Saturday was warm and sunny for the Fourth of July and lots of people in Watkins Glen were taking advantage of the nice weather.

What You Need To Know

  • Watkins Glen was a popular spot for hiking on Independence Day.
  • The weather was warm and sunny.
  • Several people traveling from a state away.
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“You have like those little pockets of cool air where it's nice and cool and you get like a little break from the sun and some really pretty pictures with a scenic view behind you,” said Ashleigh Brown, visiting from Buffalo.

Brown came from Buffalo with her parents to explore Watkins Glen State Park. They weren’t the only ones making a long drive.

“We’ve been seeing the pictures on Facebook; everyone’s been posting so we’re like okay we’re going to go and try it ourselves, just get out,” said Madison Pence, visiting from Pennsylvania.

Pence and her friend Katie decided to make it a girl's day, traveling from a few hours away.

“There wasn’t much else to do then we decided we wanted to be outside a little bit longer, get out,” said Pence.

With COVID-19 canceling fireworks, parades, and festivals, getting outside was the next best thing.

“Originally, we had planned on going to North Carolina but with COVID and everything being closed down, we wanted to do something a little closer to home and something where we could try to social distance when we can,” said Katie Richards, visiting from Pennsylvania.

Corby and Joe also made the trip to the glen from Pennsylvania.

“We thought it would be a nice break instead of going down to the ocean or the shore. We thought that would be way too crowded at this point, still we’re not ready for that. So we decided to be outdoors,” said Rebecca Corby, visiting from Pennsylvania.

“We decided to head north instead of south with the COVID down there. We figured we would come up here and have been wanting to do this since last year looking at different trails and stuff,” said Joe Ropke, visiting from Pennsylvania.

Still celebrating, despite the pandemic.