Like the fingers of a giant leaving their mark on a thick forest, the Finger Lakes in upstate New York are etched in my memory as one of the most beautiful places in the United States.
The wonder you see around the Finger Lakes started its formation approximately 380 million years ago when all this was under water, as silently told by the marine fossils you’ll see here and there on the rocks.
Rocks (and sand and silt) that piled up layer after layer like a lasagna as the surrounding mountains crumbled over time.
About two million years ago glaciers moved across the state. During the last movement, 21,000 years ago, the thick ice carved deep gorges as it advanced through river streams.
10,000 years later the glaciers retrieved and water filled the troughs creating the 11 lakes known as the Finger Lakes. This is an outdoor paradise: waterfalls, hiking trails, gorges, lakes, and gardens. And with that comes a lot of fun.
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Here’s a list of the best things to do in the Finger Lakes, New York.
Table of Contents
Visit the Cornell Botanic Gardens and Arboretum in Ithaca
Roam around the 25 acres of gardens on the Ithaca campus of Cornell University, walking beside colourful flower beds and mature trees that mirror their foliage in a beautiful lake.
Beebe Lake
After delighting in the flower gardens near the welcome centre we did the one-mile loop around Beebe Lake.
And because you’re in Ithaca, you can’t leave out gorges, waterfalls, and historic bridges, like the Sackett Foot Bridge.
Enjoy the views from the Fall Creek Overlook where the creek rushes through the rough rocky walls of Hemlock gorge on its way to feed the lake.
On the west, you can catch a glimpse of Triphammer Falls and the Beebe Lake Dam.
You can also find a beach and picnic area.
The F.R. Newman Arboretum
For an additional 100 acres of greenery with hiking trails go to the F.R. Newman Arboretum next door to walk next to perennial gardens and nine collections of trees including oaks, maple, dogwood, crabapples, and other urban trees.
The Arboretum is also great for birdwatching and seeing the frogs, turtles, and insects hanging around the ponds.
The Sculpture Garden
Awesome sculptures, good job! must have said Walter Gropius -the celebrated modernist architect founder of the Bauhaus- when he praised the sculptures created by the students of the architecture school in 1961.
They had a difficult assignment: to be successful at building monumental concrete sculptures out of 10 tons of concrete poured on site. At that time they never imagined their creations (which remind me of mini brutalist buildings) would be preserved as a sculpture garden and that the space would become an arboretum.
The Cornell Botanic Gardens
124 Comstock Knoll Drive, Ithaca NY; Open Mon.-Sun.: sunrise to sunset; Free admission (donations welcomed). Metered parking.
See the Tallest Waterfall in the Northeast United States in the Taughannock Falls State Park
The Cayuga indigenous people saw this wonder and named it Taughannock, meaning “great falls in the woods”.
I would’ve probably done the same. Taughannock Falls is the tallest single-drop waterfall on this side of the Rocky Mountains with a height of 215 feet (65.5 metres).
After the spectacular drop, the water flows through a gorgeous deep gorge that looks like a layered cake made of sandstone, shale, and limestone, before pouring into Cayuga Lake.
You can explore the park through four different trails.
Two hiking trails and a multiuse trail (where you can do cross-country skiing during winter) let you explore the upper rim forest. Peek through the evergreens and eastern hemlock trees on the South Rim Trail to see the oaks and maples on the north wall face.
The GorgeTrail (a 3/4 -mile-length accessible path) takes you beside Taughannock Creek and ends at the bottom of the fall for an epic view.
The park has a swim beach, picnic, and camping areas.
Taughannock Falls State Park
1740 Taughannock Blvd. Trumansburg, NY; Parking fee: $9 (transferable to all state parks)
Follow the Gorge Swirls at Watkins Glen State Park
If I would have time to do only one thing in the Finger Lakes, I would visit Watkins Glen.
This place is all about movement.
It’s not only the trees moving with the wind, or Glen Creek constantly flowing, cascading, falling, or flowing lazily on the many pools, but also the kinetic energy of the gorge, always swirling, bending, contracting, and expanding, reflecting the movement of the -back then- hundreds feet-high creek that created it.
By “back then” scientists mean 275 million years ago. The land masses we know today as North America and Africa collided and, aided by a big methane release, fractured the layered sediment creating nearly 90 degrees joints. The water channels found an easy way through these cracks, forming the gorge.
To this day, although not that deep, the creek keeps shaping the gorge at Watkins Glen.
In some sections, even the trail floor is covered with ripples that go back to the time when it was the ocean floor.
This is one of the most impressive sites in the United States: 19 waterfalls fill a nearly two-mile gorge sculpted by layers of dark rocks and crossed by stone bridges, before releasing their vital liquid into Seneca Lake.
Three main trails run parallel to the gorge.
The most impressive is the GorgeTrail: a 1.5 miles -one way- path with stairs near the bottom of the 200-foot tall cliffs that take you through several landmarks.
If you access the park via the main entrance you’ll first encounter the heart-shaped pool at the bottom of Minnehaha Falls before walking behind a waterfall in the Cavern Cascade.
