Cascadilla Falls

Take Highway 34 to downtown Ithaca turn east onto Court Street. Follow Court for three-quarters of a mile to where it makes a hard left turn and becomes E. Linn Street. The road immediately crosses Cascadilla Creek adjacent to Treman Triangle Park – this marks the beginning of the Gorge trail. Park along the street where space is afforded. From Treman Triangle Park, follow the paved trail upstream, crossing Cascadilla Creek on a bridge immediately. This fall is encountered one-half of a mile upstream from E Linn Street.Ithaca, New York is one of the few cities in the United States that harbors a substantial number of significant waterfalls right within its urban core. Bisecting various parts of the center of town are three major watercourses, all of which produce several waterfalls. The central of the three streams, Cascadilla Creek, flows through a narrow canyon which cuts through the south part of the Cornell University campus, dropping over eight distinct waterfalls and cascades over a run of just under half of a mile. The first fall along Cascadilla Creek is known both as Cascadilla Falls and Giants Staircase – though latter name is rarely used today. The falls tumble down a steep cascading type fall directly beneath the College Avenue bridge, dropping 41 feet in the process. Perhaps most surprisingly, we have been able to find no evidence to suggest the majority of the waterfalls along Cascadilla Creek have ever bore either historical or colloquially recognized names. Only two of the falls – Stewart Falls and Cascadilla Falls – have ever been called out directly by name. Instead of applying titled which may not be contextually appropriate, we’ve opted to continue to reference the remaining six falls along the creek as being unnamed waterfalls for all intents and purposes. Cascadilla Creek may pale in size in comparison to neighboring Fall Creek and Sixmile Creeks, but its approximate 12.2 square mile drainage basin produces a stream flow which is still significant, especially during the spring and following the passing of weather produced by summer tropical storms. Expect to see strong flow in the spring months, but by mid summer the flow will generally be reduced to low levels which will allow for more intimate exploration of the interesting bedrock in the canyon.