Monday, June 29, 2009

1.7 Mile Hike at Pratt's Falls Park
Monday, June 29, 2009

Pratt Fall's Park trail map (PDF)

Pratt's Falls Park is one of the many amazing Onondaga County parks. Ann and I first stumbled across it back in December 2007 when we were heading to Highland Forest Park. Since everything was covered in snow and ice, we really didn't get to see much - really, just the falls from the overlook. I'd been wanting to get back there ever since but the opportunity just never seemed to come up until today, when I passed signs for the park on my way to Chittenango Falls State Park and decided this was a better option instead, given the late hour and the state of my left knee.

A lot of work seems to have been done on the park in the last 18 months... there's a fancy new comfort station at the main parking lot and things just generally looked a lot spiffier than I remember from that first visit. I started out by checking out the 137 foot falls from the overlook at the top, then wandered across the road to walk around two small ponds which were home ot a number of very vocal frogs (including several I managed to snap pictures of.) I also passed several displays in recognition of the parks past as the location first of a sawmill in the late 1700's and then a gristmill in the 1800's.

From there I took the falls trail down into the gorge to see the waterfall from the bottom - a much better view than from the top, though slow going to get to given my current limited ability to hobble around. I had the area to myself and spent a while enjoying the site of the waterfall, as well as wondering if I could support some of the branches being cut back to give a better view. After a couple of failed attempts to support my camera and use the timer to get a photo for Ann, I headed back up the hill, but instead of going straight back to the parking lot followed a longer trail along the ridge and through the fields... mostly just a pleasant walk through the woods. By the time I got back to the car, there was no question it was time to get on the road and finally get back to Albany.

The map shows even more trails through the woods on the other side of the gorge... I think more visits are in order at some point in the future!

JMH
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