Conklin Gully - Yates County

A place to discuss waterfalls. Including the parks that house them and the hikes to get to them.

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bremer
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Since theres not too much info on Conklin:
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If you creekwalk to a point where the gully looks like it is flattening out you will see a blazed trail crossing the stream, you can take this to the right to return to the bottom. This is really a good idea as you may not want to climb down some of the falls and the ridge trail is really impressive in its own right. However, if you do take the take the trail immediately, you are missing out on 40% of the gully and in my opinion, the last and best fall. You will also skip a tributary coming in from the left that has numerous falls and is worth exploring. There is an unmarked trail beginning near the tributary that appears to head towards the top of the unclimbable fall you will eventually reach on the main gully, but I have not taken it.

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Angel Falls - Spring
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Angel Falls - Summer
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There are too many falls to have pictures of (probably another 15-20) but I think hiking is a lot more exciting when you can explore without already having a picture in mind, so its always good to leave a bit out.
"Now I see the Secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth" - W. Whitman
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spec
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That last falls is indeed climbable if there's not too much water. The path that Ben uses starts on the right side of the falls, crosses into the middle, goes back to the right then crosses back over to the left and up through the left "notch" in the crest. I'll try to catch it on video this season to illustrate his route. It's an amazing falls either way.
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I concur with Andy, the falls are passable. Its been 5+ years since I've tried though and I recall it being very nerve wrecking, not something I'm sure I'd try again but it is doable.

Great pics.
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Also, I took the left hand side of the split the first time I was there. I came across a couple smaller (~5-7 ft) drops that would have been waterfalls had there been water spilling over them. :) It was quite dry that day, and I haven't been back up that fork since to check it out. I also didn't go too far up from the split. It was getting dark so I turned around. Topo looks like there's probably a couple more decent size (perhaps 15 ft or more) falls further up.

For me, when coming back down, the trickiest falls to decend is the one at the second large amphitheater (from the bottom of the gully). The one in your 7th photo. I usually end up just sliding down on my butt with one foot tucked under and the other stretched in front of me. A good pair of heavy gloves lets me use my hands to "steer" on the rocks and keep myself upright. It helps to be wearing heavy pants or shorts! The rest of the falls aren't too bad. I would rate "Rope Falls" as the 2nd most challenging in the descent. Also I've only been that far up in low water flow, so when there's more water things are probably much different.

While those tall falls may be climbable, it's the coming back down part that's not adviseable. :) Best to keep hiking above those falls for a ways, climbing another 10-15 ft falls, then climb the banks to the right and catch the orange blazed trail back down along the rim. Or just keep hiking the creek all the way to where the orange trail meets the creek near the FLT trail register box -- I'm not sure which FLT spur/loop this is. At that point, you can go to the right and get on the FLT, or you can go left and find a trail up the hill which eventually comes out onto Donley Rd. (I've also seen it marked Jones Rd. on some maps) NY DEC maps show that most of this road/trail forms part of the border of the High Tor WMA. As you walk uphill, the land to your right (east) is private with a few posted signs along it's length. There's a parking area a little ways up the hill on the High Tor side of the road. Ben and I parked there one time and hiked into High Tor from there, down to the creek and to the top of the tall falls. The hike through this section is tricky at best. There's obviously no defined trail, so using the creek as guidance is your best bet. It gets a bit rocky in places, a bit marshy/muddy in others, and there's a lot of downed trees across the creek/gully. The gully is fairly wide and shallow near the trail, but narrows quickly as you get closer to the top of the falls.

At the base of that 15ft falls above the tall falls, there's a stunning example of "rotten shale" that shows just how unstable the gorge walls are. Paper thin and cleveable by hand. Ben just banged his fist on a bit that was sticking out, which loosened up a considerable chunk of rock that he was able to pull away. It just broke apart in his hands. It almost looked like deli sliced ham as it broke up and fell away. Makes you realize exactly what risks you are taking when climbing in this area. Kinda sobering, really.

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bremer
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Thanks for the great info. I can see where this could be climbable when dry but I can't see myself doing it. I will have to explore above that last big falls next time I'm there, but will probably do so by climbing the ridge between the tributary and the main stream. The only drawback to this of course is that you have to backtrack a considerable distance if you want to see the falls from both above and below.
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bremer wrote:Thanks for the great info. I can see where this could be climbable when dry but I can't see myself doing it. I will have to explore above that last big falls next time I'm there, but will probably do so by climbing the ridge between the tributary and the main stream. The only drawback to this of course is that you have to backtrack a considerable distance if you want to see the falls from both above and below.

I met a guy in the gully last year who regularly goes into Conklin up to the big falls, then climbs the right side wall before the falls (in the amphitheater) to get to the trail at the top. I met him at the parking area as I was getting ready to leave, and I haven't been back up that far in the gully since that afternoon, so I haven't tried it nor scouted it myself. I'm going to Naples tomorrow with the intentions of doing a run through Grimes, although I may end up at Conklin instead. If I do run Conklin tomorrow, I hope to be able to get up that far to check it out, and perhaps attempt it myself. We'll see...

(BTW: To Jeff -- the gentleman I met last year. If you're on these forums, drop me a PM here. I lost your contact info when my wallet went through the washer that weekend. I was driving a bright red Monte Carlo SS with Ohio plates, and we met at the parking area on Parrish Hill Rd near the beginning of November.)

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A quick, funny tale from Conklin:

Last year, when Ben and I hiked in from the top... we were standing at the top of the tall falls, dropping rocks into the crest and watching them fall.. .trying to get a video to show the scale of the falls. As Ben bent to pick up a rock, his red Bic lighter dropped from the pouch in his hoodie and made a spectacular trip to the bottom. As bummed as we were about littering the gully, we got quite a chuckle out of it too. I did get a snap of it on one of the videos I took.

Fast forward about a month. I did a solo trip back to Naples. Ran Grimes to the top and back, got lunch at the Subway then did a "head down, gotta beat the oncoming darkness" run up Conklin to those falls and back. When I got to those falls, I found Ben's lighter.... It had been moved, either by water or an animal, from where it had originally landed. I texted Ben from there saying, "Red Bic anyone?" Got a good laugh out of that. I tried lighting it and it didn't light. Shook it and it felt empty, so I figured it had cracked in the fall and all the gas escaped, though there wasn't any visible damage other than a little rust around the metal cap showing it had been damp for a while. I stuck it in my pocket figuring it'd be a good souvenir from our adventures. Stopped back at that Subway for a pit stop to change into dry clothes for the ride home. Got back in the car and lit a cigarette, and tucked my lighter under my leg where I normally do when driving. I had another smoke later on down the road a ways. It was dark so I didn't realize which lighter I was using.... I got home, got out of the car -- there on the seat was the red Bic I had just recovered from Conklin. My green one was still in my pocket. So the red one survived a 70-80ft drop, a month in damp conditions, and relocation by water or otherwise during that time.... and it still worked, it just needed to dry out. I returned it to Ben the next day. He actually commented just the other day that "The Conklin Lighter" is starting to die. It's actually survived this long..... I recovered it on 11/09/09, so it's been almost six months.

Bic... The Timex of lighters.

spec
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Hi I am Ben i thought i would finally say hi as i have been reading here but not posting.

Conklin is a great place and one of my first big climbs this year is to finish the top falls climb i did not make last year.
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