And on the third day we had rain….This was one of our coldest and rainy days we had on our this trip but it was still such a great experience. We did discuss staying in this day at breakfast but we decided to stick it out and go on another adventure. Today we decided to go to Fillmore Glen State Park. Fillmore Glen State Park was our furthest adventure on this trip, which was about 45 minutes away from our hotel but we couldn’t waste one day of our mini trip! We were nervous due to the weather conditions but we just went for it.
The drive was a little longer than we thought due to the road being on a main strip with plenty of stop lights but once you get to the back roads to the park, its smooth sailing. During the summer seasons, I think you do have to pay to get into the park, but there was a little sign stating this day it was free admission, so we are unsure of how much it actually costs. There was a little parking spot across from the Gorge Trail. I would say this trail is pretty easy with only a few hills to go up to the main trail. There was a nice pavilion to the left when walking up the trail if you need to take a rest. We did read that this trail had five waterfalls, and it was our mission to see all five but unfortunately got rained out when we got to a couple of the five.
The cascades in between the major waterfalls were almost worth the trip itself. The cascades gave off the most beautiful calm water sounds and with the fall leaves surrounding them were amazing. The first fall was as soon as you got to the top of the trail, passed the pavilion, then the first cascade was a little further from there. Also, the older style bridges that you have to walk across are actually numbered to help tourists as well as points in the trail. The bridges were great places to get some photography together and to get some great shots of nature. Make sure to stay on the trail and not walk the water due to the walls being slippery and some of them have fallen. It was just hard to get back up to the trail further down the cascades.
We traveled almost to bridge 4 but it started pouring and we didn’t want our equipment to get ruined. Before it started pouring we did get to my favorite falls of the entire trip which was the falls between bridge 4 and five. There weren’t names on these falls nor in the map, so I am unsure of the names unfortunately and couldn’t find much online about these cascades. These cascades though were huge in size and were so amazing to see. The water at the bottom was so clear you could see the pebbles below, and the creatures living beneath the waters surface. When the rain started down pouring it unfortunately chased us out of this area before being able to get some good shots and we were a little bummed not to reach all the falls or walk the entire trail.
We almost ran back to the pavillion where we ended our day and waited out some of the rain to walk back to the car. We decided to travel back to our hotel, get dry clothes since we were both soaked, and to get something to eat. It was a freezing day so we decided to get some ramen near our hotel in Ithaca. This ramen restaurant was called Maru Ramen and it was so delicious! We decided to get pork buns for an appetizer and I could have eaten at least 6 orders. They were so good and you could tell they made them homemade. For our dinners, I got the Chicken Rice Plate and Bob got the Tonkotsu. Mine came with this amazing purple rice, fresh vegetables, and an egg as well. It was the best! I could probably eat there everyday and Bob felt the same! We highly recommend this restaurant in service, food, and appearance.
After our delicious dinner, we didn’t want to go back to the hotel yet since it was still early, so we decided to take a walk in the small town and get some coffee. We saw some really amazing street art, and some cute shops. We decided to go to a busy little cafe called Gimme! Coffee. It was really cool and they made the specialty drinks with designs in the foam, which was really cool to watch. The shop was full of people laughing, businessmen working, local art on the walls, and comfort. We sat down and enjoyed our coffees and decided to go back to our hotel to have an early night for the next day.
Overall, this day wasn’t as great in film as we wanted it to be, but we wanted to make the most of the rainy day. We loved our adventuring in Ithaca and seeing the beauty that’s hidden in the trails of Fillmore Glen State Park. We recommend tracking the weather to truly see all the falls and walk to entire 3.5 mile trail. Also you could get some amazing shots when the trail isn’t as slick and a bit more safe to travel down to the waters. If you are in the area, please stop at Maru Ramen and Gimme! Coffee! It was a great experience and even though it rained we had some amazing memories!
Fillmore Glen State Park Photo Gallery
