Day Hiking Trip to Buttermilk Falls State Park on August 5th, 2016

by admin

For the whole month at Ithaca, I have been looking for local attractions that’s worth a visit. Since Ithaca (and upper New York in general) is famous for its waterfalls, and Buttermilk Falls State Park was conveniently located just south of Ithaca town, with public transport access, I decided to give it a try.

Also, since we had an early session end on August 5th, so that’s the day.

The images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.

Empty Bus
The bus was empty when I boarded it, although it collected but a few people at downtown after heading to rural south-west Ithaca.

Having gotten off the bus outside Ithaca, I finished my lunch and packed a few burgers at a nearby McDonald’s, before heading to Buttermilk Falls State Park.

Pavements on Elmira Road
I was basically the only person walking down the road.

Old Railway Bridge outside Ithaca

Post at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Well, before the trip, I was aware of the drought spreading the whole upper New York State, and they said such drought was almost unprecedented in 50 years. So I knew the waters might not be as magnificent as the ones on the Internet, but the reality was, it was not a creek, a stream, not to mention a waterfall, but a water tap.

Buttermilk Falls
Given the state-wide drought, there’s barely any water.

If you like, you could swim at this pool below the Buttermilk Falls, as it’s equipped with changing rooms and showers and life guards. But given this state-wide drought, the water qualities at the pool didn’t seem quite good.

Entrance Door of Buttermilk Falls State Park
This door’s supposed to be closed at sunset. But it barely blocks people off with the huge space on its right.

I took the Gorge Trail uphill, and the Rim Trail back. It turned out that the Gorge Trail was the “standard trail” for Buttermilk Falls, while the viewless Rim Trail existed for people that don’t want to walk the same trial twice.

Buttermilk Falls Up Close

Trees along Gorge Trail

Gorge Trail

So I guess without the waterfalls, I could only appreciate the beautiful shadows and colorful pools of Buttermilk Falls underneath the sun.
Oh, the park authorities said with this unprecedented low water level, one could see the rock formations of the creeks that’s usually underwater.

Pools of Buttermilk Falls

Valleys of Buttermilk Falls

Pools of Buttermilk Falls

Rock Erosion at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Pools of Buttermilk Falls

Waterfalls at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Valleys of Buttermilk Falls

Waterfalls at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Valleys of Buttermilk Falls

Waterfalls at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Valleys of Buttermilk Falls

Waterfalls at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Pools of Buttermilk Falls

Dandelion Seed On the Rock of Buttermilk Falls State Park

Waterfalls at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Valleys of Buttermilk Falls

Rock Formation

Valleys of Buttermilk Falls

Waterfalls at Buttermilk Falls State Park

Valleys of Buttermilk Falls

That’s the end of Lower Buttermilk Falls, as I crossed West King Road into Bear Trail and Upper Buttermilk Falls.

By the way, there were a lot of families hiking the Gorge Trails, but beyond that, I hardly bumped into anyone at the Bear Trail or Lake Treman Trail.

West King Road

The Gorge Trail of Lower Buttermilk Falls was wide and neat. But since the Bear Trail that followed was not next to the Buttermilk Creek, and it lacked the waterfalls and rock formations of Gorge Trail, the Bear Trail just wasn’t so well kept. In some places there was barely a trail visible among the bushes. And unlike the Gorge Trail, the whole Bear Trail seemed to be swarmed with unknown insects flying around, hopefully not Zika-Carrying mosquitos. It’s the only portion of this trekking trip that I had to worry about mosquitos.

Forest by Buttermilk Creek

Sun Shining through Forest

Deserted Dam on Buttermilk Creek

Bear Trail

Sun on Leaves
I’m quite fond of this shot.

Dormer of Sky

Bear Trail Post

Meadow by Upper Buttermilk Falls

Trees and Picnic Table by Upper Buttermilk Falls

Water Fountain by Upper Buttermilk Falls
It’s very considerate of New York State Park Services to set up a water fountain and bathroom here, as this could be the only water fountain within a one-mile radius. The problem was that, for reasons I didn’t know, this water fountain seemed to be infested with bees, as I frightenedly tried to refill my bottles. It was after my tour of Treman Lake that I found out I could refill my bottles in the bathroom.

Trail to Lake Treman

Lake Treman

Metal Contamination from Old Dam on Lake Treman

Old Dam on Lake Treman

Lake Treman Trail

Lake Treman
Due to the state-wide drought, the lake had more reeds than water in it.

Lake Treman Trail
Apparently these concrete blocks didn’t make the trail very much accessible.

Lake Treman Trail

Lake Treman
Due to the state-wide drought, the lake had more reeds than water in it.

Lake Treman Trail

Squirrel on Tree

Lake Treman Trail

Trees into the Sky

Lake Treman Trail

Lake Treman Trail Sign

Lake Treman Dried Up
This used to be the stream that feeds into Lake Treman.

Lake Treman Dried Up

Flowers by Lake Treman

Lake Treman Trail

Overlooking Lake Treman

The whole trip had been nice and smooth, that is, until this moment when I spotted a snake crossing the Lake Treman Trail in front of me. Well, I worried about my well-being for like half a minute, and decided not to let a small snake took away all the fun of a Friday afternoon as I continued hiking back.

Lake Treman

Trees and Picnic Table by Upper Buttermilk Falls

John Deere Tractor Parked
Surprised to find that this John Deere wasn’t colored green.

Buttermilk Creek

Park Road by Buttermilk Creek

Dormer of Sky II

West King Road

On the return trip, I decided to take the Rim Trail, which is only for people that don’t want to walk the same trial again. The Rim Trail’s supposed to be some sort of overlook of the Buttermilk Falls, however, presumably due to health and safety reasons, the trail couldn’t be too close to the edge of the rocks, and thus the overlook was nothing but through densely populated trees.

Rim Trail

Rim Trail Overlooking Pools of Buttermilk Falls

Trees along Rim Trail

Rim Trail Overlooking Buttermilk Falls

Trees along Rim Trail

Rim Trail and Its Post

Buttermilk Falls against Sun

Then I checked the bus schedule. Since the next bus was more than an hour away, and it wasn’t very far (in my standard) to walk back downtown after an afternoon full of trekking, I decided to walk my way back.

And there were some picnic tables and great lawns at the entrance of Buttermilk Falls State Park, so it could be a great place for family outings without walking the trails.

Spencer Road

I picked the quieter following the bus route, and it turned out to be a much better choice than the neighboring New York State Routes with its shopping malls.