Setting up camp, registration, and a social occupied Friday evening. Saturday there were various choices of routes. I did the 85 mile loop around Lake Seneca.

On Sunday, there was again a choice of routes. I did the 16 mile hilly route.

The STBC rents the group campgrounds through Sunday afternoon. So after the short ride Sunday, we broke camp and moved to the regular campgrounds at Watkins Glen State Park. We stayed there Sunday and Monday nights (with lots of rain!) and on Tuesday broke camp and visited our son Jeff in Schenectady. We returned home on Wednesday, June 14.

	Here I am doing a little bit of last minute wheel trueing on Friday evening.		The Friday evening social. Jane is at the end of the table just to the right of center. In the back is the food line.
	Still at the Friday evening social. This is a display of some of the past T-shirts for the Great Finger Lakes Bike Tour provided by the Southern Tier Bicycle Club.		Here I am ready to set out Saturday morning. The ride today is a 7 mile round trip into Watkins Glen and a 78 mile circumnavigation of Lake Seneca. I did all 85 miles except I walked 3/4 of a mile of the hill to get back into camp from Watkins Glen. Just too steep after 80+ miles!
	The Glenora Winery on the west side of Lake Seneca. This is early in the morning on Saturday--too early for tasting! There are many wineries in the finger lakes region.		This company sells ornate sheds and gazebos. Just struck my fancy!
	I ran into several other GFLBT riders at a scenic overlook about 20 miles into the ride. The fellow at the far right with the handlebar mustache is Albert. I didn't get the names of the other riders.		This farm seemed to be the most scenic thing at the the scenic overlook, so I took a picture of it!
	Harvesting hay. That's Lake Seneca in the background and the view is generally towards the southeast. This is a few miles up the road from the previous picture.		Another farm!
	A Victorian looking house next to a lake side park in Geneva which is at the northwest corner of Lake Seneca and about 35 miles into the ride. This view is to the northeast.		The lake side park and Lake Seneca, looking towards the southeast.
	A GFLBT rider on highway 14 headed into Geneva.		Park at the extreme north end of a Lake Seneca. The view is to the south from Highway 20.
	The Wagner Winery and the SAG wagon (just kidding). This is about 70 miles into the ride and the view is roughly to the west. There is a microbrewery attached to the winery. I tasted 8 wines and 6 microbrews and then had a pint of the one I liked best. After that I felt rejuvenated! I also purchased a couple of bottles of wine. The STBC sends a truck out to bring all the wine purchases back to camp so you can drink (some of) them for dinner that night.		Two riders in the shade under a tent at the Wagner Winery. I don't know the name of the fellow on the left; on the right is Ray. We had ridden together for a while on the way to Ovid (about 60 miles into the ride) but he pulled away on the hills leading into Ovid. I had lunch in Ovid: a small cheese steak, a liter of coke and a liter of water--it was in the 90's! I forgot to take pictures in Ovid. Ovid is the site of an annual strawberry festival at about the same time as the GFLBT. Unfortunately, it was the next week. Ray and I rode together the rest of the way back into Watkins Glen.
	Waterfalls on the way back to Watkins Glen. We are on route 414 now and the view is to the east.		View of Lake Seneca towards the southwest from the falls in the previous picture.
	Ray giving the bike a rest near the falls.		A nice boat at the extreme south end of Lake Seneca. It's just left the marina, gone under the bridge where I'm standing, and entered the lake.
	Here I am after Saturday's ride is over. In the background is the building containing johns and showers.		Our camp site at the Watkins Glen State Park Hidden Valley Group Camp. It's Sunday morning and we've already packed up some of the equipment. On Sunday I did the "16.4 mile hilly ride." Then we broke camp and moved to the regular state park campgrounds. This shot is before the ride. (Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures on Sunday's ride.)
	Joyce and Bob Dannecker breaking camp on Sunday morning.		The recreation building at the group campgrounds. This is where we had the Friday evening social, Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast.
	Elevation profiles of some of the rides. On the top is the profile for the 85 mile Saturday ride. The vertical range is around 700 feet, so each colored band is about 250 feet. There were several 1000 feet of climbing on Saturday! The Sunday ride below is not the one I did (so I don't remember what the scale is--sorry).		It rained a little Sunday and then we had a lot of rain Sunday night into Monday morning and again on Tuesday morning. This filled up the streams flowing into the gorge at Watkins Glen State Park. On Monday we hiked in the gorge. It's about a mile and a half from the entrance at Watkins Glen to the top of the trail. Here's one of the bridges quite close to the beginning.
	The view from the bridge. By the way this stream flows roughly to the east and joins the river going into Lake Seneca just to the south of the lake.		A little further along. There are some impressive falls in the background.
	Here's Jane in the gorge. There really was an awful lot of furiously flowing water. The spray was all over and we got soaked!		A closer view of the falls and the spray. That's Jane on the left. The path takes you behind the falls.
	On the other side of the falls the trail continues to go up! Those are some random hikers ahead of us.		Jane works her way up some of the many steps.
	A rather large tree is wedged in the gorge. The roots (unfortunately the same color as the rocks) are at the center of the picture.		Another bridge. I believe the falls in this picture are called the central cascade.
	I'm standing beside a side path. Probably better to explore when it's not so wet!		Rainbow Falls. The sun wasn't out so we didn't see a rainbow! Also, the water making Rainbow Falls is not part of the main stream--it's a separate stream coming in from the side.
	Closer to Rainbow Falls. Note that the trail goes under the falls. There's another bridge. A little further beyond this one is a bridge called Mile Point bridge (a mile from the start). It crosses over to a path leading up to the campgrounds. In fact we camped up to the left. I had found the trail down to the gorge from the campgrounds earlier in the day.		A little further upstream.
	Upstream from Mile Point bridge, the stream is "calm."		Almost to the end. Just around the corner are seven stories of steps, called Jacob's Ladder, that take you up to the level of the railroad tracks.
	Here's the view from the top of the steps looking down.		And at the very top, you find out what the state park was before it was a state park.
	A view of our camp at the state park on Monday afternoon. The chair in the foreground is on it's side to help it dry out.		Another view of the camp. Our stove is under the fly to protect it from the rain. As usual, Jane cooked good meals at camp. Sunday evening we had barbecued steak, mushrooms, and salad. Monday breakfast we had french toast and sausage. Monday evening we had breaded veal cutlets, pasta and green beans.
	Yet another view of the camp showing that we actually had a campfire. I found the firewood at a campsite in a closed part of the park. I believe that part of the park will open later in the season and the firewood must have been left over from last season.		After breaking camp on Tuesday, we drove to Schenectady to visit our son. He had ridden in the GFLBT last year, but didn't make it this year. We helped him celebrate his birthday (actually on Wednesday). The bottle you see on the table is from the Wagner winery on the GFLBT!
	Another shot of Jeff.