Finger Lakes - Enfield Glen

Enfield Glen was the last of the four gorges we visited during our Finger Lakes trip. The other three gorges are Watkins Glen, Buttermilk Falls, Taughnnock Falls. A travel blogger called the hiking at these 4 gorges Finger Lakes Gorge Grand Slam Hike.

Enfield Glen has wide and flat bottom relative to Buttermilk Falls and Watkins Glen. We started downstream from the Glen at Finger Lakes Trail head at high way 13, right by the Enfield Creek. Walking through a camping ground at Treman State Park and entered the Enfield Glen.

Enfield Glen

Enfield Creek

The trail is pretty high above the creek at the Glen. We could not even see the creek for initial quarter mile. So we walked off the trail and got to the creek bed. 

The tallest and most beautiful water falls in the Enfield Glen is Lucifer Falls. Upstream to the Lucifer Falls is a smaller falls and cradled into eroded rocks. We  took a naughty photo of me standing from rock to sky with the water falls under my crotch. 

On the returning hike, we stayed on the gorge trail, and we saw people on the top of the cliff opposite to the Lucifer Falls on rim trail, and then people at the plunge pool of the Lucifer Falls. We decided to cross the creek to the rim trail, and arrived at the plunge pool of Lucifer Falls. We "climbed" the low rock cliff to get to the plunge pool, and Lily got to the bottom of the Falls. This exploration made the hike exciting! 

The round trip was more than 10km, and the longest hike we had during the Finger Lakes Trip - a great closure of our Finger Lakes trip.

wider section of the creek

Cut deep at Creek bed

Reflection of a cliff at a pool of the creek

The hangover cliff

Lucifer Falls from side

Lucifer Falls viewed from the plunge pool-Lily at the plunge pool

Superman! from optical illusion

Finger Lakes - Watkins Glen at Seneca Lake

Watkins Glen is the stunningly beautiful gorge among the 4 gorges we visited during our trip to Finger lakes, most likely the best in the finger lakes region. It is near the southern tip of Seneca Lake.

The gorge is narrow, the rock formations are impressive with vegetations and small tress on them, the water currents are strong, and water falls are thunderous. 

our trail at Watkins Glen

We started at south entrance to Watkins Glen, which is above the main entrance. To cover the full gorge, we started downhill first to the pool at the lower falls, and then turned back to go uphill, We essentially hiked the gorge twice, downhill once, uphill once, total of 8 km. It is a different sensory feel when looking at the gorge in downhill direction and uphill direction.

The elevation change during our hiking at Watkins Glen

layers of rocks like tree rings, tell the natural history

There are numerous water falls at Watkins Glen, and many stone pedestrian bridges. The cavern cascade falls, is a large water falls, where one can walk under it! and listen to the sound of water flow, feel the mist the current generated. 

Another water falls one can walk under is the rainbow falls, which is smaller in flow volume, and it is formed from flows from the cliff of the gorge, not from the creek. This is the most photographed vista. We did not see the rainbow. The rainbow can only be seen at certain time of a day at certain season, when Sun can shine on the water falls, and behind hikers on the trail.

A more obvious geological feature of the gorge, and other gorges in the area, is that many cliffs are overhang cliffs, i.e. top of the cliff hang over the lower portion of the cliff, such as the frowning cliff in a following photo.

After our hike at Watkins Glen, we felt the urge to see Seneca Lake close up, we went to Clute Park at the narrow southern shore of Seneca, sitting by the water, in the breeze, looking north horizon of the lake.

Cavern Cascade

Stone bridge over the gorge

Rainbow Falls on the side, central cascade in the middle

Another view of Rainbow fall

frowning cliff

Seneca Lake - view from southern shore

Finger Lakes - Taughannock Falls at Cayuga Lake

Taughannock Falls is a 215 feet tall falls, the highest single drop water falls east of rocky mountains. It is located on the west shore of  Cayuga Lake.

Taughannock Falls

Terrain Map

Looking around, I could see layers of rocks. According a sign at the Taughannock Falls, the falls started to form about 10,000 years ago: much of the gorge walls are shale, with stronger layers of stone on top. As the shale erodes under the stronger limestone, eventually the stronger blocks break off and fall, advancing the waterfall slowly upstream. Since the end of the last Ice Age, this slow process has moved the waterfall from the lakeshore to its current location, about 1.2km. Every bit of rock that used to fill the massive gorge is now part of Taughannock Point or in Cayuga Lake.

We visited Taughannock Falls in the afternoon after our hike at Buttermilk Falls in the morning. We only hiked on the gorge trail, walking to the foot to the big falls. On return, we crossed high way to the shore side of the park, without knowing that it was Taughnnock Point, formed by the rocks from the formation of the gorge! 

Looking back we saw a large flock of gulls on a large lawn with the white building of the Inn at Taughnnock Falls. Looking to the east, the misty Cayuga lake.

This is good place to enjoy nature, appreciate the evolution of the earth. 

mouth of the Taughannock Creek at Taughannock Point

Inn at Taughannock Falls

Cayuga Lake under cloudy sky

Finger Lakes - Buttermilk Falls near Cayuga Lake

This time we only visited the two largest finger lakes - Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake. The main attractions at the finger lakes are not lakes themselves, but the gorges and water falls around them. 

Our first stop is Buttermilk Falls State Park, which is located at the south side of Cayuga Lake.  The Buttermilk creek, which produces the water falls in the gorge, flows into Cayuga lake via Cayuga inlet from the lake's south end.

