its own entrance.

QFAQ

Which entrance is best for the Watkins Glen Gorge Trail?

Having walked it both ways: the main entrance in the village if you want to climb facing the falls, the upper entrance if you’d rather walk downhill. The Sentry Bridge at the main entrance reopened in early July 2026.

How much is parking?

$10 per car at each entrance (pool included). It’s charged from sunrise to sunset, mid-May to mid-October.

How long does the Gorge Trail take?

It took us about two hours to walk down from the upper entrance past Rainbow Falls to near Central Cascade and back up the same way. That’s with plenty of photo stops at an easy pace.

When is it open?

In 2026 the Gorge Trail opened on May 9. It usually closes around mid-October. In winter the Gorge Trail is closed because of falling rock, and only the rim trails are open.

Is it doable with kids or older parents?

There are a lot of stairs, but there are railings and the path is well built. The stone steps are wet and slippery, though, so we went slowly and watched our footing. Pets and alcohol are not allowed on the Gorge Trail.

Wrapping up

On our second visit to Watkins Glen, we went in through a different gate. We saw the Rainbow Falls we had missed five years earlier, this time with my parents, and on the way back up we saw the falls again head-on. From the end of the vineyard at Lakewood, Seneca Lake stretched out long, and the last sunset came on the Thousand Islands Bridge. After two visits, this is a place I’d give half a day on a first trip. Start at the upper entrance, walk down to the main entrance and ride the shuttle back, and you’ll see the whole Gorge Trail end to end, the part we didn’t finish included.

To walk the gorge early in the morning, a place in Watkins Glen village within walking distance of the main entrance looked like the easy choice.

Sources

Watkins Glen State Park, Gorge Trail map, New Sentry Bridge reopening, Lakewood Vineyards, Corning Museum of Glass, Taughannock Falls State Park