The magnificence of the gorge will leave you speechless at Glen Cathedral. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife (we spotted a beaver hiding in the rocks).
Next, you’ll see the tallest fall in Watkins Glen, the 60-foot Central Cascade. Enjoy the top view from the bridge right above.
If you visit in the afternoon you may see the rainbow at Rainbow Falls followed by the Spiral gorge, a series of cascades with narrow and wide passages. Follow the path to reach Frowning Cliff and the Mile Point Bridge (because it’s one mile from the main entrance of the park).
From here you can keep going towards the upper entrance where you’ll find an Olympic pool, a picnic area, a snack bar, and a shuttle to bring you back to the main entrance.
Or you can take either the North Rim Trail (1.1 miles one way) or the South Rim Trail (1.8 miles one way to the Railroad Bridge), which merges with the 580-mile long Finger Lakes Trail. This trail connects with other trails including the Bruce Trail, from Niagara to Tobermory, in the Bruce Peninsula (Canada).
The North Rim Trail is a dirt path through a dense forest of yellow birch and hemlocks with occasional glimpses of the gorge and waterfalls below.
This same forest, covered with ferns, mountain maples, and white ash saw how the Iroquois, (the indigenous population of Watkins Glen) lived, hunted, and collected crops in the 18th century.
Fast forward to the year 1830 and you would see the Samuel Watkin’s flour mill operating here, grinding thousands of pounds of grains every day. The Glen Creek powered the massive wheels that ground thousands of pounds of grains every day
Towards the end of the 19th century, people came here and stayed at private resorts that charged a hefty fee. Fortunately, in 1906 the state purchased the land and made it a state park.
You can also enjoy the woods on the South Rim Trail and access the camping grounds.
The Gorge Trail is open from mid-May until the end of October. You can stay overnight on the camping grounds and cabins.
Watkins Glen State Park
1009 N. Franklin St. Watkins Glen, NY; Parking fee: $10
Feel the Power of Ithaca Falls (Falls Creek Gorge)
You don’t have to travel to a remote location to see the most powerful waterfall in the Finger Lakes (there are around 150 in the area!). The 156-foot tall Ithaca Falls, part of the Falls Creek Gorge, is right smack in downtown Ithaca.
If you would jump inside a time machine and land here in the early 18th century you would be surprised to see a busy place with many factories that used the water from a dam upstream to power their mills.
The strong currents are a sight to behold and a warning to not swim here unless you want to end up in Cayuga Lake.
Walk Along the Cascadilla Gorge Trail
About eight blocks south of Ithaca Falls you’ll find the Cascadilla Creek flowing through another beautiful gorge carved in ancient times.
Take the steps of the one-third-mile Cascadilla Gorge Trail to see a waterfall cascading along the 400-foot wall. The trail is part of the Cornell Botanic Gardens, which oversees this and other iconic gorges.
Cascadilla looks awesome in pictures, but not so much in my pictures. If you want better pictures than mine, with tons of water pouring down the rocky wall, plan your trip when level waters are high (probably during spring).
Hike in the Robert Treman State Park (and See Some Wicked Waterfalls)
What a beautiful park this is, with 12 waterfalls to spice your hike in the forest.
We accessed the upper park entrance and hiked the Rim Trail for fabulous views from the top of the shale and sandstone gorge and the must-see, 115-foot tall Lucifer Falls.
Walk further and take the Cliff stairway down to the Gorge Trail and spend some time frolicking on Enfield Creek and the cascades.
You can keep walking along the bottom of the gorge or go up to the rim until you reach the Lower Falls, where you’ll find cabins and a camping area.
We were short on time so we walked back to the upper gorge following the Gorge Trail to see the Devil’s Kitchen Falls on the way, and many other scenic spots.
A section of the Finger Lakes Trail goes through this park where you can also visit the remains of a historic gristmill.
Robert H. Treman State Park
105 Enfield Falls Rd. Ithaca, NY; Parking fee: $9 (transferable to all state parks)
Enjoy the Festivals in the Finger Lakes
The Finger Lakes is a busy place all year round with several festivals to suit every taste: concerts, theatre, sports, arts, wine, and the list goes on.
When planning your visit, time it with a festival to enjoy yourself even more.
Something going on all year round is the Ithaca Farmers Market. It runs several days a week with different themes (artists market, young entrepreneurs, local produce, food, and baked items). Locations vary according to the season.
You can enjoy the Cayuga Maple Sugar Festival and a film festival in the spring, wine festivals in the summer, open artists’ studio weekends on the art trail in the fall, and music concerts during winter.
This is just a sample. There’s much more!
Do you agree that the Finger Lakes area in New York deserves a spot in any “Most Beautiful Places in the USA” list? Maybe even in a ”world” list? The striking magnificence of its rugged gorges and the waterfalls that shape them made my decision a breeze.
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Such great photos and I haven’t heard much about this area so this post was really inspiring! Thanks for highlighting it!
I know! When you hear about New York it’s all about NYC. But there’s so much more!
This place looks amazing! I hope we can visit Finger Lakes when my kids will be older. Thank for idea.
Thanks for reading! You’ll find many fun activities to do with your kids.