The last post about Buttermilk Falls State Park was a little less than a year ago, so I’m going to explain a little bit again about what’s going on here.

Buttermilk Falls State Park is right outside of Ithaca. In the time that I lived there, I didn’t realize how close it was. I though it was further out. There are two different entrances. The main one leads to an easy descent but a difficult ascent, though all with stairs. We did the descent first. As I’ve said before, it’s really just one big waterfall that has numerous drops of very significant size. It would probably help if there were separate names for each of the drops. Upper Buttermilk Falls is what I refer to as the drop just above the main waterfall. I tend to believe that the main falls and some of the smaller falls upstream are more interesting.

Directions:

1. There are multiple ways to access this entrance to the park. I think the easiest is to get onto NY-96B (aka Danby Rd.) heading south from Ithaca.
2. Heading south, you will come to W. King Road. Turn right onto W. King Road.
3. Head to the sign for the entrance to Buttermilk Falls State Park. Turn into the entrance.
4. From here, you can park right there, and cross W. King Road. The entrance to the gorge should be rather obvious.
5. The Gorge Trail is the best choice to view the falls, though it is only open during certain times of the year.

Accessibility: Ascent (4/10 moderate/difficult), Descent (9/10 easy)
Height: 80′
Length of Hike: 0.4 miles round-trip (to see falls from lower entrance), 1.2 miles round-trip to see many of the falls

Upper Buttermilk Falls in May 2009

Where in the World is Upper Buttermilk Falls?