Keuka Lake is the odd little duckling of the Finger Lakes; but, it is not the βuglyβ duckling by any stretch! Instead, Keuka Lake is beautifully unique and, though it shares much with its fellow βfingers,β it is set apart by its peculiar shape. Early settlers called this the βcrooked lakeβ because, unlike the long and sinuous, finger-shaped lakes, Keuka Lake is forked and shaped like a Y. The odd shape is one of its many unique features, but more pertinent to outdoor enthusiasts is that Keuka is the only Finger Lake that drains into another. This gave rise to the Outlet Trail.
When you get south of the Finger Lakes, you get back into the hill and hollow country that is common in much of Central New York and Western NY. The rolling country common in the northern Finger Lakes, gives away to fairly steep hills with narrow valleys.
Large sand and gravel mines in Oak Corners, NY.
Yesterday, I downloaded the National Land Cover Data for 2016. I had some older data but I hadn't updated it in years, but soon realized I could make some very interesting maps and graphics with this data. The Finger Lakes are kind of interesting to look at in particular as you can see the Northern Finger Lakes have a lot of cultivated lands -- mostly corn and soybeans -- for feeding dairy cattle, while the more upland and rocky lands in the Southern Finger Lakes are either wooded or pasture.