Watkins Glen Park is by far one of the most beautiful places in NY. Its narrow 400-feet high gorge is beautifully carved by a creek and a few waterfalls.
In winter though, the most beautiful gorge trail is closed, so to be able to see all the magical beauty of the frozen park you have two options:
![](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_170,h_226/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/closed-trails-glen-watkins-768x1024.png)
- Walk the Indian trail and see the winter gorge from above. This is a nice hike but you won’t see much
- Send your drone down from one of the two open observation points which is what we did acknowledging the risk that we may lose the drone in a deep narrow gorge forever.
- Jump over the fence and face the possible consequences. Which I don’t recommend doing but we did this once anyway.
Here’s our drone footage of the place (yup, almost lost our cute little bot-pet there!)
To give you an idea of what the Indian trail hike looks like, here’s our photo on it:
![](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_670,h_431/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/watkins-glen-indian-trail-winter.jpg)
As you can see, it’s very nice but probably isn’t worth taking a 4-hour road trip to the place (which we had done).
Obviously we were hesitant to go to the closed trail, so we only did a short part of it, the one that took us to the first waterfall, Cavern Cascade.
![frozen waterfall in watkins glen state park](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_637,h_848/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/frozen-cavern-cascade-768x1024.png)
The waterfall was almost completely frozen and it looked truly magical!
![Frozen trail in watkins glen state park](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_604,h_805/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/frozen-trails-glen-watkins-768x1024.png)
As you can see, it is pretty clear why the trail is closed: There’s ice everywhere! Unless I had had my spikes on, I wouldn’t have been able to make even a couple of steps without falling.
![Watkins Glen state park in winter](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_607,h_809/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/frozen-glen-watkins-park-768x1024.png)
Watkins Glen State Park is true winter wonderland: Glittering ice everywhere!
Overall, the park has 4 main waterfalls which look beautiful all year around. Unfortunately none of them is visible in winter.
The history of the place is also really interesting. It used to be a privately owned resort and before that it has been populated by Seneca tribe.
![](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_483,h_643/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/history-of-glen-watkins-768x1024.png)
If you are in the area, make sure to check it out. In fact the main entrance is beautiful and offers plenty of cool views from its observation points.
![](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_609,h_457/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/glen-watkins-main-entrance.png)
There’s a lot to see around the main entrance including picturesque ice cascades:
![](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_545,h_726/https://aswegoplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/frozen-ice-cascades-main-entrance-768x1024.png)
If you are in the area, definitely stop by! I am not if I’d drive here just to see the main entrance and walk the Indian trail but I’d definitely stop by to take some pictures if I am nearby!
If you did go all the way, check out all of the nice places nearby:
Thk u sooooo much: following your directions… so grateful 🙏