Subtitle: I bought an Empire Pass (one year pass for all New York State parks) recently. I tried to use it at a local park but found out they weren't charging for parking during the week yet. So on Saturday I headed to Watkins Glen with a friend and hiked around a bit.

(Saturday June 9, 2018) 000-DSC_1622-header: New Park Entrance 000-DSC_1622-headertext: They rennovated the park entrance and replaced the parking lot with grass, paths, and a visitors area. This was the second weekend it had been open, so they were still finishing things like the grassy areas. 000-DSC_1622: This all used to be a parking lot. 001-DSC_1623: Looking back to the road. 002-DSC_1624: Park employee watering a new tree. 003-DSC_1625: New benches, grass, and an employee watering the grass in the background. 004-DSC_1626: Suicidal trees that are just barely hanging onto the cliff edge. 005-DSC_1627: Areas where rass will be with watering hoses. 006-DSC_1628: More places of future grass and present watering hoses. 007-DSC_1630-header: The Gorge Trail 007-DSC_1630-headertext: 007-DSC_1630: A view of Sentry Bridge. 008-DSC_1631: A picture of a picture taken of Sentry Bridge and a waterfall. 009-DSC_1632: Sentry Bridge in Watkins Glen. 010-DSC_1633: A waterfall just behind Sentry Bridge, visible from the ground. 011-DSC_1634: Looking up to the sky and the trees along the rim of the gorge. 012-DSC_1635: A close-up of the shale rock of the gorge. 013-DSC_1636: Another close-up of sedimentary rock. 014-DSC_1637: A flower by the edge of the trail. 015-DSC_1638: Looking up to the top of the gorge. It's summer, so everything is very green. 016-DSC_1639-header: The View from Above 016-DSC_1639-headertext: The first stop was the Sentry Bridge, which was visible in the previous pictures. Then it was up Couch's Staircase for a view from even higher up. 016-DSC_1639: Looking back to the street from the Sentry Bridge in Watkins Glen. 017-DSC_1641: Looking back to the street from the Sentry Bridge in Watkins Glen. 018-DSC_1642: A longer exposure gives waterfalls a blurry look. 019-DSC_1643: This looks more like how I see it (which I prefer) with a shorter exposure. 020-DSC_1644: Looking upstream to more waterfalls. 021-DSC_1645: 022-DSC_1646: Heading up to Couch's Staircase. 023-DSC_1647: Couch's Staircase at Watkins glen 024-DSC_1648: Version 1: Foreground (rock) in focus. 025-DSC_1649: Version 2: Background (park entrancae) in focus. 026-DSC_1651: Another close-up of the texture of the shale. 027-DSC_1652: A spider on the ground. 028-DSC_1654-header: The Cavern Cascade 028-DSC_1654-headertext: The path continues and goes behind the Cavern Cascade Waterfall. Here's a brief waterfall video from the far side of it. 028-DSC_1654: The Cavern Cascade Waterfall, between the sides of the gorge in the distance, lit by sunlight. 029-DSC_1655: Strong ligthing contrasts created by shafts of light in the gorge. 030-DSC_1664: Shooting into the sun, with the creek catching the light. 031-DSC_1666: The light from the top makes the leaves on the trees glow. 032-DSC_1667: The Cascade Waterfall glowing white in the sunlight in the dark gorge. 033-DSC_1669: The sunlight catches the mist from the Cavern Cascade waterfall. 034-DSC_1672: The waterfall mist catching the sunlight. 035-DSC_1673: The path goes behind the Cavern Cascade Waterfall. 036-DSC_1676: Looking down, there were 4 logs in the gorge. I took 3 shots, the first was too dark, then too light, and this one was closer to just right. 038-DSC_1678: The waterfall right before the path winds behind it. 039-DSC_1680: The view from under the waterfall. 040-DSC_1681: Another view from under the Cavern Cascade Waterfall. 041-DSC_1684: Above the dark gorge, the world is very green. 042a-DSC_1677: More greenery above the Watkins Glen gorge. 042b-DSC_1685: One more shot of trees and leaves above the gorge. 043-DSC_1687: Looking down to the creek, beyond a small well lit fern. 044-DSC_1688-header: A View from Below 044-DSC_1688-headertext: The Narrows and Glen Cathedral follow the Cavern Cascade. The Narrows is a wet, fern and mossy area and the Glen Cathedral. 044-DSC_1688: The Narrows at Watkins Glen. 045-DSC_1689: The Narrows at Watkins Glen. 046-DSC_1690: The Watkins Glen Suspension Bridge, 85 feet above Glen Creek. 047-DSC_1691: A silhouette of people crossing the Suspension Bridge over Watkins Glen. 048-DSC_1692: The Narrows at Watkins Glen. 049-DSC_1693: The Narrows at Watkins Glen. 050-DSC_1694: I think this is the Glen Cathedral area. 051-DSC_1696: A darker shot of reflections in the creek by the Glen Cathedral (?) area. 052-DSC_1697: Just past the Suspension Bridge. 053-DSC_1699: Not a good day for this pretty moth caught in a web. 054-DSC_1700: More waterfalls as we approach the Central Cascade bridge. 055-DSC_1701: Central Cascade bridge. 056-DSC_1709: Hobo HDR: I upped the brightness of the left half of the picture.