Zoar Valley

On a delightful August Sunday, I joined my friends Kathy, Dennis and John on a trip to Zoar Valley near Gowanda, NY. After an early morning mass at Saint Joseph’s on Main Street in Buffalo, we headed south of the city.

Once in Gowanda, we headed first to Kathy’s mother’s house. Her brother was in town from the coast, so we got out of our church clothes, picked up Michael and headed down to Forty. Forty is a road, which I never knew. I’ve been there several times over the years, and I never knew that was the name of the road. I still don’t know why it’s called that. Why not Fifty? Why not Sparkle Buggy Whips?

We parked and met up with their cousin, Rick.

My first visit to this stretch of the Cattaraugus Creek was in 1976, right after Kathy and I returned from our Junior Year (semester) in Spain. It looks about the same.

Cattaraugus Creek has cut through these shale hills for a long, long time. Sometimes the water is high. Sometimes the water is low. Today it was just perfect for wading.

There are lots of little falls and ripples to enjoy.

And, speaking of rocks, I was never too enamored of shale. But just about anything is interesting if you take the time to look at it.

This is in the wall of the valley. It looks like there was a roundish sort of rock that fell out of this space.

Kind of like these roundish rocks that were in the creek bed. They kind of look like fossilized footprints, although I can think of any number of reasons why they aren’t.

However, there does seem to be a trail of them. I wonder where they are going and how they were formed.

Kathy and her brother, Michael, got up the creek ahead of me. I spent some time looking for the best footing. I found a great route right next to the cliff. The water got over my knees, which was just perfect for a summer afternoon.

There were some wonderful rocks to look at!

There were some incredible fossils, too. I’ve never seen any like this before. Maybe they aren’t fossils, but they sure do look like them. And, I saw several rocks with the same sorts of marks and formations.

If you’d like to plan your own visit, you can find information for Forty and the Flats here. Pack a lunch and plan to stay a while. We had places to go and things to do, so we left.

I hope we make it back again soon. Forty years is too long to wait! Besides, I’ll be going on 100 then…