The southwestern part of the state gets most of its snow as lake effect off the eastern end of Lake Erie . The prevailing westerly winds pick up moisture as they sweep across the shallowest Great Lake and drop it as snow when it hits the roughly 1,500-foot elevation differential of the high ground lying mostly west of the Genesee River Valley . Consequently , this region generally has a longer and better riding season than most or all of the state outside of the Tug Hill / Adirondacks area .

This region covers all of Chautauqua , Cattaraugus , Allegany and Wyoming counties , southern Erie County ( south of Buffalo ) and southern Genesee County ( south of Batavia ). The region is also bordered on the north by the NY State Thruway ( l-90 ).

Trails are generally well-developed , decently marked , well-mapped and adequately maintained , although there is some variation depending on exactly where you are . Trail connections to other areas are good to the north , and adequate to the south into Pennsylvania ( separate registration is required to ride there ), but poor to the east ( due to low snow , the Finger Lakes and other issues ) and non- existent to the west due to Lake Erie . Services vary greatly , with more limited on-trail lodging available than in some other regions . Scenery is generally good to excellent .

There are multiple “ don ’ t miss ” geographic highlights here . The most important is the Genesee River gorge in Letchworth State Park ( LSP ) on the boundary of Wyoming and Livingston counties on this region ’ s eastern end . The “ Grand Canyon of the East ” is a 17- mile rock-sided steep gorge that is up to 600-feet deep and contains one of the largest gravity dams in the East , plus several waterfalls .

Others include Allegany State Park ( ASP ) in Cattaraugus County , the only part of upstate New York that was untouched by the great glaciation of 10,000 years ago . The fascinating Thunder Rocks , a formation of house-sized erratics in ASP , is studied extensively by geologists .

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FEBRUARY 2025 / SNOWGOER . COM / 15