Visiting Letchworth - any suggestions?

[Big Turk]

Make sure you go see all 3 sets of falls, the dam and would highly recommend downloading the AllTrails app so you can get a list of all the trails in there as well as pertinent details, pictures and comments from others who have ben there...never go anywhere without that app, it's a must have for anyone who does any sort of hiking.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Watch how they took down the old trestle "Old Shaky" in 2018:

 

[SinceThe70s]

On 6/7/2022 at 7:06 PM, Augie said:

 

I’ve never been bungee jumping, but have checked off zip-lining and skydiving. Did they drop the wifey into the tree line, then just drag her thru there? Yeah, there must be a better plan.   

 

Skydiving is tricky and we had to go three separate weekends and wait hours for the weather to comply. It would get windy, then cloudy, then wait behind others….then it would get late. I’m glad we stuck to it and crossed that off the list. 

 

Good luck on the hot air balloon! I look forward to hearing about your adventure. 

 

Apologies in advance that this is long-winded - cliff's notes version is it turned out great and adventure is somewhat apropo.

 

First day of vacay we're settling in to our airbnb (i.e. - cocktails) and my boys spot balloons. We are pumped!  We had made a reservation for a few days later but weather for that day looked sketchy so fingers were crossed. We see balloons every night, but forecast doesn't improve for launch day so anxiety rises. At some point we realize there is more than one balloon company and maybe the other one is better than the one we reserved. Weather doesn't improve, our ride is cancelled and by a stroke of luck we are able to reserve for the next day with the other company.

 

Launch: The weather is better but windy enough that it might get cancelled as we are preparing to launch. At the launch site (basically someone's backyard that the pilot knows) it's still a game time decision - but we get the thumbs up. In retrospect, the pilot called the launch 'sporty'. Ahead of the launch I was concerned about clearing the tree line. During the launch I was convinced we were dumping into the pond next to the launch but we got off the ground and cleared the trees. 

 

Ride: More amazing than I imagined. Reached an altitude of 4000 feet. He would have gone higher but wifey balked (which I was fine with). The crazier part was dropping down low. He skimmed trees so we could (and did) grab leaves off the top of trees in Letchworth and then to my amazement dropped down into the gorge to the point that the bottom of the basket was probably inches from the water (a bit downstream from the lower falls). At one point he asked some Letchworth hikers to post pictures of us to his Facebook page. Saw an amazing sunset - before the trip he told me that on the sunrise trips he rises and lowers so they can see multiple sunrises. 

 

Landing: a bit sketchy. He had to find an open field and spoke to a few people on terra firma  requesting permission to land - not everyone is amenable to having a balloon land on their crops. Landing was a bit rough - we were running out of daylight and the wind was kicking up and it was a bouncy landing that ended up just shy of a tree line.

 

I could go into a lot more detail about how awesome it and the operator was and why if anyone wanted to do this they would want to use https://balloonletchworth.com/ and not the company sanctioned by the state park.

 

 

[sherpa]

We live in an area that has a few free air balloon operators and they frequently fly over our property, as we are about 12 miles northeast of where they launch and the prevailing wind is from the southwest. The wind speed and direction puts them in our vicinity at about the time they land. 

Last year at about 7:50 on a Sunday morning, the doorbell rings and as I answer it, a guy asks me if they can land on my property.

We have about 7 acres of mowed meadow with a vineyard on it, so plenty of space for them to land.

The balloon was about 30' up and about 100' from my house.

Being "aviation friendly," I told him "sure."

They landed and my wife and I jumped in and we got a free lift to about 75' and then landed. 

 

 

[Wacka]

Moved to within sight of ESPN in 1992.  First morning I was, living in my Apt, I had the window open a crack and hear a whooshing sound.  Open the drapes and see  balloons lifting off not far away. Got in the car and  found the lot where they were. Got to see at least 2 dozen lift off my first morning in CT.

 

When I lived in CA, would have to take 1-80 up towards Sacramento when I had a job up that way, Would often see balloons lifting off the farmland to the south  or see them just over the interstate in the morning.

Edited July 7, 2022 by Wacka

[SinceThe70s]

2 hours ago, sherpa said:

We live in an area that has a few free air balloon operators and they frequently fly over our property, as we are about 12 miles northeast of where they launch and the prevailing wind is from the southwest. The wind speed and direction puts them in our vicinity at about the time they land. 

Last year at about 7:50 on a Sunday morning, the doorbell rings and as I answer it, a guy asks me if they can land on my property.

We have about 7 acres of mowed meadow with a vineyard on it, so plenty of space for them to land.

The balloon was about 30' up and about 100' from my house.

Being "aviation friendly," I told him "sure."

