Thacher State Park

A place to discuss waterfalls. Including the parks that house them and the hikes to get to them.

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hoohaa
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Anyone know about the falls in this park? Photos etc.? I'm going up there in a couple of weekends and see there are some falls so I thought I'd do some research and see what I was looking at and if I have some time, I might try and get in there and do some images.
Last edited by Matt on Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: corrected park name
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Matt
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I don't know much about it, but I do know that Indian Ladder Falls is spectacular (when flowing) and that's on the Indian Ladder Trail. There is at least another falls along the way.
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hoohaa
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Have you seen images of them? Any idea where I can find them? If I put Indian Ladder Falls into Google, it comes up with some in Pennsylvania!
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I couldn't let this one go without a bunch of shots, and I only had time to get a few (lol-when you see how many) together for now, more later. Thacher Park has no less than about 20 waterfalls. Maybe I'll get a full count once I get done gathering all the shots I've taken over the years.

The problem with the falls in Thacher is that they tend to dry up in the summer. If they ran with good flow all year long, it would be a go-to place for waterfall fans all year. But, since most of the water runs underground as soon as it can (nearby Thompson's Lake has no above ground outlet) the falls usually are dry most of the summer. Unless you get there during the spring melt in April & May, or after a good hard rain, you'll see not much more than a trickle at the bigger falls, and the rest will be completely dry.

First, the web links:

John Boyd Thacher:
http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/128/details.aspx
http://www.nynjtc.org/park/john-boyd-thacher-state-park
Thompson's Lake:
http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/99/details.aspx

I need to get the NY-NJ Trail Conference a better picture for their site one of these days.

If you plan to visit the park, I would suggest stopping by the park office near the Indian Ladder lot or at the Nature Center off Ketcham Road and pick up a trail map created by yours truly and distributed by the NY-NJ Trail Conference. It's not the most well-printed map ever, but we wanted to get one out sooner rather than later. Plus, it has most of the waterfall locations marked on it as a "point of interest". It also marks all trails, roads, parking lots, view points, etc. Definitely worth the $1 they charge for it.

And now on to the pictures. I will create a google map once I figure out how to import my waypoints to google.

First up, the big one, Mine Lot Falls:

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Minelot Falls
Minelot Falls
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The next tall one is Outlet Falls:
Outlet Falls
Outlet Falls
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Now the smaller ones:

This one is along the trail just outside the Hop Field parking lot
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Just south of Hop Field
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These next three shots are the same small falls with various water levels. The ice storm last winter brought down many trees in the park and this area was hard hit, you can hardly see this fall anymore because so many trees have fallen to block the view.
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The next two are on the same stream that Mine Lot Falls is on, these are near the Paint Mine parking lot, along with the falls above, which is a feeder stream to this one
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Waterfall, Thacher Park
Waterfall, Thacher Park
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Unnamed falls on unnamed stream that is dry most of the time. It is south of the Hop Field parking lot and towards the escarpment
Waterfall, Thacher Park
Waterfall, Thacher Park
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The problem with taking pictures of the falls in Thacher is that all of them face towards the north, so you have to point your camera south towards the sun & the bright part of the sky. Even using HDR I have had little luck getting really good shots of most of them, where the water level, light & weather conditions are all good. More shots of the other 10 or so falls once I get them together, and some of the falls I have never seen water in yet, so there's always room for a few more.

ps - can we get the spelling corrected in the title of this post?
Last edited by L_G_D on Wed Jun 19, 2013 7:31 pm, edited 4 times in total.
LGD
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Matt
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Wow, that's quite an assortment. I may have to get out there next spring.
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hobkyl
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Wow! Thats a must visit!
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L_G_D
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Glad everyone likes the shots, some of them aren't quite as good as I'd like, but you take what you can get as far as light & water are concerned.

If anyone wants to visit, let me know, maybe we can work something out to meet up, I would be glad to be tour guide. Spring can be tricky, since the lower Indian Ladder trail isn't open until May 1st, and that's only when it's clear of ice, which sometimes it isn't. So it's best to call the park office first and find out especially if you're going to be traveling a distance. Usually the water is still flowing decent when the trail is first opened, but sometimes depending on the amount of snow melt, it can be quite reduced by the time the first of May rolls around. You can still see the falls from the top of the cliff at anytime of the year, but it's a nice experience to walk behind them.

I have time to get a couple shots up tonight, so here's one:

This is the same stream that feeds outlet falls, but farther upstream almost at the edge of the park
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Another on an unnamed stream, this one is just off the road near the Hop Field parking lot
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That's it for today, I'll see if I can get some more uploaded tomorrow.
LGD
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