Day 3: SHORT WATERFALLING DAY

There wasn’t a whole lot planned for today, so we got a late start and we did a little bit of some more sightseeing for waterfalls near the Ithaca area. First off, we checked out Robert H. Treman State Park, which was near the south end of Ithaca just beyond Buttermilk Falls. The first falls we saw was unimaginatively called Lower Falls. This convex-shaped falls was quite fascinating though the open amphitheater and the hot sun really heated things up in this completely sun-exposed area.

Next, we returned to the car and we continued deeper into the park where we saw a second car park. There were lots of cars here and it turned out that most of them belonged to a wedding, which was taking place not far from the trail to Lucifer Falls.

The walk was developed and flat complete with stairs and shale railings. The gorge itself was impressively narrow and tall. It was the kind of scenery that reminded me of the slot canyon-type gorges in the American Southwest Deserts. Except in this case, you didn’t need canyoneering gear. The only difference was the desert heat, the amount of development, and the color of the rocks.

After a few minutes of walking by a few small cascades, we finally saw the impressive Lucifer Falls. I was a bit bewildered by what the football-like formations were on the other side of the falls. It wasn’t but a few minutes later when people from the wedding party made their way to Lucifer Falls. I was amused when I noticed how we were in hiking attire while most of the people were well-dressed. Some of the women were in heels.

It was about noon when we returned to the car. Next, we drove to the village of Montour Falls. Inside the town, we stopped before She-Qua-Ga Falls, which was a nice waterfall set right in between two old-style homes in a quiet setting. There was a bridge above the top of the falls to give it a little more of a classic look to it. The Louis XVIII sign by the falls was quite interesting in that it was sketched by the monarch himself while in exhile prior to ascending to the throne. The sign said the sketch is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Kinda cool that a waterfall as unknown as this (at least to us) is actually seen by millions of people in one of the most famous art galleries in the world!

Next, we briefly drove outside the small town and saw Aunt Sarah’s Falls, which was struggling to flow. But it was at least flowing and photographable. An elderly man who pulled over by the falls honked and beckoned at me.

We chatted and he told me that I should’ve been here a couple of months ago when the falls would actually spray the highway. Anyways, we got back in the car by 1:30pm and returned to Ithaca at 2pm. We decided to call it day upon our arrival. The 91 degrees Fahrenheit heat along with the humidity and threatening thunderstorms were enough for us.

We knew this was our last evening in Ithaca so we had time to reflect on our Finger Lakes experience. The nice and quiet of the area contrasted our Niagara Falls experience, but both of us couldn’t wait for an even greater change of scenery and cultures in Iceland…

Before the day finally ended, we had dinner at Moosewoods Restaurant, which was a vegetarian restaurant. We figured after all the crap we’ve eaten on this trip up to this point, we mind as well have a relatively guilt-free meal tonight. Except for a live bug in our salad, the food was pretty good and the dessert of brownie with Dennis’ vanilla ice cream (as opposed to the ubiquitous Purity Ice Cream, which we had yesterday) was a pleasant surprise.