Chimney Bluffs

Laura:
Medical school is great, BUT every now and then you need a little time to decompress and remember that outside the hospital there is still a beautiful world waiting to be explored! During a particularly stressful weekend of studying in September, I decided it was time for an exploration break. My ability to cram one more tidbit about physiology or anatomy into my already over-stuffed head was diminishing quickly. Adventure destination for the day: Chimney Bluffs State Park.

It was an exceptionally nice Sunday, lots of sun and still warm temperatures, when we headed out to Chimney Bluffs. The park is located about an hour east of Rochester. The bluffs that give the park it's name are located right on Lake Ontario overlooking a very long stretch of beach that is covered in millions of smooth rocks. When we first arrived, we decided to check out the beach before hiking up the hill to the top of the bluffs.

Alex noticed the high-quality skipping rocks, so we spent 20-30 min skipping rocks into the lake. I've never really been able to skip rocks, so Alex gave me a few lessons - how to pick a good rock, how throw it, how to keep trying over and over.

Alex:
Foof had a really good one with 7 or 8 skips, but that was between videos.  I had a few good ones too.  It was beautiful out by the water.

Laura:
Once our arms were tuckered out from all the rock skipping, we headed up to the top of the bluffs.

The trek was short but very steep. Here we are at the top!

Alex:
A lot of the pictures up here have some weird coloring.  That's because we had to use high HDR settings on the camera because of the intense light and shadows.  It was super dark in some areas on the trail as we were hiking through a narrow trail in the forest.  Then along the edge of the bluffs it was very bright looking over the lake with the clear sky and afternoon sun coming off the light colored rock.  It was neat to look at, and hard to get good photos!  Guess you'll have to come visit and see them in person!

Laura:
We followed the trail that hugged the meandering edge of the bluffs for about a mile or so, taking lots of pictures. It's really an incredible sight to see, the pictures don't quite do justice to the odd angles of the eroding rocks.

Not messing around after our water shortage while hiking near Niagara Falls!
GO CAMEL BACK GO!

After our little hike, we headed back down to the beach to have a small picnic lunch. We sat under a gigantic tree that was leaning out over the lake and enjoyed the sunshine and gently lapping waves of the lake. So serene!

It was the perfect spot to unwind and remember the good things in life outside of school and the office.