Aunt Sarahs Falls

Aunt Sarahs Falls is located immediately adjacent to Route 14 just north of the village of Montour Falls, or about 1.8 miles south of the lower parking lots at Watkins Glen State Park. There is a large parking area on the north side of Falls Creek on the east side of the road which allows visitors to get out and get up close. Be careful when crossing the highway, as it's heavily trafficked.Aunt Sarahs Falls is one of the most accessible waterfalls in the Finger Lakes area, nearly spraying on to Route 14 just north of the village of Montour Falls. The visible portion of the falls drop 113 feet over stratified layers of bedrock, starting out as a sheer plunge less than 5 feet wide at the top, then upon impacting onto a diagonally oriented bench the stream spreads out into dozens of tiny rivulets, veiling to as much as 40 feet across and cascading down tiny stairsteps before free-falling over a second vertical portion of the falls for the final third of its descent. During periods of heavy rain fall the creek can swell to considerable size and shoot outwards clear of the cliff, almost entirely bypassing the middle stair-stepping part of the falls. There appear to be additional cascades or potentially more vertical falls upstream from what can be seen from the highway, but whether those sections of the falls can be accessed (legally or logistically) remains in question, and how much they would add to the total height of the falls is not known. Falls Creek is a relatively small stream, draining from a basin that covers just 2 square miles in area. The creek originates in a small pond, and the basin is split about half and half between farm land and forest, so there should be some ground water retention present, however the small drainage area will be the primary dictator to the volume of the stream. When we surveyed the falls at the end of May 2018 it was already flowing lower than expected considering the progression of the season. Without consistent rain fall to refuel the basin, expect to see the creek reduced to just a trickle during the summer months, but with a day or two of heavy rain the falls should spring back to life (for a limited duration at least).