Indian Summer - Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands

Hamlin State Park - Shoreline of Lake Ontario

We left Niagara Falls with plans to visit a few state parks on Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands Region of New York on the St. Lawrence Seaway.  What we didn’t know at the time was that we were also driving into a glorious week of Indian Summer.  The leaves were just beginning their fall performance and the weather was perfect – cool mornings and evenings with sun-drenched warm afternoons.

Wetland area at Hamlin State Park

 

For the first two nights we stayed at Hamlin State Park on the shores of Lake Ontario near Rochester.  We picked that state park because it was so close to Rochester, NY where the George Eastman House and Photography Museum is located.  I always wanted to visit that museum and we were just too close to pass it up. 

 

We spent the better part of a Sunday afternoon seeing the fine collection of vintage cameras and early photographs.  In addition, there was an exhibition in the galleries called ‘Gender,’ featuring photographs from the early days of photography to the present which represented or examined some aspect of gender.  We both enjoyed seeing photographs that we had only seen in books before and then some new photographs from artists we had never seen.  What a great afternoon!

Banner outside George Eastman House Museum

Monday we spent the day strolling along Lake Ontario watching flocks of birds, many beginning their migrations.  We marveled at the size of Lake Ontario, it’s huge!  Our first night at the park was a little windy and it sounded like we were at the ocean with the waves crashing on the shore all night. 

 

Chimney Bluffs State Park

 

 

 

 
Southwick State Park at the far eastern end of Lake Ontario was our next camping destination but on the way we stopped for a picnic at Chimney Bluff State Park. The main attractions of this park are the ‘chimney bluffs’ on the shores of Lake Ontario.  The bluffs are a result of erosion.  During the last ice age, glaciers moved clay, sand and boulders pushing them up into long mounds called drumlins.  Then the lake, wind and weather went to work on the mounds undercutting them and sculpting them into spires and other interesting shapes.  We hiked carefully near the bluffs as the erosion continues constantly and the sand and clay are none too stable.

 

Southwick State Park - Lake Ontario and dunes

 

Southwick State Park and the surrounding Lakeview Wildlife Management Area have low ‘barrier’ sand dunes along the shore that give protection to the land from Lake Ontario’s storms and waves.  The dunes shelter wetlands and protect habitat for rare and unusual wildlife and plant species including the Common Tern, Black Tern, Piping Plover and Sand Dune Willow.  We spent two nights at the park and enjoyed hiking along the Lake Ontario Dune Trail watching a variety of birds and getting sand in our shoes.

Wellesley Island State Park - Narrows Trail

Our last stop was Wellesley Island State Park located on one of the ‘thousand islands’ in the St. Lawrence Seaway.  The St. Lawrence River is dotted with islands from tens of yards across to many miles long.  We stayed 3 days taking long hikes around the island exploring Eel Bay and then hiking the island interior through wetlands and around beaver ponds.

 

Maple and Beaver Pond

 

 

The work of beavers - there were many trees like this near the pond

 

All in all it was an enchanting week of leisurely hikes in perfect weather with fall in the air and leaves promising us more to come.  We were considering staying a little longer as we weren’t anxious to leave these golden days behind but we checked our fall leaf forecast website and saw that many parts of the Adirondack Mountains were experiencing peak or near-peak fall color.   Time to move on, leaves are falling…

 

 

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked   5

Total Miles Hiked   32.29

Ave. Miles per Day      6.07
Total Elevation Gain       2,165
Ave. Elevation Gain per day   407