-#1 106 E Buttermilk Falls Road, Ithaca, New York (bottom)
-#2 Buttermilk Falls State Park Road, Ithaca, New York (top) [near W King Street, Google maps has this location listed as 112 Buttermilk Falls Road W, Ithaca, New York - this address doesn't always place where its supposed to]
-visited August 2017
-1 1/2 to 2 miles each way
-moderate
-real bathrooms at all three parking locations
-nearby: Watkins Glen State Park, Havana Glen, Deckertown Falls, She-qua-ga Falls, Aunt Sarah's Falls (Montour Falls), Hector Falls, Taughannock State Park, Robert Truman State Park
-notes:
-3 parking lots: #1 is a big paved lot, pay to park, starts at the bottom of the gorge, has a roadside sign; #2 is a medium paved lot, pay to park on weekends/holidays, has a big recessed sign on one side of the road that is only visible from one direction, and starts you at the top of the gorge (have to walk back to the main road and cross the bridge to find trailhead marked by sign); #3 is at the other end of the road that #2 is on, is a medium paved lot, and requires you to drive through the river to get to it (only during low water), and places you at the top of the state park, but farthest away from the gorge
-Gorge Trail:
-carved stone walkway that is always wet and slick due to run off from the tall rock sides
-2 bridges built into this trail (don't really offer much besides a crossing point and access to other trails)
-consists of many waterfalls of vary sizes - low water is great for slow shutter shots for the upper falls, but the lower falls disappear with low water as well as portions of the upper falls - would be more impressive with more water (spring)
-Main "gorge fall" isn't visible due to fencing / limited access as well as the gorge walls, no overlooks were built to allow access, miss a big portion of the falls - lower falls has limited visibility whereas upper falls have full visibility
-has some debris accumulating but minor at this point
-lowest falls is a rock slide - need water - unimpressive / non-existent in low water
-trail has a lot of stairs built into it, more closer to the bottom of the gorge, stairs have a lot of incline whereas the rest of the trail has slight to no incline and minimal stepping
-mainly shaded trail but all the falls are in the sun - go on a cloudy day if possible to minimize glare
-Rim Trail:
-half paved (badly) and half dirt and roots
-minimal stepping but has a constant incline that has a good amount of grade
-well shaded by trees
-no views of the gorge / falls
-beginning of trails are marked by a post and sign, but otherwise are unmarked but easy to follow
-no bugs
-very popular so visit early in the day, people block a lot of photo access, more people on gorge trail and less on rim trail
-no swimming in falls allowed, supposedly patrolled - although not when we went - people were in the river. Has a swimming area at the base of the falls
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