Buttermilk Falls is a 550-foot series of tiered plunges on John Case Brook in Greene County, New York, high on the south wall of Kaaterskill Clove in the Catskills. The Long Path crosses the stream right above the first tier, about halfway between Palenville and Haines Falls.
The falls
The World Waterfall Database, working from lidar data, counts at least eight nearly vertical drops plus stretches of steep cascade over about a fifth of a mile, with the tallest single drop about 70 feet and at least three tiers over 65 feet. Another count gives nine drops totalling 549 feet. Earlier surveys listed 100 feet, which corresponds to an upper fall of about 100 feet and a second of about 50. John Case Brook feeds Kaaterskill Creek. The series can't be seen from Route 23A, and from the trail only the first tier is visible, looking down.
Getting there
The falls sit in the Kaaterskill Wild Forest. Hikers take a 4.8-mile approach from either the Steenburg Road parking area off Platte Clove Road or the Harding Road parking area off NY 23A in Palenville. On the Long Path Section 22, which runs 9.8 miles from Platte Clove Road to Palenville, the falls come at mile 5.00, just left of the trail; the section is rated moderate to strenuous, with steep descents after mile 3.70.
From Palenville, the hike is 9.68 miles round trip with 1,661 feet of gain, starting with a road walk along Malden Avenue and up a privately owned dirt road that is closed to the public during hunting season. Parking is not allowed at that trailhead, on Malden Avenue or along Route 23A between Palenville and Haines Falls, and cars left there are towed; use the designated lot.
When to go
A November visit found low water. Buttermilk Ravine is very difficult and dangerous to hike in summer, and is popular with ice climbers in winter.
On site
The trail view is from above the upper falls; the top two tiers are reasonably reachable from the Long Path, while the lower drops take bushwhacking or climbing. A small unofficial campsite sits on the downhill side of the trail just before the falls, and a junction about 0.4 miles farther on leads straight ahead into private Twilight Park land. A timber rattlesnake den is located below Hawkeye Ledge on the escarpment.
Nearby
Wildcat Falls is about 0.5 miles away and sits on the same Long Path section. Santa Cruz Falls, on Santa Cruz Creek, and Fawns Leap, on Kaaterskill Creek, are both about 0.7 miles away, and Viola Falls about 0.8 miles.
Distances are straight-line.