10:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 25 at Main Entrance of Watkins Glen State Park,

Franklin Street, Watkins Glen N.Y.

On Wednesday, May 25 at 10 a.m. members of the Finger Lakes State Park Scaling Team will rappel down a 180’ gorge wall at the Main Entrance of Watkins Glen State Park.  The team will unfurl a 10’x15’ United States flag to celebrate the official opening of all Gorge Trails in the Finger Lakes State Park Region for the 2016 operating season. 

Each spring teams of trained “Scalers” prepare over five miles of trail in the six gorge parks in the Finger Lakes State Park Region.  This work requires them to rappel, repeatedly, down the walls of the gorges to remove loose rock and overhanging trees located on identified sections of trail.  Scalers are certified in rope handling, debris removal, CPR, First Aid and are required to take part, each year, in a two-day training session to review safety and rescue techniques, rope handling and rappelling.

In 2015 the six parks in the Finger Lakes State Park system (Watkins Glen, Stony Brook, Robert H. Treman, Buttermilk Falls, Fillmore Glen and Taughannock Falls) saw over 2.2 million visitors.  Each of the six parks feature gorge trails that provide an opportunity to experience hundreds of waterfalls including Lucifer Falls at Robert H. Treman, Cow Sheds at Fillmore Glen, 215 foot Taughannock Falls, Pinnacle Rock at Buttermilk Falls, Cascade Falls at Stony Brook, and Rainbow Falls at Watkins Glen.

 
Members of the Finger Lakes State Park Gorge Scaling Team will be available for interview.