Two weeks in the Finger Lakes region of New York gave us the opportunity to check out a bunch of wineries and eat a lot of ice cream. Our other focus while staying in that area was exploring its natural beauty and there was no better way to do that than to check out waterfalls in the area.
We ended up visiting eight beautiful waterfalls in the Finger Lakes, but in reality it was even more than that as quite a few of those places had more than one set of waterfalls.
Here are all the waterfalls we saw; below there’s a map displaying where they’re all located. If you have pups traveling with you like we did, you’ll be pleased to know that all of these waterfalls – with the exception of those at Watkins Glen State Park – are dog-friendly.
1) Watkins Glen State Park
Watkins Glen State Park was so stunning that it deserved its own post which you can find here. It primarily consists of the 1.5 mile long Gorge Trail and along that trail you’ll find 19 different sets of waterfalls.
Some of those waterfalls are more spectacular than others – here are some of the highlights:
2) Taughannock Falls State Park
At one of the wineries we visited, we mentioned that we’d gone to Watkins Glen State Park and they asked if we’d had a chance to check out Taughannock Falls. We’d had it down as a potential place to visit and the people we chatted to convinced us to go there one day and we could immediately see why.
Taughannock Falls State Park is a small but perfectly formed state park on Cayuga Lake. To get to the waterfalls the park is named after, you walk along the 0.75 mile Gorge Trail. It’s a super-easy trail with minimal elevation change and so we were able to walk it comfortably in flip-flops.
Early on the trail you’ll see some pretty waterfalls along Taughannock Creek, but that’s nothing compared to what’s to come.
When we visited in August, the creek was fairly shallow and so you could literally walk up much of the creek if you wanted. Shae did that for some of our way back, but it was such a hot day that Truffles and I stayed in the shade of the trail where possible.
After just over half a mile you’ll round a corner and get your first glimpse of Taughannock Falls thundering down in the distance.
The trail continues towards the falls on the right hand side of the creek, ending at a viewing platform where you can view the 215 foot high Taughannock Falls up close.
Truffles enjoyed being out and about that day…
…although she did try to find shade when she could.
3) Eagle Cliff Falls In Havana Glen Park
About half a mile southeast of the village of Montour Falls is Havana Glen Park. It’s a tiny park, but it’s a hidden gem that’s home to Eagle Cliff Falls. There’s a small $2 fee parking fee for Havana Glen Park, so it’s worth having a couple of small bills on you when visiting.
There’s a very short trail on the way up to Eagle Cliff Falls and you’ll see several smaller sets of waterfalls along the way. Depending on the weather, it can be worth having footwear on that has good grip because if it’s been raining the trail can be a bit muddy and slippery. There are hand rails along the way to help with that.
It only took a couple of minutes to reach Eagle Cliff Falls.
When we first arrived, there was a lady there who said she’d never seen the falls having such a large cascade of water. It therefore seems we got lucky with our timing as it had been raining for the previous day or two.
4) Shequaga Falls
The reason Eagle Cliff Falls gets somewhat overlooked is probably because the waterfall in the center of the nearby village of Montour Falls gets all the attention. Our friends visited here a few years ago and I couldn’t believe the photo they took of a mansion-looking house with this giant waterfall cascading down behind it. It’s such an unbelievably eye-catching thing to see as you drive down Main St.
As you might expect, that house is private property, but to the left of it is Shequaga Falls Park where you can get an unobstructed view of the falls.
Shequaga Falls means “tumbling waters”. Before becoming king of France, Louis Philippe sketched the waterfalls circa 1820 and that drawing is now hanging in the Louvre.
5) Aunt Sarah’s Falls
Just a short distance up the road from Shequaga Falls are Aunt Sarah’s Falls. They’re nowhere near as spectacular as those in the center of Montour Falls, but it’s never a bad thing when you can pull over on the side of the road to see some random falls!
We parked on the opposite side of the road as there’s a pull-off there, then crossed the road to get a closer view of them. Again, we visited in August, so I imagine that the water flow is much stronger in the spring after the snow starts melting.
6) Templar Falls
We saw Eagle Cliff Falls, Shequaga Falls and Aunt Sarah’s Falls all on the same day while on our way to check out a couple of wineries on the western side of Seneca Lake. I took a look on Google Maps to see if there were any additional waterfalls nearby and sure enough there were!
Our next stop was therefore Templar Falls which is a 10 minute drive west of Aunt Sarah’s Falls. There was a pull-off to the side of the road near the falls, with a short trail leading down to a view of them from above.
Looking off to the right, it seemed like there was an unofficial trail that might take us down to the creek in order to get closer to the falls.
There ended up being a couple of different routes down. Quick tip – wear good footwear to do this! I had flip-flops on which wasn’t my best decision (I hadn’t expected to do a little bit of clambering), plus it was a little muddy and so was slippery. I still managed to make it down in one piece, but hiking boots or at least tennis shoes with a little grip would’ve been a wiser decision if you do want to get down to the base of Templar Falls. Thankfully Shae found a less steep way down after me, so getting back up was much easier than I thought it might be!
7) Glenora Falls
One of the wineries we were visiting that afternoon was Glenora Wine Cellars. A mile south of their vineyard is Glenora Falls. Unfortunately we couldn’t work out how to get very close to it; from what we could tell, private homes surround the waterfall and so we just had to admire it from the lane while driving by.
8) Letchworth State Park
On our drive down from Rochester, NY to the Finger Lakes region (we stayed in Lodi), we stopped at Letchworth State Park along the way. Although Rochester isn’t part of the Finger Lakes, Letchworth State Park is about an hour south of there and is on the western side of the region near Conesus Lake.
We didn’t get to spend too much time there as it was a moving day, but we did walk down a trail for a while and were treated to wonderful views of the Upper Falls framed by the gorge’s cliff walls on both sides and the Genesee Arch Bridge above.
Final Thoughts
It’s probably not hard to see why we became so enamored with the Finger Lakes region of New York. There’s just so much natural beauty in the area with a ton of waterfalls. It feels like we only scratched the surface of all the waterfalls to be seen there, so hopefully we’ll return in the future to explore even more.
[…] – Some of the many waterfalls we visited in the Finger Lakes […]