This tour is a little over a one mile loop with an option, at stop 7, to extend the tour an additional ¾ mile.

1.) Drive in the lower park entrance (just west of the Seneca Park Zoo entrance) and take the Park Road all the way around Trout Pond until you come to Hawk and Eagle shelters, where you can park.

2.) Leaving the shelters behind, walk across the park road toward the river and turn right on the gorge path leading into the woods. The Genesee River gorge is glimpsed here through a screen of deciduous trees and hemlocks. The sound of church bells from the opposite side provides a reminder that the view is protected from development by the former St. Bernard’s Seminary and Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

3.) Continue on the gorge path behind the restrooms and you will eventually come out of the woods to the peaceful scene of Trout Pond. If you leave the gorge path and walk across the park road toward the pond, you can experience a clear demonstration of the elements Olmsted arranged for aesthetic effect. Using turf, trees, water, slight differences in elevation, plus gently curving paths and roads, he created a harmonious landscape, one that invites the visitor to explore further and enjoy the changing views. The area around the lake was restored to Olmsted’s design intent after the 1991 ice storm.

4.) Leave the pastoral scene of Trout Pond and return to the gorge path going north. Although it forks several times, all routes lead to a dramatic overlook of the river, furnished with benches and a table.

5.) Backtrack a bit and cross the little wooden bridge, which takes you away from the river. Here you will find yourself among a variety of native trees and shrubs including oak, hemlock, shag bark hickory, hornbeam, witch hazel, and basswood. These woody plants have botanical labels for visitors who wish to learn more about native flora. Olmsted specified native trees for Seneca Park as well as under-story plantings including ferns to enhance the wild effect.

6.)Turn left at the end of the bridge and continue along a ravine where a stream tumbles over rocks and down little waterfalls.









Past the end of a second wooden bridge you have a choice:

7.) On your right a path leads up a bank to a wide meadow where you turn right and head back toward the pond, OR

8.) continue straight ahead along the gorge path for an additional 10-minute walk. This walk will first take you past switchback stairs leading down the gorge wall to a dock at the river’s edge; then it continues across more wooden bridges and past more overlooks until you come to a dramatic waterfall cascading down the gorge wall to the river. If you want to explore even further, the gorge path continues until a fence marks the park boundary. Otherwise, turn around and retrace your steps to point (7).

9.) In the meadow you will pass an unprepossessing brown building. Olmsted would disapprove of this structure’s appearance, since it does not blend in with the landscape, but he is sure to have liked its function. Children from neighborhood centers in the city have used the building for summer programs. The wide meadow has been their playing field and the shady ridge on its far side their picnic grove. Olmsted often noted the special importance of parks for poor children who had to spend summers in the city.

10.) Continue across the park road and walk a little to the right for a lovely, lengthwise view of Trout Pond. Smoke stacks and a high-rise in the distance offer a reminder that this would be just another urban area except for the vision of the Parks Commission back in 1888.

11.) Walk on the grass along the Pond’s east side under the massive trees. Some of the trees have botanical labels; one honors Civil War veterans. Along the pond’s edge grow many kinds of willows, sedges, wild iris, and other native wetland plants that were installed when the park was restored after the 1991 ice storm.

12.) When you get to the foot of the pond, follow the path to the right across another wooden bridge and back toward the river. On your left stretches an area of turf and trees with cookers, tables and benches that Olmsted particularly labeled a picnic grove in his plan. If you turn and look back at the ridge on the other side of the park road, you can see the thick buffer of trees that were planted to screen out the city and contain the view — another important element of Olmsted’s design. Part of an original entrance to the park is also visible: a flight of stone steps identified by a wooden railing marks the site where the Seneca Park Zoo will install an eagerly awaited elephant exhibit.