Green Lakes State Park is a New York State Park located east of Syracuse in the Town of Manlius. The park is strikingly scenic, and has a “masterpiece” golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones very early in his career. Green Lake itself is perhaps the most studied meromictic lake – one in which layers of water do not mix – in the world. The park preserves the largest stand of old growth forest in Central New York, and Round Lake has been designated as a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The park is centered on two small lakes, Green Lake and Round Lake, which have an unusual blue-green color. These lakes lie at the base of a gorge that is somewhat longer than a mile in length. The lakes and the gorge are remnants of the ice ages, and exemplify some of the unusual geology of upstate New York.
The park’s area is 1,955 acres, and it logs about 800,000 visitors each year. Nearly half the park’s area is old-growth forest, which includes many very large specimens of tuliptrees, sugar maples, beech, basswood, hemlocks, and white cedars. One particularly impressive grove of trees, lying immediately to the southwest of Round Lake, has been called the Tuliptree Cathedral.
Good morning! A nice autumn morning with blue skies on the first day with more darkness then daytime. Sunny and 46 degrees at Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville. Light breeze along the lake. A lot of yuppie joggers racing around the lake, as I enjoy the scenery.
After a nice evening watching the sunset and stars rise on Jones Hill, I’m out hiking at Green Lakes State Park. Not much color yet but peak color doesn’t happen at Green Lakes State Park until the week after Columbus Day or later due to the lower elevations. Even at Labrador Hollow down in Fabius doesn’t show much color yet. If I go down there next week, I’m sure there will be more colors.
The stars were pretty great at Labrador Hollow and the drive back to North Syracuse wasn’t too bad. I stayed up there looking at the stars and lights below until nearly nine o’clock. Without the moonlight and the dense forest, I needed a flashlight almost the whole way down the mountain, because it was dark. Several people were up there until sunset, but shortly after sunset, everybody left, and I cracked open a beer and laid on my back for over an hour, just looking at the stars.
Todaywill be a relaxing, pleasant autumn Sunday. In Syracuse, it will be sunny,with a high of 64 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees below normal. Very autumn like. Very clear and dry. Maximum dew point of 39 at 9am. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. The record high of 89 was set in 1970. The sun will set at 6:54 pm with dusk around 7:22 pm, which is 1 minutes and 48 seconds earlier than yesterday. Today will have 11 hours and 58 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over yesterday. It is the first day with more darkness then daylight.
Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 41 degrees at 6am. Six degrees below normal. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph after midnight. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1947.
There are 3 weeks until the Hunter Moon when the sun will be setting at 6:18 pm with dusk at 6:46 pm. The predator hunters will like that. The average high temperature is 60 degrees, with a record high of 88 in 1947.
The most popular hike in the park is walking around Green Lake or adding a trip around Round Lake as well. The distance around Green Lake is 2.3 miles and Round Lake is 0.8 miles. Total around both lakes is 3.1 miles. There are nearly twenty miles of trails you can explore in the park. The hidden gem of the park is the surprising views from the Vista Trail that stretches all the way to the Tug Hill Plateau as well as Oneida Lake and Lake Ontario. There is a nice northeasterly view from the Rolling Hills Trail. The Overlook Trail features a pleasant view to the west toward the Erie Village area.
You can create your own loop hike utilizing the trails on the west side of the park. There is a new parking area on the campground road on the way to the Rolling Hills area of the campground. This allows easier access to the trails in the western side of the state park. The GPS coordinates of the parking area are N43 03.081 W75 58.490 for those who have a GPS devise. There is an unmarked small parking area off NY 290 near the Erie Canal in the small hamlet of Manlius Center. The parking area is the trailhead for the Deer Run Trail. This remote trailhead gives hikers FREE access to the western side of Green Lakes State Park. The GPS coordinates for this trailhead are N43 03.240 W75 59.845 for those who have a GPS devise.
