We live in a marvelous region, replete with sights and wonders. I suppose that just about every place is like that, if you dig deep enough. Another time, we’ll look at “man-made” landmarks in the region. But for this week, I wanted to enjoy compiling a list of NATURAL landmarks, in or around our Finger Lakes.

Each of our lakes is a natural landmark. But Keuka stands out. Because of its two northern branches, true – but even more so because of the arresting Bluff right between them. It dominates the main body of the Lake and both Branches, making a sight that dwells for decades in the memory. (It’s even MORE overwhelming if you’re actually IN the Lake, gazing up at it.)

NOT one of the Finger Lakes, but the last of the GREAT Lakes, is Lake Ontario. As a sight, well, it’s not MUCH of a sight. It’s the realization that this is an inland fresh-water sea, part of chain of such seas, joined by mighty rivers, in all spanning thousands of miles, that takes the breath away.

At Sodus on the southern shore of Ontario lies Chimney Bluff State Park, home to ever shifting geological formations, shaped and reshaped by wind, wave, and gravity.

Just a few rods south of the Conhocton River in Bath, a cliff and slope rise sharply for 500 feet. You can admire this from the village, for it looms like a wall as you drive south on Liberty Street (or just about any other street, for that matter).

But this view is especially remarkable because it works both ways. Head on up to Mossy Bank Park, drive or walk down to the Lookout, and the whole village, including Lake Salubria, spreads out below you like a playset. You can’t see Keuka Lake, but you can see the vale that wends toward it through the high hills. You can look westward along the course of I-99 toward Kanona. If the air is clear enough you can spot the wind turbines near Prattsburgh, and the set in Howard. If the season is right, monarch butterflies may rise up from the flat. If the stars are right, bald eagles may pass by.

The gorges of Stony Brook State Park and Watkins Glen State Park are natural landmarks, with the streams that rush through them continuing their millennia-long shaping and reshaping of their glens. The cleft of Letchworth Gorge is staggering to see, as is the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.

We’re blest with many waterfalls, each possessing its own beauty. Montour Falls and Taughannock Falls are two of the best, and it’s fun to stand in their spray on a summer’s day. And talking of falls, how could we omit Niagara? What must that have been like, for the first men and women to see it, ten-thousand years ago or more? First the roar… then the mist… and then a sight which they never could have imagined. And nobody else could either, so reports must have been scorned as travelers’ tales, until so many people had seen it that they had to be believed.

Being from Rhode Island, I long for salt marshes. None nearby, of course. But the Queen Catharine Marsh, between Watkins Glen and Montour Falls, is a huge beautiful flatland, girdled with a foot path created by the Finger Lakes Trail Conference. Harriers, redwings, waterfowl and wading birds abound. If you like marshes – don’t miss it!