a walk in Fall Creek gorge, part 1

[edenfalling]

One thing I love about living in Ithaca is that there are waterfalls right in the middle of town. No, seriously. For example, I live five minutes away from Ithaca Falls, which is the final waterfall on Fall Creek before it runs into Lake Cayuga. It's a municipal park, albeit a tiny one. You can see the waterfall from the street, and it takes all of two minutes to walk there. You can walk literally right up to the falls themselves if you're feeling particularly brave and stupid -- there's no railing to protect you and keep you back.

There IS a small sign advising basic common sense and forbidding swimming, but people tend to ignore that. The base of the waterfall is a popular swimming spot in the height of the summer. And every year, at least one person either drowns or comes damn close to drowning, because the sign is not there for the city's amusement. There are some nasty, swirling currents in that creek, and a LOT of rocks to trap you underwater, and a bunch of hidden kettleholes too.

(It's mostly idiot college students who die, but townies are not immune to overconfidence.)

These photos were taken on June 22nd and show a fairly typical water level -- maybe a little closer to spring averages than to summer averages, judging by the ledge that's currently underwater but which I have often seen bone dry and covered in sunbathers. The gorge walls don't look very high, but that's because Ithaca Falls drops the creek down nearly to lake level, and the land doesn't take all that much longer to make its own drop down to the flat valley floor.


Here is Ithaca Falls, as seen from the side of the creek.



And from a little bit closer.



And even closer than that. :-)



A view across the creek at the base of the falls.



Water lapping over a ledge -- in high summer, this area will be bone dry.



A view across Fall Creek toward the north wall of the gorge.



And some rapids in the creek, where it runs fast and shallow a bit downstream from the falls.