Letchworth State Park, Trail 15 (South) and Trail 17

Visited August 2026

Letchworth State Park is in two counties:  Livingston County and Wyoming County. Trails 15 and 17 are in Wyoming County.

Park Address: 1 Letchworth State Park, Castile, NY 14427

I entered via the Perry entrance.  Husband dropped me off as he headed to the Stone Tool Show at the Highlands Area.  There is a parking loop on the side of Park Road near the southernmost entry for Trail 15.  There is also paved parking at the end of Trail 17.

70s (degrees Fahrenheit), mostly sunshine

There are numerous facilities available for restroom use during the summer season, but there were none at the Trail 15 trailheads.  There was one at the end of Trail 17.

Dogs on leash are welcome in the park.  Wesley and a copy of his rabies certificate came with me.  Note:  Wesley and I spent over an hour brushing and cutting sharp burrs out of his coat when we arrived home.

Wesley and I enjoyed the first half mile of this trail.  It was wide and basically a logging trail.  It sloped down.  There was poison ivy at the edge of the trail for this first section. Then the trail narrowed to single file until the end of Trail 17. We did not see any poison ivy on the spur trail that took us along a hogback ridge.  It was a distractor I did not mean to take but the view of the gorge was beautiful.  When we saw the river to our left and not our right, that is when we realized we were no longer on Trail 15 so we retraced our steps and rejoined Trail 15.  Trail 15 did not have many markers and only a few paint markings.

For the rest of the hike, poison ivy was in the trail and reaching out into the trail. The plants grew taller and we had not seen a sign or trail marker for a half mile or so when we encountered two people.  They also thought they were on Trail 15 so that was reassuring.  Shortly after our first section of weeds taller than me, we found the metal sign post for the Trails 15 and 17 intersection.  

Trail 17 had more metal trail markers but I would not mind a few more in the area where the weeds grow taller than me.  There were a few nice sections of trail on Trail 17 but notably the trail disappeared during a section of weeds taller than me that included lower weeds that would catch the ankles and also weeds that left sharp burrs in Wesley's coat.  The last half mile or so after I found the trail again was an uphill slope and at one point there was a very large tree that had fallen in the trail.  Just before this fallen tree, we encountered a large group of hikers.  We crawled under the tree after I took off my backpack.  The natural surface of the trail was bone dry.  We enjoyed a mix of sunshine and shade.  

We totaled 3.49 miles on our hike today. 

Sorry, but this is in contention with Bond Lake for my least favorite hike.  I do prefer a well marked trail.

My Garmin reported a 1342 feet of total ascent for today's hike.  The Letchworth State Park map lists both of these trails as EASY.

There was a very healthy population of poison ivy at the trail's edge and also on the trail.

Happily, I did not see any litter on this trail.

So, so, so much poison ivy.

Bug spray and a hat kept the mosquitos from bothering me most of the hike.  This might be different in the spring or during a wet season.

Vehicle Entrance Fee: $10 per vehicle

We saw wildflowers (goldenrod, multifloral rose, plaintain, dandelion, milkweed, daisy, Virginia creeper, yellow jewelweed, wild grape, chicory), berry briars, ferns, birds, gorgeous giant trees (oak, maple, shagbark, sycamore, and many more), a robin, squirrels, a dead chipmunk, grasshoppers, butterflies, and a mama deer and her fawn.

Letchworth State Park had three trails for the Summer 2024 Challenge.  https://outsidechronicles.com/challenge

Many of our family's earliest visits to Letchworth were due to geocaching outings and geocaching events where we met many wonderful people.  Visit www.geocaching.com for more information.  Today we chatted with two geocachers who were entering Trail 17 as I met my husband for our departure.

Letchworth State Park hosts many different events.  We have enjoyed the Stone Tool Technology event at the end of August and the hot air balloons on Memorial weekend throughout the years.  The park is beautiful all year long, but is extra special when the leaves change color during autumn.

For more information about the park and its trails:

https://parks.ny.gov/parks/letchworth

My cell phone did not have reception during my time on these trails.

This park allows hunting during the various seasons so hunters have to fill out permits.  It is good to keep this in mind when deciding where and when to hike.