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