07-26-2019: Buttermilk Falls State Park

A series of technical difficulties have plagued me for the past four weeks. Lost memory cards and a broken computer have resulted in the loss of many of my pictures and prevented me from uploading many others. As a result, pictures from a number of walks and excursions taken during the month of July have been lost.

However, among the surviving pictures are those from a trip I took last week to Buttermilk Falls State Park, just south of Ithaca in south-central New York. I walked the half-mile Gorge Trail along the Buttermilk Creek, through a deep gorge and past a series of cascading waterfalls and rapids. This was my first major opportunity to make use of a new wide-angle lens. As a state park, this was more built-up than the wilderness trails I'm used to, with paved walkways and fencing and people everywhere, but it was still a worthwhile trip.

The stone trail followed the river close at the top of the ravine.

As the grade increased, the steady river soon developed a number of small falls.

This fall was partly hidden by the gorge's own geology.

The first major waterfall I encountered, deep in a hemlock grove along steep cliff walls.

A closer view of the above picture. Note the stairs at the upper right for scale.

The water at the base of each waterfall had a dark turquoise color to it.

This thin but tall fall was barely visible over the fence along the edge of the deep gorge. 

Although the waterfalls are the park's focus, the surrounding forests are quite pretty.

A view of the main Buttermilk Falls, near the bottom of the trail.

Closeup view of the rapid beneath the falls.

Close view of the bottom of the falls. A rainbow of colors was refracted in the water; its violet end can be seen here.

A somewhat smaller fall directly above the main one.

Along the top of the gorge were two hemlock trees which had grown into barbed wire, predating the establishment of the trail.

Peering down through the fifty-foot gorge to the outlet of a waterfall below.

Rapidly-flowing currents moved too quickly for a moderate exposure to capture well.

A series of falls in the deeper hemlock forest ran through layered, moss-covered rock.

Looking straight down the trail, built along the side of a rock face.

A bridge stretched across the creek, linking the Gorge Trail with the Rim Trail on its north side.

Another shot of the waterfall from earlier, which I found the most beautiful of all of them.

Mineral-rich water lit by sunbeams below yet another waterfall.

The rock along many of the falls had such perfect curvature that it seemed almost unnatural.

...although this hole in the creekbed probably is unnatural.

The gorge's depth decreased dramatically as I returned towards the trailhead. Note again the stairs in the upper right for scale.

Despite the constant violence of the massive waterfalls, the pools beneath them were teeming with fish.

Mossy rock overhangs characterized the river as the trail departed from its banks.