Known as the “Grand Canyon of the East,” Letchworth State Park in New York features a stunning 600-foot gorge and 3 spectacular waterfalls along the Genesee River. There are various access points along the gorge if you just want to check out a certain section of the gorge. However, the best way to really experience the beautiful Letchworth State Park is to hike the Gorge Trail (a.k.a Trail #1).
This 7-mile Gorge Trail (one way) runs along the rim of the gorge as well as the access road. While you can hike this trail in its entirety, in our opinion, the best section of this trail is from the Lower Falls to Upper Falls. This section is only 4.8 miles round trip; however, it highlights all the best parts of Letchworth State Park, including all 3 waterfalls, Upper, Middle, and Lower. Bonus point if you’re here in the fall. The fall colors here are unreal!
Gorge Trail Lower Falls Trailhead
42.588344, -78.016225
Genesee Arch Bridge Parking
NY-436, Castile, NY 14427
All the parking lots are paved.
From early May to mid-October, admission to the park is $10 per car. Park’s admission is free during the winter.
There are restrooms at the Lower Falls Trailhead and outside the museum.
Leashed pets are welcome on the trail!
Full Gorge Trail: 13.9 miles R.T.
From Lower Falls – Upper Falls: 4.8 miles R.T. (we did 6.3 mi with the detours)
1,023ft | 2234 ft (full route)
Easy to Moderate
Takes an average of 2.5 to 4 hours (6-8 hours for the full route).
May – October are the best times to hike the Gorge Trail and visit Letchworth State Park, NY.
Daily hours are from 6 am to 11 pm
As we mentioned above, the Gorge Trail runs along the access road and the gorge. This means there are multiple access points to the trail. So, you can customize the length according to your needs. In this blog, however, we will go over the Gorge Trail from Lower Falls to Genesse Arch Bridge. You can also start the opposite way, from Genesse Arch Bridge to Lower Falls.
To get to the Lower Falls trailhead, follow the Park Road past the Visitor Center. Then, follow the signs for the Lower Falls area.
The Gorge Trail can be confusing because there are many forks and access points, especially near the more prominent landmarks. Fortunately, this trail is marked with yellow flames, marked with a #1. It also runs along the gorge. So, if you get confused, just follow along the gorge until you find your trail. We started our hike from the Lower Falls Trailhead.
The trail starts near the Footbridge Nature Shoppe, weaving through a tree-covered park before arriving at the first fork of the trail. Here, there is a sign for the Lower Falls Trail. This is a short detour if you’re up for it. This short detour consists of 127 stair steps, leading closer to the bottom of the gorge. Along the way, you’ll have views of the Lower Falls, the river flume, as well as a footbridge to the east side of the Letchworth State Park. After the first set of stairs, the trail turns into a dirt trail, where it once again forks. If you keep going straight at this fork, this trail will lead toward a viewpoint for Lower Falls and then loops back to the main Gorge Trail. We went left to take more stairs down closer to the bottom of the gorge and the footbridge.
The Lower Falls Trail was steep, but we were glad we did this detour. It gave us interesting views of the gorge from the bottom. There were Fall leaves everywhere. It made the views even more beautiful. We turned back to the main Gorge Trail at the footbridge. However, you can go further on either the Footbridge Trail or the Portage Trail.
Once we got back up to the top of the second set of stairs, we turned left to continue along the Lower Falls trail to the viewpoint for Lower Falls. The view of Lower Falls here was really pretty. However, when we went, this whole section was wet and muddy. Therefore, make sure to watch your steps.
After leaving this viewpoint, we continued along the Lower Falls trail to loop back to the main Gorge Trail. It was a steep push at the end before the two trails joined back. On the main Gorge Trail, there is another viewpoint for Lower Falls. However, it wasn’t as pretty as the viewpoint on the Lower Falls trail.
Once we were done taking photos, we proceeded to climb up more stairs to continue on the Gorge Trail. This section of the Gorge Trail weaves under a forest of trees and climbs up more stairs. Along the way, even though we didn’t have much view of the gorge, the fall foliage definitely made up for it. There were yellow and red leaves everywhere. It was spectacular.
Our next stop is Inspiration Point. You can access this viewpoint by car. So, you’ll see a lot of visitors here, taking photos. There is a viewing platform here where you can look out at the river and the Middle Falls. In the autumn, this view is framed by colorful fall foliage. From here on, the Gorge Trail will be a lot busier because we will be crossing over the main attractions of Letchwork State Park, the Middle and Upper Falls.
