Ithaca Falls is a 139-foot horsetail waterfall on Fall Creek in the city of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York. It is the last and largest of the falls on Fall Creek, which cuts through the Cornell University campus, and it sits in a small city park a short walk from Lake Street.
The falls
A field survey puts the drop at 139 feet in a single fall. The curtain averages 175 feet wide and spreads to about 210 feet at the base. Earlier surveys listed 150 feet. Fall Creek runs all year. The falls mark a hanging valley where the creek meets the glacial trough of Cayuga Lake, and freeze-thaw weathering of the soft shale has carved the gorge into an amphitheater.
Getting there
The falls are in the city-run Ithaca Falls Natural Area. Two small gravel lots sit just south of where Lake Street crosses Fall Creek. From the lots a gravel path of about a tenth of a mile leads to the pool below the falls; the lower part can be flooded at high water. Entry is free and the area is open year-round, though it may close during unusually high flow.
When to go
Flow is strongest during spring snowmelt and after heavy rain and drops considerably in summer. In winter the falls ice up and the paths get slippery.
On site
Swimming is prohibited under city code, and the currents at the base have killed people. A swimmer drowned in the gorge in August 2017, a visitor who climbed onto the rocks at the base for a photo slipped in and died in October 2022, and a man was found drowned near the base in July 2023.
Soil in the park is contaminated with lead and arsenic that washed down from the former Ithaca Gun Company factory on the cliff above. The EPA has fenced off contaminated ground, graveled the trail and posted warning signs: stay on the gravel path and keep children and dogs out of the fenced areas. Dogs must be leashed and are not allowed in the water. An accessible overlook sits at the park entrance; the path beyond is rough and uneven. The pool below is popular with anglers.
History and name
In 1830 Ezra Cornell engineered a tunnel through the gorge and a diversion dam to power mills along the creek. The Ithaca Gun Company made shotguns on the hillside above from 1885 to 1986, and test-firing scattered lead across the slope. The EPA removed contaminated soil between 2000 and 2004, and more soil was removed in 2015. In 2021 the EPA built a limestone wall to hold contaminated soil back from the park; an October flood that year damaged part of it. Cornell sold the land at the base of the falls to the city in 2000.
Nearby
Upstream on Fall Creek, Forest Falls is about 0.2 mile away, Foaming Falls about 0.3 mile and Triphammer Falls about 0.6 mile. Cascadilla Falls is about 0.7 mile away.
Distances are straight-line.