Many of the Ithaca bumper stickers and t-shirts feature the quote, “Ithaca is Gorges.” At first I thought it was cheesy, but after spending some time here I’ve decided it’s an apt description: Ithaca is full of gorges with stunning waterfalls, and the landscape is “gorgeous.” There is a 4+ mile round trip hike in Robert Treman state park that has breathtaking scenery around every bend. I did the first half solo near the beginning of our stay, which was mostly uphill but culminated in an overlook of Lucifer Falls and the gorge carved by the flowing river. From the outlook I could see the trail for the return hike, basically a path carved into the wall of the gorge meandering down to the base. I only had time for half the hike that day, but I was committed to coming back and doing the even more picturesque downhill with the family. Jake, Penelope and I tackled it on our last full day here and it was amazing.

Another cool feature of Robert Treman state park is the natural swimming pool. The park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) during the Great Depression. Virginia has a bunch of CCC parks and they frequently have elegant old buildings and extensive trails or natural features built into the landscape using stone. At Robert Treman, the CCC dammed up a waterfall to create a multi level natural stone swimming pool compete with diving board. The only downside was the water temperature; it was only 68 degrees when we were there, which is quite cold for swimming.