Lower Excelsior Glen Falls

Excelsior Glen is located just outside of the town of Watkins Glen at the southern end of Seneca Lake. Take Route 414 east from Watkins Glen for 1.3 miles and park in a small pullout just south of where the road crosses Excelsior Glen Creek (there are no signs). The Finger Lakes trail begins climbing adjacent to the creek, marked by a small post and a trail register a few feet further in. The lower falls are reached by descending directly to the culvert where the creek passes under the road instead of following the trail, and walking 100 feet upstream along the rocky creek bed – it may be necessary to get your feet wet to see the falls.Excelsior Glen is a short gully located at the southeast end of Seneca Lake that harbors several very scenic, though low volume waterfalls. The lowermost of the falls is situated just upstream from where Route 414 crosses the creek, at the head of a gorgeous bowl-shaped glen, adorned head to toe with moss and ferns. The falls drop 30 feet out of a narrow sluice in the canyon less than 2 feet in width, first plunging and then cacscading over layers of stratified bedrock that edge out into the canyon in a semi-concave shape near the bottom of the falls. A small boulder is wedged in the narrows at the very top of the falls, and depending on how much debris has piled up behind it and how much water is present in the creek, the water may spill over or underneath, dramatically altering the appearance of the falls. When we surveyed the falls in May of 2018 the creek was mostly flowing over the top, and we suspect this is the most frequent likelihood. The basin which Excelsior Glen Creek drains covers an area of approximately 2 square miles, and while there do appear to be some areas of swamp in the drainage, it’s largely devoid of sources of consistent ground water discharge. When we surveyed the area in May 2018 the flow was lower than we had anticipated, and without consistent rain or snow melt to continuously replenish the creek, its volume should be expected to be quite small for much of the year.