Back at the start of May, 2014, we took a three day trip down to the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. The highlight was a stay at Hope Lake Lodge near Cortland, New York but we did tour the region and visited some wineries, as well.
The tour wasn’t meant to feed my waterfalls fetish but I was determined to see at least some of the fine specimens the Finger Lakes Region has to offer. I went armed with directions to around a dozen waterfalls in the area. Watkins Glen and Taughannock Falls were two of the main ones we checked out.
Ithaca, New York is a hotbed of waterfalls. This is a bit of a hard city for a first timer to navigate as not a single road seems to go in a straight line and many are one-way. Funny thing is, we did find a waterfall in Ithaca but it was not one found in any of the waterfalling information I had with me.
Maybe because of the dam at its crest or its close connection to the abandoned Van Natta’s Dam Pumping Station, Well’s Falls (aka Businessman’s Lunch Falls) is shunned by waterfall enthusiasts and the tourism department of the City of Ithaca.
Located nearly directly beneath the Giles Street Bridge, Well’s Falls starts with Van Natta’s Dam, a 12 foot drop over a 142 foot wide wall. The waterfall then bends to the left as it falls in stages of 6 feet, 15 feet and 17 feet. The water source is Six Mile Creek, which also happens to be the source of Ithaca’s drinking water.
Well’s Falls
There are no fees to visit this site and there are no comfort facilities. Parking is available upstream at a parking lot on the opposite side of the Giles Street Bridge. This parking lot serves as the trailhead for the Six Mile Creek Gorge Trail and is part of the Mulholland Wildflower Preserve.
There are signs at the parking lot that warn of protecting your belongings and locking your car doors as break-ins are common. When we were there, there was more than one pile of broken auto glass, remnants of these break-ins that they warn about.
Van Natta’s Dam was first contructed at the crest in 1907. The rotting pumping station is an eye-sore or a historical wonder, depending on your point of view. For me, it’s a historical wonder as I simply love urban ruins.
Well’s Falls is also called Business Man’s Lunch Falls. Why? Pretty simple. The downtown core of Ithaca is just a short trip downstream and it apparently is a popular spot for workers to spend their lunch times during the summer months. The crest is accessed by a short unofficial trail off the end of the Giles Street Bridge. The base is accessed by a short spur of the Six Mile Creek Gorge Trail system.
The images directly above and below were taken from near the crest of the waterfall. It is quite easy to climb across the terraced rocks right to the edge of drop. Not so funny story – it was quite windy when we were there and for the long exposure water blur shots the camera was on a tripod. One gust nearly knocked over the tripod and a quick grab by me saved my camera from going over the falls.
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York is the county seat of Tompkins County. There are around 30,000 residents in the city proper and over 100,000 in the metro area. The population is ballooned by the 20,000 students that attend Cornell University (within walking distance from Well’s Falls) each year.
Ithaca is located at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. For fans of immature ‘fart and dick joke’ movies, like me, the 2000 movie ‘Road Trip’ was supposed to be based on students from Ithaca University which was a fictional institution based on Ithaca College and Cornell University. However, the filming of the movie was actually done in Georgia and the school shown in the flyover at the start of the movie is actually Harvard.
In springtime, the shear cliffs of the gorge below the waterfall are home to tall, thin veils of water but are typically just seasonal. I would really love to buy the house that can be seen directly beside the pumping station. My guess is that’s some pretty valuable real estate.
The video below was taken the same day as the images above. Check it out and, if you feel it worthy, we always appreciate a thumb’s up!
Video of Business Man’s Lunch Falls
If you’re looking for something a lot bigger in the way of waterfalls, you might want to go to the far western reaches of the Finger Lakes. Letchworth State Park is a short drive south of Rochester and not much more than an hour from Buffalo and the Canadian border. The state park features many waterfalls but the feature is three main cascades along the Genesee River.
