Hiking at Robert H. Treman State Park in the Finger Lakes
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Two months after I had knee surgery Peter said “let’s go for a walk”. Famous last words around this house, but thinking I could challenge myself since my doctor just cleared me from physical therapy I figured what harm….this is how we found ourselves at Robert H. Treman State Park while on our trip to the Finger Lakes.
Robert H. Treman State Park is located just outside of Ithica, New York, and about an hour’s drive South of Seneca Falls.
Upon pulling into the first parking lot, we opted to head to the upper parking lot to hit up the Red Pine Trail after the Gorge trail. According to the brochure we got from our hotel this was supposed to be easy! On the second bridge, decisions were made that make this story one of courage, resilience, strength, and hilarity.
By the end of this, you might be thinking it was regret, which probably halfway through it was, but I’ll spoil the story and say in the end there was no regret.
Red Pine Trail
When you do a search for the Red Pine Trail on Google you will be greeted with a great warning that this trail is difficult. However, if you are visiting the park & relying on a brochure that was printed in the 90’s you will be greeted with nothing!
Honestly, we laugh about this now, but if we had known how difficult this hiking trail was going to be, we would never have tried it.
The trail started in an open field that ran parallel to the upper part of the Gorge trail. Upon entering the forested area the trail soon becomes extremely steep. Because it had rained for two days prior to our hike, yes, it is no longer a walk and has turned into a hike, the ground was slippery with mud and leaves. This definitely made for even more of a challenge considering again, I just finished rehabbing a knee surgery (and spoiler alert, the day before I tore my MCL in my “good knee”) so ultimately this was written for disaster.
However, after the first hill of mud, rocks, and leaves I thought to myself this couldn’t get any worse and I really wasn’t prepared to slide butt-first down the hill I just climbed. So we trudged on.
At this point, Maggie was absolutely loving the hike as it was her kind of adventure, however, it made it more difficult with her getting excited over smells and squirrels so I handed her off to Peter. Thankfully, when we do something we do it as a team.
Trail Details
The trail is 0.79 miles long and made up of natural earth. That means dirt, rocks, leaves, mud, animal poop….
The highest point is around 950-964 feet above sea level.
The steepest decline is -55.06% grade while the steepest incline is 43.28% grade.
You spend about half the trail declining once you hit the highest point of the mountain without any breaks.
Overall Thoughts
This trail is doable, meaning that if you have any fitness or stamina yes you can do it. Do I recommend anyone do it? Nope, not, never going to happen!
Thankfully Peter and I have been working on our fitness since the pandemic happened, I know knee injuries don’t help, but we were able to build up stamina and other endurance strengths needed to get through this without injury or pain.
Now, if you are like us and didn’t realize the trail’s difficulty level, don’t feel bad, your natural instincts will kick in and you will do all it takes to get to the end safely. It might not be what you thought it would be, but it will be a story you tell for the rest of your life!
Upper Gorge Trail
This is the trail that the majority of visitors to Robert H. Treman State Park take. It’s relatively flat, offers lots of scenery and picture opportunities, but it also has a lot of stairs.
While we lost track of the number of stairs we climbed, it is something to take into consideration when planning your trip.
Trail Details
This trail is 0.62 miles long and can crowd. Some of the areas of the trail are narrow and can get slippery on the stone walkways that have splashback from the waterfalls.
Classified as a moderate, this hike provides a lot of great scenery.
The Upper Gorge Trail is part of the Gorge Trail which expands down towards the lower parking lot and in total is about 2.2 miles.
Overall Thoughts
The Upper Gorge trail is paved majority of the way with natural stone slabs. The trail can get pretty crowded during certain times of day and year, don’t be surprised if you have to wait for someone to take a family picture or selfie.
On this trail we only found 1 place to rest towards the beginning of the trail where there was a cutout in the stone walls that made a slight bench.
Otherwise, you are on your own if you need to take a seat for whatever reason.
The waterfalls are absolutely beautiful and when you are at the top looking down, you can definitely get the sense of how powerful mother nature is with the way the water has transformed the rocks and mountains around it.
Beyond the crowds and many steps, this trail is probably right on the edge of easy and moderate.
It would definitely help you exhaust dogs and kids!
Bringing a dog to Robert H. Treman State Park
Like every park, there are rules to bringing your dog into the park.
Your dog must be on a leash and supervised as well as pick up after your dog.
If you have never been hiking with your pup, don’t worry, many of the trails within the Finger Lakes area are very easy and are just like a regular walk for your best friend. However, if you are adventurous or you are like us and have an outdated map then the hike can become strenuous. Thankfully for us, Maggie thrives on walks and hikes beyond curling up under a blanket so while we made a mistake on our trail options, she had the best time of her life.
While on the Upper Gorge trail we crossed many other pups along the way. So if your dog is reactive or just not dog friendly keep this in mind when hiking along any of the trails.
Things to pack for hiking with your dog
We wish we had brought our backpack along with us because this would have made it easier for us to provide comfort for Maggie, but as the “walk” turned into something unexpected it was probably for the best that we didn’t have it with us.
However, we learned from this mistake and now ensure we have a small bag with us on these similar days that hold a few of the following items to ensure that Maggie is comfortable on big hike days.
Collapsible Dog Bowls
This makes it so much easier for Maggie to drink water whether in the car or park. The best part is that they fold up flat & can store in small spaces or be clipped onto a loop to just hang outside your pack.
We have one for each car and an additional one for her pack.
First Aid Kit Specifically for Dogs
I purchased Maggie’s first aid kit right after her adoption so it is not exactly like this, but this kit has all of the same contents ours currently does.
And trust me, this kit does come in handy even if it’s a human injury as Peter learned when my incision opened up at 2 AM and we realized we had nothing to help stop the bleeding.
A first aid kit whether for dogs, cats, humans… all have one purpose, to help bandage a wound in an emergency.
Dog Wipes
You will thank yourself for packing these! We use these every single day, multiple times a day!
Maggie loves to roll in dirt, stomp in puddles… pretty much loves to get new smells all over her. But when you are in a car for hours at a time, that mess might not want to come home with you.
These wipes have saved us from mud, sand, anal glands (which if you ever have happen in a car you will be extremely thankful you have these).
Note – the normal full pack of these can be very heavy, we usually just put a few into a ziplock bag and put them into the bag.
Poop Bags
We usually carry an additional roll in case we run out, but we have a bag holder that hands off of her leash making it much easier to clean up when walking.
Final thoughts
We will definitely be back to Robert H. Treman State Park on our next trip to the Finger Lakes. With so many other trails we did not get the chance to explore this park definitely has something for everyone.
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