An Afternoon in Naples, NY

Monica’s Pies, 7599 NY-21, Naples, NY 14512

I really love pie so when I found out there was a type of pie I had yet to try, I was disappointed in myself. I thought I’ve tried all the pies. I knew this was a situation I’d have to rectify. In the Finger Lakes it’s all about wine and grapes, so you guessed it – Monica’s has GRAPE PIE. Concord grapes to be exact. Was it weird? No. It’s pie, it was delicious. I’m not ashamed to tell you we each got an individual (mini) pie that we ate beside one another in the car.

Also, while civilized Jeff struggled with a fork, I savagely picked the pie up and bit into it. Gosh that pie was good. A firm bottom crust, a crumbly oat mix topping, and a goopy, sweet and slightly tart, perfect lip-puckering grape filling.

Grimes Glen Park, 4703 Vine St, Naples, NY 14512

What a hidden gem! There wasn’t a ton of information online about the park and I always love to do beforehand research so I was a bit nervous. All for no reason! There was a big parking lot, trailhead, and lots of fellow adventurers.

An exciting element of this hike is that the trail is essentially the creek bed, like a beginner version of the Narrows hike at Zion National Park. At first I thought it would be slippery (and it could be a little bit at times), so I tried to stick on the dirt path.

After a while the well packed trail became more scant. Walking in the creek became the easier option and quite refreshing in the summer heat. Just pay attention to where you are stepping, and it’s great to have teva’s, water shoes, or old sneakers you don’t care about getting wet. The reason you’re walking through the creek is to get to waterfalls! You’ll pass the first within no time, at about half a mile. On our mid-summer visit it was impressive in height over 60 feet, but the water was not flowing strong.

I was wondering if the next falls would be any different. It certainly was! This was the end of the road hang out spot for most. Great wide shores to lay out on, a nice deep pool for swimming, a real scenic spot all around. On one end you have a great waterfall and the other a mysterious grotto of sorts.
Very cool. Now to continue on you have to be a relatively experienced hiker or very sure footed (hopefully both!). To the left of the falls there is a system of ropes attached to a steep hill and rock ledge.

An exhilarating climb up will reveal a second tier to the waterfall.

This little hike is really awesome! Want more? Keep heading upstream, in the creek bed of course, and you will completely lose the crowds. About half a mile and you’ll hit another stunning waterfall with a deep pool, and lucky us had this one all to ourselves, just like paradise.

There was another rope system connected to these falls, and I would guess more waterfalls beyond…but this was the last stop for us. I’m guessing the roundtrip hike was about two miles in total and packs a whole lot of fun.