Chimney Bluffs

 

Chimney Bluffs State Park is across Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario from where we stayed at Sodus Point.

We had to drive around the bay to get there on a rainy day.

Once we got to an overlook of the bluffs we divided up. Some returned the way we came and others went on around.  The latter group got eaten up by black flies.  I was glad not to be a part of that.

There were many warning signs about not venturing out on the bluffs.

Here's a bit of history I got from this website.

The Great Lakes were once the valleys of a massive river system that drained into the Atlantic Ocean. Repeated periods of glaciations gouged out the valley, creating large basins that soon filled with the melted ice water of the receding ice.

The Bluffs were formed by a glacial drumlin, or pile of ground up mud, sand, and stones pushed along by the glacier as it scoured the land. Over time, Lake Ontario grew and began eroding away at the northern end of the drumlin, exposing the cliffs. Wind, rain, and snow melt-water continue to eat away at the cliffs, reshaping the Bluffs and providing us with a dynamic landscape that can be vastly different from year to year.

Drumlins are common for Western and Central NY, but one that is sliced in half like this is pretty rare. There are only three large examples of this in the region, with the Chimney Bluffs being both the largest and the most accessible. Other bluffs along Lake Ontario can be found just to the east near Port Bay and then at Fair Haven Beach State Park.