Allan H. Treman State Marine Park
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” —Frank Lloyd Wright
We made it to Buttermilk Falls today. The state park is literally in Ithaca. The original 164 acres of the park were presented as a gift to New York State by Robert and Laura Treman in 1924. It grew to its current 811-acre through various state acquisitions in the years that followed. We hiked the gorge trail which follows Buttermilk Creek as it cascades down through the gorge about 600 feet, passing deep pools, sculpted rocks and countless waterfalls. First we hiked up...then we hiked back down the same trail.
I lost count of how many waterfalls we passed as we hiked up the gorge 3/4 of a mile from the bottom of Buttermilk Falls. We read there were 10 waterfalls in all, but I'm sure they were only counting the larger ones...believe me there were more. Of course the main attraction is Buttermilk Falls, which was named for the frothy appearance of its churning waters. As we climbed past the main falls we passed many smaller, but spectacular falls and amazing deep pools that would have been wonderful places to spend the day. It was all I could do to keep myself out of some of them.
Buttermilk Falls and the swimming area at the bottom
The beginning of the gorge trail
Looking down the first section of Buttermilk Falls to the swimming hole. Buttermilk Falls is made up of two cascades both 35' tall.
The second part of Buttermilk Falls
Some of the waterfalls along the path
Stan's favorite swimming hole...can you see the heart shape pool?
A few more of the waterfalls we saw today
Stan at Pinnacle Rock
42' Pinnacle Rock
Looking down past Pinnacle Rock
A great place to have gone swimming under Pinnacle Rock
A few of the places I would have loved to gone swimming in
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