Buttermilk Falls State Park - Photos, Maps, Information

Buttermilk Falls State Park

AKA - Buttermilk Glen
Location - Ithaca, Tompkins County
Maps - Google Map, Google Earth, Multi
GPS - Park: N 42.41501 W 76.51930 Falls: N 42.41501 W 76.51930
Directions - For lower parking area: Once in Ithaca, go Route 13 South for one and a half miles. Buttermilk Falls State Park will be on your left. Google Directions.
To reach the upper parking area, take NY 96B south of Ithaca, past Ithaca College, to King Road. Here, turn right, and follow the signs to the upper entrance, which is right before the bridge over Buttermilk Creek on your left. Google Directions.

Information
Number of falls: Ten. Buttermilk Falls, the main attraction, is directly accessible and visible from the parking lot in the lower area. Then 10 or so other waterfalls are accessible by hiking the gorge trail by crossing the bridge over the creek in the main parking area. Not all of the waterfalls are accessible to photography as the steepness and available angles in the gorge prevents it.
Size/Types: Varies – cascades, staircase, segmented and plunges. The main falls, or Buttermilk Falls, is 165' high, tumbling in a wide, frothy cascade. It is divided in two equally high segments ('first' and 'second' fall), that twists around the gorge in-between. There are numerous cascades and plunges along the rest of the trail, varying from 5-35' in height.
Best time to visit: Spring, early summer, fall. The park’s trails are closed after November, but Buttermilk Falls is still accessible from the lower parking lot area.
Flow: Variable, depending on rainfall. May be a trickle in mid-summer.
Waterway: Buttermilk Creek
Time: 10 minutes for Buttermilk Falls and the swimming area. 1 hour for the gorge trail, 2-3 hours for the gorge and rim trails.

Accessibility
Seasons/Hours: Park open all year. Camping season from mid-May to mid-October. All trails close November 10.
Parking: Multiple parking lots can handle up to 100 cars.
Admission: $7 parking fee.
Handicap accessibility: Yes (some trails may not be)
Pets: Allowed on leash with proof of inoculation.
Accommodations: Swimming, life guards, nature trails, picnic tables, grills, playing fields, pavilions, playground, restrooms, showers, camp sites, cabin rentals, fishing, hunting.
Tours: Gorge tours offered from July 4 through Labor day.

Description
Buttermilk Falls State Park takes its name from its centerpiece, the classical 165', foaming cascade that is enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year. Buttermilk Creek drops a total of over 650' feet through the valley toward Cayuga Lake, tumbling over ten distinct waterfalls along the way. The park could easily be divided into two sections, the upper and lower, each offering the visitor unique experiences.

The lower park offers superb waterfall viewing and even swimming opportunities. Visitors are welcome to dip in the deep, cool waters below Buttermilk Falls at this world-class swimming area, made from damming the flow downstream.

The lower glen is reminiscent of intimate and saturated environments, like Watkins Glen State Park. The waterfalls of Buttermilk Creek are typical of the area – loose shale and limestone that is easily eroded, leading to a wide spectrum of shapes and sizes. Not only are the waterfalls diverse, but so are the rock formations that surround them. Here you will see a pillars protruding from the glen, made of stone formed in the late Devonian age. Pulpit Rock overseas pulpit falls, while upstream, Pinnacle Rock hogs all the attention. This 42' high spire, created by erosion of a crack in the gorge wall, stands mysteriously alone in the creek bed. Potholes and small plunges are also common features in this section of the glen.

The upper park levels off as you reach Lake Treman and numerous meadows, which provide for excellent vistas and plenty of opportunities for viewing wildlife.

Trails - Map
Difficulty: Easy, moderate, or difficult.
Markings: Standard brown and yellow state park markings.
▪ The lower (and biggest) waterfall is located directly adjacent to the parking lot. It has paved trails and can be accessed by anyone.
▪ To access the Gorge Trail, enter the lower entrance to the park and cross the bridge to the steep gorge trail on the right-hand side of the waterfall. The gorge trail has numerous stairs and quickly rises in elevation from the parking area. It winds around the numerous waterfalls and passes the Pinnacle Rock, eventually reaching the upper park entrance ¾ of a mile down the trail.
▪ From there, the gorge trail either continues across the road to the Bear Trail, which follows Buttermilk Creek and eventually leads to Lake Treman (¾ mile from the junction with the road) or crosses the creek onto the Rim Trail which loops around the top of the gorge and leads back to the lower parking area.
▪ A Finger Lakes spur trail also ties into the upper reaches of the Lake Treman trail in the north of the park.

History
During the early 1700s, Tutelo and Saponi Indians lived in the village of Coreorgonel near Ithaca. They were remnants of a large nation in the Virginia/North Carolina region. Driven from their homeland by colonists, they settled with the Cayugas as part of the Iroquois Confederacy and establish a home near Buttermilk Falls. There were over twenty log cabins, with farm fields and orchards, which were abandoned and then burned to the ground by Continental soldiers during the revolutionary war. The remaining tribe members fled towards Canada and have since been scattered.

Numerous mills existed along the creek during the 1850's. A dam was built upriver of Buttermilk Falls that supplied water to the City of Ithaca until the early 1900’s. Like nearby Robert Treman State Park, the initial grant of land for the park came from Robert and Laura Treman. Since 1924, the original 154 acres have grown to the present size of 751 acres.

Do not miss...
Larch Meadows. This wetland is a great location for watching wildlife, birds in particular. It's hidden in the lower park, behind the ball fields. A nature trail will take you through it.

Potholes. These deep impressions in the creek bed indicate locations of past waterfalls. This is where plunge pools used to be. Water from past falls swirled rocks and sand in the creek bed and carved pits into the creek bed. Since then, the rock behind those falls eroded, pushing the falls further upstream. Currents continue to mix trapped sand and rocks to continually deepen and define these hole.

Owl Creek Gorge. Northeast of Buttermilk Creek, past the camping area is this second gorge. It drops nearly 500 feet in the less than a mile. The flow is highly variable and the opportunities for falls may be slim. It's unknown to us at this time the accessibility of this area of the park.

Photography Tips
▪ The largest and most accessible falls is often times very crowded during nice weather, making photographing the falls in their natural state rather difficult. Also, there are often swimming buoys at the bottom of the falls that will get in the way of photography. Often times, the water flow will be very low, and difficult to see. A better opportunity is to hike partially up the gorge trail, and take pictures of the second tier of the main waterfall (that is hidden from the view at the parking lot) which will allow you to (carefully) stand in the gorge and get pictures nearly directly within the falls.

▪ Further up the gorges are forested, shady and moist, making photographing the falls and plunge pools easier in the softer light. You'll find that less people adventure up to the higher reaches of the gorge trail, making photographing easier for you. Some waterfalls are so far down in the ravine that photography is not possible.
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▪ See the Articles section for more waterfall photography tips.