Plattekill Falls

Take Interstate 87 to Saugerties and exit to west Route 212. After 2 1/4 miles bear right onto Blue Mountain Road and continue for 3.4 miles (after 1.5 miles the road bears hard left and becomes West Saugerties Road) to the bridge spanning Plattekill Creek in West Saugerties, encountered immediately before Manorkill Road bears right, and a large sign is seen warning about winter closures of Platte Clove Road. At this point the Platte Clove Road experiences seasonal closures, but when open continue up the significantly narrower and much steeper road for 2 1/2 miles to the top of the Clove and park in a small pullout adjacent to a sign indicating the Platte Clove Preserve. Walk back down the road for about 50 feet and follow the trail leading past a small red house and the winding down to the bottom of the falls in about one-fifth of a mile.Plattekill Falls is the largest readily accessible waterfall within Platte Clove, but is just one of as many as a dozen major waterfalls along Plattekill Creek. The falls occur at the uppermost headwall of Platte Clove, where the creek accelerates down a narrow bedrock chute and explode over the cliff, free-falling 51 feet into a large pool. Though the falls do flow all year long, the small size of the drainage basin of Plattekill Creek will limit the impressiveness of this waterfall for most of the year. During the snowmelt months the falls will roar to life and potentially make photography difficult, however later in the summer and autumn months the volume of water may be reduced to a trickle. Downstream of the falls Plattekill Creek continues tumbling down the extremely steep head of Platte Clove, forming no less than six additional waterfalls within half of a mile of Plattekill Falls. Unfortunately, due to the extremely treacherous terrain and lack of trails in the area, accessing these other waterfalls is said to be exceptionally difficult and highly discouraged.