![]() ![]() I came to Letchworth, which features 66 miles of hiking trails, to see what I’d been missing. At the center of this 17-mile park, the Genesee River snakes along hundreds of feet below overlooks like Inspiration Point-right where I found myself on an early morning in June. Letchworth State Park, New York Upper Falls at Letchworth State Park (Photo: Michael Schroeder)ĭubbed the Grand Canyon of the East, 14,000-acre Letchworth State Park delivers the expansive views typical of the West, but in western New York. Based on buzz from fellow hikers, state park staff picks, and personal experience, here’s a short list of great state parks for hiking-and primo hikes there. State parks have long protected some of our most prized wild places. Sequoia, in California, and Yosemite were second and third, both in autumn of 1890. The state park system was born in 1862 with California’s Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias it was ten years later that Yellowstone, mostly in Wyoming, became the first national park. You might even say that “America’s Best Idea”-creating national parks-was a knockoff of state conservation and recreation efforts. Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas, as seen from scenic Highway 170. Collectively, these protected areas generate a whopping 850 million visits annually, across nearly 7,000 park units, encompassing over 19 million acres. “The hiking opportunities are virtually endless, and there’s an incredible mosaic of experiences in America’s state parks,” says Lewis Ledford, executive director at the National Association of State Park Directors. Even as I’ve ticked off visits to nearly half of the 63 national parks, I’ve only recently come to fully appreciate nature’s bounty in state parks. First, a confession: I, like many avid hikers I know, have been guilty of viewing state parks as merely the backyard option. ![]()
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