Eastside Overland Trail - Day Hike

For a day that was promised to be filled with a mix of waterfalls and hiking, there sure was plenty of hiking while there were zero waterfalls. Not even one little baby waterfall to ohh and ahh at.

We were hiking with the Buffalo Hiking Club at Canadaway Creek State Wildlife Management Area in Chautaqua County, part of the 19-mile Eastside Overland Trail that runs through this area. About a one hour drive from Buffalo. You can check out the Buffalo Hiking Club on Facebook. After waiting about a half hour for everyone, about 25 people in total… we got started hiking.

We quickly got to the front of the group and began leading the hike up a dirt road. We found ourselves having to stop and wait for the group a lot. This was in part due to the fact that the range of people was wide, old and young, men and women, so all of our paces were way different. The trail was poorly marked and we were forced to keep looking at the map in confusion. After a few miles we found ourselves at a creek, which just so happened to also be a dead end.

Everyone started eating lunch even though we had only been hiking for about 45 minutes. Chris (the group organizer) had to talk to the park ranger because we had no idea what or where to go next. The trail just disappeared into nowhere, and the map we had printed off the internet was so blurry it was ridiculous.

The ranger stated that the part we had been hiking was in fact the most boring part of the whole park and that the trail actually continues on the road for a few miles to the next part of the park. We decided to just jump in our cars and drive to the next part of the trail.

The next part of the trail had three miles of boring woodlands with the exception of two man made lakes. Definitely no waterfalls. We did this three mile loop and headed home.

I would recommend next time the Buffalo Hiking Club goes out that someone actually goes ahead and hikes the trail ahead of time so we can remove some of the confusions that we had on this trip. The trail is poorly marked, muddy and has obstacles around every corner.

I really can’t think of any reason to go out and explore these trails because there is absolutely positively nothing to do besides hike and be bored. Definitely no waterfalls. Well, if you enjoy being bored in the outdoors then go ahead and hike.

Unless I am missing something, the park has the exact same scenery as every other park in Chautauqua County. Nothing special… nothing special at all. Please post a comment if you disagree.