GOWANDA, N.Y. — If you're looking for something new to check out this summer, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently finished a new trail at the Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area aimed at providing improved safety and accessibility for hikers of all abilities.
The half-mile long looped trail, which replaced an unauthorized hard scrabble path at the end of Valentine Flats Road in Gowanda, is six feet wide and surfaced with packed down finely crushed aggregate and was built to meet federal accessibility standards, according to DEC regional Forester Patrick Marren.
"It's an all new surface here this was previously non-existing," he said.
Marren also noted that special care was taken to construct the now named Memorial Trail in a way to minimize the impact of the old growth forest here which boasts of some of the largest trees you might find in Western New York.
Along the length of the trail there are split rail fences 15 feet back from the lip of the gorge, and four areas where hikers will be able to linger and take in gorge vistas.
Starting next year, further improvements will be made to the Valentine Flats Trail which leads down the gorge to Cattaraugus Creek.
This would include widening of the trail and its surfacing with gravel to allow emergency responders to access areas of the gorge with ATVs in order to effect rescues in places where injured parties currently have to be either physically carried out, or reached by helicopters using baskets.