Lucifer Falls (Robert H. Treman State Park, New York, USA)

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Lucifer Falls

Lucifer Falls is perhaps the feature attraction of Robert H. Treman State Park. And while the 115ft high cascade made for a worthwhile sight, I thought the Enfield Glen (the gorge we walked through to get to the falls) was just as impressive. It almost felt as if we were hiking through scenery that canyoneers earn when they descend into the slot canyons in the deserts of the American Southwest except we were in New York on an easy walk! As a matter of fact, we happened to be here when people from a well-dressed wedding party also managed to reach the falls (just to give you an idea of how easy the walk was).

Even though there was a longer 3-hour (5.3-mile) loop hike along both the Gorge and Rim Trails that would've also included the pretty Lower Falls (or Enfield Falls), we opted instead to do the easier and shorter walk from a car park at the head of the gorge down to Lucifer Falls itself. I didn't keep track, but I'm pretty certain the walk we did was about a mile or less round trip.

Enfield Glen The walk started from the upper parking area near an Old Mill, which was a very popular car park, it seemed. The walk from here immediately goes through the scenic narrow gorge and past some picturesque smaller cascades on the way to Lucifer Falls. We also noticed interesting football-looking pods by the falls. It was almost as if someone with tremendous accuracy managed to chuck footballs on the other side of the falls. I'm still not sure what exactly those things were.

Directions: From Ithaca, we headed south on Hwy 13 for a few miles and then turned right onto the Hwy 327 turnoff. We then followed Hwy 327 for a little over 2.5 miles (it becomes Enfield Falls Rd) where we turned left onto a park road that dead-ends near an Old Mill (and also near some buildings where a wedding was held when we were there).

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