After leaving Inspiration Point, the Gorge Trail runs along the main access road for a short distance before splitting. You can either continue along the access road for an easy hike or go left to stay on the Gorge Trail. This section of the Gorge Trail has a short descent and some stairs. It also gives us glimpses of the gorge below and more stunning fall foliage. We personally prefer this route to the one along the road because it gets us away from the busy road.
This detour was quite short, and soon, we were back along the main access road. Shortly after, we were at our next stop, the Middle Falls. By the way, if you want to make this trail your one-stop shop, you can cross the street and head over to the William Pryor Letchworth Museum. This museum is free and has a lot of information about Letchworth State Park. There are also clean restrooms near the museum. Another stop is the Glen Iris Inn, the former home of William Pryor Letchworth, the man who donated much of the park’s land. Nowadays, it turns into a great spot for a quick lunch before continuing on your adventure. We added these two spots to our hike for a full experience.
After crossing over the main access road back to the Gorge Trail, we headed down the stairs toward the viewpoint for the Middle Falls. The Middle Falls is a lot more dramatic than the Lower Falls. In fact, Middle Falls is the tallest waterfall on the Genesee River in Letchworth State Park. It is 107 feet in height. As we got closer, we could hear the roar of the water and feel the mist. Even though this mist was nowhere near as dense as Niagara Falls, it was still very impressive. If you come at the right time, you can see the hot air balloon hovering above the waterfalls. It’s too bad we came on a day that they didn’t have a tour. It would have been fun to see.
Once we were done at Middle Falls, we continued our way on the Gorge Trail to Upper Falls, but not without a quick stop for ice cream. There is a small snack shop just past the Middle Falls. They have food, drinks, and ice cream. After leaving the snack shop with our ice cream, we could start seeing Upper Falls and the Genesee Arch Bridge. The views are just breathtaking. There are multiple viewpoints along the way, giving you different angles of the Upper Falls and the bridge.
The Upper Falls is about 70 ft tall. This waterfall is formed like a horseshoe, different than the other two waterfalls. Besides this, another unique feature of the Upper Falls is the Genesee Arch Bridge. As this bridge stands 200 ft above the river, it frames the Upper Falls perfectly. The Genesee Arch Bridge is an active railroad bridge. When we were there, we saw trains passing over the bridge. There is something nostalgic about trains crossing over the waterfalls.
The Gorge Trail doesn’t stop at the Upper Falls. It continues its way up the stairs to the top of the falls and then ends at the bottom of the Genesee Arch Bridge. Although this section is steep, we recommend hiking all the way to the end. It gives you a different perspective of the Upper Falls. And the way the stone steps wind their way along the gorge is just so picturesque. Definitely worth that extra push. Once you’re done, head back the same way.
If you’re staying in Buffalo, check out Eternal Flame Falls. It is such a unique waterfall with a natural flame burning inside it. If you love canyons, check out Black Canyon of Gunnison. That place is beautiful. If you love waterfalls, you have to visit Oregon. We love the Waterfall Corridor near Portland. And the Trail of Ten Falls is just beautiful!
Happy Adventuring. Don’t forget to check out the related posts below for more inspiration on your upcoming adventures. While at it, follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel! We’ll love you forever!
These are the gear that we personally use and find helpful for this particular adventure. Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.
Our favorite biodegradable, eco-friendly, reef-safe sunscreen!
This is Vy's favorite hiking bag! It has tons of room for snacks and water!
It's always good to bring a GPS tracker with you. We use the Garmin inReach.
This jacket is packable into a super small and light little ball. Perfect for when you just need a little…
This jacket is packable into a super small and light little ball. Perfect for when you just need a little…
Our favorite hiking/travel jacket. It's warm and packable, perfect to bring on a hike or a road trip.
Our favorite hiking/travel jacket. It's warm and packable, perfect to bring on a hike or a road trip.
If you tend to have foot blisters on hikes, get this! We use this all the time.
These hiking poles are sturdy, and great to help keep your balance on short or longer hikes
Compact GoPro pole that extends to 25", perfect to bring on your adventure.
This is our go-to camera for all of our adventures. It comes with us everywhere!
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Hi! We are Dustin & Vy, the proud creators of Live That Adventure. We created this website because we wanted to inspire others to live their lives to the fullest. On here, you’ll find everything from hiking, canyoneering, kayaking, and snorkeling to adventure and travel tips, gear reviews, and bucket list items such as bungee jumping or wing walking. We’ll show you the ropes so you can do them too!
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