The rocks there are soft, finely stratified sedimentary rock formed from consolidated mud or clay, i.e. they are shales. The shales are easily split environmental force and eroded by running water. The rock formation at the gorge is the outcome of interactions of water and shale, as well as anisotropic and variable shale strength, and variable flow rate over time. The gorges have formed in short time geologically speaking, since last ice age, about twenty to thirty thousands of years ago.

According to the park website, the falls takes its name from the foaming cascade formed by Buttermilk Creek as it flows down the steep valley side toward Cayuga Lake. Many waterfalls have this feature. So the reason is not convincing. To me, the water in the pools or potholes are whitish green, due to reflection of tree leaves and minerals in the water, could be a better reason it was called buttermilk creek. 

There are two main trails at Buttermilk Falls - gorge trail and rim trail.

We parked our car at Upper Buttermilk Falls State Park parking lot (tip: few cars park there), crossed the Buttermilk creek via a foot bridge, and through a connecting trail to get to the gorge trail.

Buttermilk Creek near the parkin lot at upper buttermilk falls state park

The gorge is not deep, 10 -  15feet, and the gorge trail is at the Buttermilk creek level, best for viewing rock formations, running water, and water falls. Due to lack of rain, the creek ran low, the flow at the falls were more trickles than torrents. On the other hand more detailed rock formation features were exposed than higher water time, which was fascinating. As we approached lower falls, the gorge become wider, and water flow in the creek became a sheet of water.

whitish green water in the pool

We turned around at the pool of the buttermilk falls, and went back to upper Buttermilk Falls via rim trail. The rim trail is in the woods, and quite a distance from the Buttermilk creek and the gorge, not much to see. So we returned to gorge trail via a footbridge, and hiked uphill along the gorge trail. 

The loop of gorge trail, rim trail, is only about 2 miles long, and we completed it in less than 90 minutes despite frequent stops to take pictures, to enjoy the scenery. So we continued on bear trail and hiked to Lake Treman, which is rather ordinary compared to Buttermilk falls area. A half day at the falls is more than enough to fully enjoy this park. Early morning was the best time to visit there: few tourists, unobstructed views, we pretty much had the gorge and creek to ourselves until later in the morning.

4 mile loop of hiking

Trip to Finger Lakes - Itinerary

Finger lakes are a group of 11 long, narrow lakes which run south - north direction in northwestern New York state of US. These lakes were formed about two million years ago from glaciers. Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake are two of the largest finger lakes. Both are about 38 miles long (South-North), and Cayuga lake's largest width is 3.5 miles, while Seneca lake's max width is 3 miles. Both are among deepest lakes in US as well. Canadice Lake is the smallest finger lake, the 3rd from west in the following map.

The area has many gorges, water falls. Of course it is a good place for water activities, sailing, kayaking, canoeing, fishing. 

Finger Lake Region

I heard about finger lakes before, and intrigued by the name, and finally made the trip to Finger Lakes the week of August 28, 2022.

For travel, the nearby major city is Syracuse, NY, and a small city Ithaca, NY, where Cornell University is located, which is at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. We visited Finger Lakes from Pittsburg, PA, which is ~ 300 miles from Ithaca. The following is our trip itinerary.

Day 0 Flight to Pittsburg

Panther Hollow lake at Schenley Park. A small pond nested by tall trees, with good hiking trails around.

Panther Hollow, Schenley Park

Day 1 Moraine State Park

This park is 40 miles north to Pittsburg, on Lake Arthur. A good place for kayaking, hiking and picnic.

Lake Arthur

Picnic lunch at Waterfowl observation deck @ Lake Arthur,  Dinner at Hunan Cuisine in Pittsburg

Day 2 Travel to Finger lake:  layover at Cherry Spring State Park

As always, for long road trip, we always split it with stop overs along the way:

Day - Kinzua Sky Bridge, Kinzua Creek Trail, Picnic

Night - Cherry Spring State Park for star gazing 

Sunflower Field at Kane, PA on the way to Kinzua bridge

Stayed at Penn Wells Hotel at Wellsboro, PA

Day 3 Buttermilk Falls and Taughannock Falls @ Cayuga Lake

Morning - Buttermilk Falls State Park - beautiful gorges and water falls

Afternoon - Taughannock Falls State Park - small park with tallest single drop water fall in eastern US (east of Rocky mountains)

Picnic for lunch,  dinner at Old Mexico

Stayed at Quality Inn Ithaca

Day 4 Watkins Glen @ Seneca lake

Morning - Watkins Glen State Park - Stunning Gorges, beautiful water falls. 

Afternoon - Cornell University Campus - a beautiful park in itself

Side trip to Hector Falls and Clute Park, both are on the shore of Seneca Lake

Lunch at Curly's Family Restaurant, Dinner at friends' house

second night at Quality Inn

Day 5 Enfield Glen @ Treman State Park

Hiking into Enfield Glen from lower fall side - the views become increasingly beautiful, especially Lucifer Falls

Lunch at Nickel's Pit @ Corning, Dinner at Chili @ Butler

Drive back to Pittsburg, stop at Town of Corning and stayed Butler Holiday Inn

Day 6 Butler - Pittsburg

Shopping at Outlets, picnic at North Shore of Lake Arthur

Stayed at Hyatt at Airport, returning home on a 6am flight next day 

Picnic by the Lake