They landed and my wife and I jumped in and we got a free lift to about 75' and then landed. 

 

 

 

Cool.

 

Our operator gives a bottle of wine to the property owner - apparently it's a tradition dating back to the first balloon flights in France. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

On 6/6/2022 at 8:20 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

Back in the day... On RR, my father would dead head out through Letchworth over the old trestle.  Just past that, he'd jump off... Hole up in a RR shanty till morning and catch the freight coming back to BFLo.

 

He claimed to have dove from the cliffs by the stone bridge as a kid... But I don't believe him.

There was a lot of people doing it about 20 years ago. I was next to jump and the park police shut it down. It's crazy how long it takes to come back up from under the water. I probably would have drown, good thing I was stopped. 

[SinceThe70s]

On 6/6/2022 at 3:47 PM, Just Jack said:

 

If you're heading that direction, you could take a side trip to Naples and get some grape pies. 

 

Cindy's Grape Pies

 

Monica's Pies (I believe they may be closed until Sept)

 

Those are two I've bought from in the past that typically have them year-round. 

 

On our way back from Watkins Glen we took a detour to Cindy's, but we ended up having a Chevy Chase/Vacation moment - 'Sorry folks, park's closed. Moose out front should have told you'. After a beautiful drive through farm and vineyard country when we got to Cindy's she had a sign up that she was away for the week visting relatives. We ended up buying a grape pie at the local diner. Good times!

[SoTier]

Glad you had a good time!

 

[SinceThe70s]

13 minutes ago, SoTier said:

Glad you had a good time!

 

 

Thanks!  I got some great tips from this thread - very much appreciated. We had the Ginny Lee Cafe on the to-do list but it didn't work out. The driving was just a bit too much.

[Greybeard]

On 7/7/2022 at 1:37 AM, SinceThe70s said:

 

Apologies in advance that this is long-winded - cliff's notes version is it turned out great and adventure is somewhat apropo.

 

First day of vacay we're settling in to our airbnb (i.e. - cocktails) and my boys spot balloons. We are pumped!  We had made a reservation for a few days later but weather for that day looked sketchy so fingers were crossed. We see balloons every night, but forecast doesn't improve for launch day so anxiety rises. At some point we realize there is more than one balloon company and maybe the other one is better than the one we reserved. Weather doesn't improve, our ride is cancelled and by a stroke of luck we are able to reserve for the next day with the other company.

 

Launch: The weather is better but windy enough that it might get cancelled as we are preparing to launch. At the launch site (basically someone's backyard that the pilot knows) it's still a game time decision - but we get the thumbs up. In retrospect, the pilot called the launch 'sporty'. Ahead of the launch I was concerned about clearing the tree line. During the launch I was convinced we were dumping into the pond next to the launch but we got off the ground and cleared the trees. 

 

Ride: More amazing than I imagined. Reached an altitude of 4000 feet. He would have gone higher but wifey balked (which I was fine with). The crazier part was dropping down low. He skimmed trees so we could (and did) grab leaves off the top of trees in Letchworth and then to my amazement dropped down into the gorge to the point that the bottom of the basket was probably inches from the water (a bit downstream from the lower falls). At one point he asked some Letchworth hikers to post pictures of us to his Facebook page. Saw an amazing sunset - before the trip he told me that on the sunrise trips he rises and lowers so they can see multiple sunrises. 

 

Landing: a bit sketchy. He had to find an open field and spoke to a few people on terra firma  requesting permission to land - not everyone is amenable to having a balloon land on their crops. Landing was a bit rough - we were running out of daylight and the wind was kicking up and it was a bouncy landing that ended up just shy of a tree line.

 

I could go into a lot more detail about how awesome it and the operator was and why if anyone wanted to do this they would want to use https://balloonletchworth.com/ and not the company sanctioned by the state park.

 

 

         Is there any propulsion device on the balloon besides the hot air, or did he make that entire journey just playing the air currents?

[SinceThe70s]

1 hour ago, Greybeard said:

         Is there any propulsion device on the balloon besides the hot air, or did he make that entire journey just playing the air currents?

 

No propulsion, his control was limited to going up or down and spinning the balloon. At one point he dropped down to the river and the balloon started going backwards. What was cool was that he has multiple launch sites and he picks the site based on the prevailing winds to try to maximize time over the gorge. 

[Greybeard]

9 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

No propulsion, his control was limited to going up or down and spinning the balloon. At one point he dropped down to the river and the balloon started going backwards. What was cool was that he has multiple launch sites and he picks the site based on the prevailing winds to try to maximize time over the gorge. 

           I can't believe everyone gets a journey as grand as yours.  As a friend in college used to say, "I am farking impressed".

Edited July 13, 2022 by Greybeard