Five Cascades is a 155-foot tiered waterfall on Kaaterskill Creek in Greene County, New York, a chain of horsetail drops just below Haines Falls at the head of Kaaterskill Clove, about 3.7 miles west of Palenville. It stands on private land and is closed to visitors.
The falls
The World Waterfall Database describes the falls as the second waterfall on Kaaterskill Creek as it drops into the clove, falling in five major steps, or seven counting small intermediate steps, with a tallest drop of 85 feet. The total drop is 155 feet. The name comes from the five cascades visible from the base. Nineteenth-century accounts claimed far greater heights, which the topography rules out.
Getting there
The falls sits on land owned by Twilight Park, which forbids climbing and does not grant permission to visit; trespassers can be arrested. State land does not quite reach the bottom of the falls, so there may be no legal way to see them.
On site
Spray keeps the rocks extremely slippery, and an experienced rock climber was once killed in a fall on the cascades. The old path beside Haines Falls has washed out, leaving a 50-foot cliff.
History and name
Paintings by Thomas Cole and others made Kaaterskill Clove a leading vacation spot in the 1800s. Early visitors climbed Five Cascades with ropes, ladders and steps cut into the rock, and in the hotel era a full stairway ran down the falls; none of it survives. An older name was Sylvan Cascade, and Naiad's Bath referred to a pool below the falls.
Nearby
Haines Falls, at the top of the series, is about 0.1 mile away, and Delmura Falls about 0.2 mile. Down the clove, Bastion Falls is 0.9 mile off and Kaaterskill Falls 1.3 miles.
Distances are straight-line.