Lucifer Falls (Robert H. Treman State Park)
I had several waterfalls mapped out to visit during our stay in Ithaca, NY. I had read about Lucifer Falls, but I put it on the bottom of my list because, to be honest, the hike sounded brutal. Everything I read online said it was a steep, strenuous 5-mile loop. But once we got to Ithaca, we had locals tell us over and over again that we really should go see Lucifer Falls. I finally found a map of the park and realized we could get to the falls pretty easily without doing the whole 5-mile loop, so we headed out one afternoon to see what all the fuss was about.
I can't remember exactly how long the hike from the upper parking area to Lucifer falls was, but I'm guessing it was something like 3/4 mile. Not long after leaving the parking lot, we passed a sign that said 1/4 mile to the parking lot, so we were guessing the falls were in another 1/2 mile or so. We entered the gorge and started seeing waterfalls almost immediately. I couldn't remember how tall Lucifer Falls was supposed to be or what it looked like, just that it was big. After passing a few falls, we came across a relatively large waterfall. "Do you think this is it? Is this Lucifer Falls?", I asked my husband (as if he would know). It didn't feel like we'd walked 3/4 of a mile yet, so we decided to walk a little further, where we found a slightly larger waterfall. "Is THIS it?", we wondered again. As I was photographing a large waterfall that I felt pretty certain was Lucifer Falls, my husband got bored wandered off further down the trail, disappearing around a corner.
Just as I was finishing up, I saw him come back around the corner with this strange look on his face - half shock, half grin. "What?", I asked. "Um, I found Lucifer Falls and that's definitely NOT it," he said. So I grabbed my gear and followed him around the corner, where I found the end of the world.
OK not really, but that's what it looked like.
You round a corner on the trail, and the trail suddenly comes to an end and you're looking out over empty space to the far side of the canyon wall. Looking to our right, we could see the water rushing over the edge, where it just disappeared into nothing. The effect was breathtaking. It really felt like you were standing on the edge of the Earth. (See: first photo below)
Following the trail a bit further down, we could see why everything ended so abruptly - we were standing at the very top of Lucifer Falls, which plummets a full 115 feet to the bottom of the canyon. It was HUGE. The photo above shows only about the top 1/3 of the waterfall. The bit of color at the top is my husband. I made him stand in the photo for scale.
We saw a lot of waterfalls in Ithaca, some even taller than Lucifer Falls, but because of the view from the top and how close you can get to the falls, Lucifer Falls definitely left the biggest impression on us.
Fun Fact: I was surrounded by bees while taking this photo.
I wish I had more time to photograph Lucifer Falls and the surrounded canyon, but we had other plans for the evening that we didn't want to be late for. We turned around after seeing Lucifer falls and headed back to the parking lot, but it sounds like the park has a lot more to offer than what we saw. There's even an old mill located right next to the upper parking lot that I've read visitors can tour.
Lucifer Falls (Robert H. Treman State Park)
I had several waterfalls mapped out to visit during our stay in Ithaca, NY. I had read about Lucifer Falls, but I put it on the bottom of my list because, to be honest, the hike sounded brutal. Everything I read online said it was a steep, strenuous 5-mile loop. But once we got to Ithaca, we had locals tell us over and over again that we really should go see Lucifer Falls. I finally found a map of the park and realized we could get to the falls pretty easily without doing the whole 5-mile loop, so we headed out one afternoon to see what all the fuss was about.
I can't remember exactly how long the hike from the upper parking area to Lucifer falls was, but I'm guessing it was something like 3/4 mile. Not long after leaving the parking lot, we passed a sign that said 1/4 mile to the parking lot, so we were guessing the falls were in another 1/2 mile or so. We entered the gorge and started seeing waterfalls almost immediately. I couldn't remember how tall Lucifer Falls was supposed to be or what it looked like, just that it was big. After passing a few falls, we came across a relatively large waterfall. "Do you think this is it? Is this Lucifer Falls?", I asked my husband (as if he would know). It didn't feel like we'd walked 3/4 of a mile yet, so we decided to walk a little further, where we found a slightly larger waterfall. "Is THIS it?", we wondered again. As I was photographing a large waterfall that I felt pretty certain was Lucifer Falls, my husband got bored wandered off further down the trail, disappearing around a corner.
Just as I was finishing up, I saw him come back around the corner with this strange look on his face - half shock, half grin. "What?", I asked. "Um, I found Lucifer Falls and that's definitely NOT it," he said. So I grabbed my gear and followed him around the corner, where I found the end of the world.
OK not really, but that's what it looked like.
You round a corner on the trail, and the trail suddenly comes to an end and you're looking out over empty space to the far side of the canyon wall. Looking to our right, we could see the water rushing over the edge, where it just disappeared into nothing. The effect was breathtaking. It really felt like you were standing on the edge of the Earth. (See: first photo below)
Following the trail a bit further down, we could see why everything ended so abruptly - we were standing at the very top of Lucifer Falls, which plummets a full 115 feet to the bottom of the canyon. It was HUGE. The photo above shows only about the top 1/3 of the waterfall. The bit of color at the top is my husband. I made him stand in the photo for scale.
We saw a lot of waterfalls in Ithaca, some even taller than Lucifer Falls, but because of the view from the top and how close you can get to the falls, Lucifer Falls definitely left the biggest impression on us.
Fun Fact: I was surrounded by bees while taking this photo.
I wish I had more time to photograph Lucifer Falls and the surrounded canyon, but we had other plans for the evening that we didn't want to be late for. We turned around after seeing Lucifer falls and headed back to the parking lot, but it sounds like the park has a lot more to offer than what we saw. There's even an old mill located right next to the upper parking lot that I've read visitors can tour.