We visited Letchworth as part of Big Trip #5 in August 2026. 

From sweet Watkins Glen it’s only an hour drive to Letchworth State Park, home of the “Grand Canyon of the East,” where the Genesee River cuts a dramatic gorge featuring three massive waterfalls. It made our wishlist because it was voted the #1 state park in the US in 2015 by USA Today readers.

It’s beautiful, but was very crowded, and the main waterfall hike follows the road pretty closely. It was a fun stop for a night, but that was enough for us.

Other than exploring the campground and hiking, we had a drink on the porch at the lovely Glen Iris Inn, William Letchworth’s former estate overlooking Middle Falls. Mr Letchworth, a Buffalo businessman, bought the crumbling estate as a retreat in 1859 after visiting the gorge as a tourist, and donated it to the state upon his death in 1910.

Also: we saw black squirrels! No, not white squirrels. They’re common in MD outside of DC where J grew up, but we haven’t come across them elsewhere and were very excited. Local legend says they came over from Canada when the first bridge was built across the Niagara River in the 1800s.

Campground

Letchworth is a long and narrow park, spanning about 14,500 acres, and the campground is about a 15-minute drive from the closest waterfall, Lower Falls. The campsites are power-only, and pretty but not private, with kids and dogs and chaos everywhere, but things settled down around dinner time and we had a lovely evening at our fire pit. We even got Starlink to work through the trees when we put the antenna on the truck roof. The campground has a decent camp store for restocking camping basics.

As I noted in our Ithaca post, if you’re camping with your dog in a New York state park, you’ll need to show proof of rabies vaccination, and a rabies tag doesn’t count. It’s good practice in general to carry a rabies certificate plus a list of your dog’s other vaccine dates when you’re RVing.

Not every loop of the campground is pet-friendly, so be sure to confirm your choice when you book.

Hiking

Letchworth’s main draw is its trio of massive waterfalls, and they are stunning. We did two hikes in the park, one to see the Lower Falls from across the river on a less-populated trail, and then the main Gorge Trail to see Upper, Middle, and Lower up close.

The Gorge Trail follows the gorge rim for 7.5 miles, but with a 4.5-mile out-and-back you can hit the three waterfalls. There’s lot of parking along the way, and if you don’t want to hike you can follow short trails to viewpoints from the parking areas.

Portage Trail was our pick for the afternoon we arrived, since we knew the Gorge Trail would be busy. It starts at the Lower Falls but crosses the river and follows the gorge up the less-developed eastern side. In spots you’re pretty close to a sheer cliff, so keep track of your dogs and humans!

We have one more gorge to visit–Niagara is next!