A Day of Memories and Memory Making

I took my sisters on an adventure this weekend. We returned to a place of wonder and childhood memories...

Rachel was a baby the first time we camped at Robert H. Treman State Park just outside of Ithaca, NY. We would return when she was a year old, and again a year or so later. Dad always camped in the upper campground at the top of the gorge. It was less crowded and he liked that. His favorite spot wasn't always available, but if it was we camped in the corner site just up the hill from the old mill where the bathrooms were located. Today there is no camping allowed in the top of the park. It is just a picnic ground and I think most of it goes unused and inaccessible to the public. We didn't go to camp though, we went to hike the gorge.

It was a beautiful day full of memories. So many first experiences I remember from this place. Wonderful memories of my mother showing me creatures in the creek; minnows, water striders, and dragonflies. Perhaps I am drawn here to heal...

She taught me how to skip rocks in the creek, and shared a love wading up or down the stream on the flat sheets of slate that line the creek bed.

I learned that Daddy-Long-Legs don't bite and it is okay if they crawl over my leg or along my arm.

We were told never to go into the Gorge Trail alone, but were allowed ample free time to play together in the creek at the top. I didn't take much thought for the rock retaining wall when I was six, but it is what makes this spot on the creek recognizable all these years later. Seeing those cut stones brings back a sense of comfort. This is where I sat on a rock while Dad helped me tie my shoes fifty years ago.


On Saturday we followed the signs that said "due to Covid-19" we should hike down the Gorge Trail, and back up the Rim Trail, a 4 1/2 mile hike. In all our camping trips there as a child, I'd never hiked the Rim Trail, so that was a new experience in a well loved and familiar park.

It was a beautiful day and I am forever grateful to my sisters for going along and making me smile. (Yes, my legs are feeling the burn. I don't know how many steps are in the "Great Staircase" but my phone tells me I climbed 65 floors on Saturday. LOL!)