The Beauty Around Us

July 2 Sightseeing Activities – Chittenango Falls State Park, NY

By Linda G. on July 14, 2017

We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the East Syracuse, NY area.  This blog post is a continuation of sightseeing activities on Sunday, July 2 (day 2 of our weekend getaway).  In my previous blog post, I wrote about an unplanned stop in Manlius, NY.  Our next stop, after Manlius, was at Chittenango Falls State Park.  Earlier this year we purchased an annual New York State Park Empire Pass that provides unlimited day use vehicle entry to most state parks and recreation facilities.  Chittenango Falls State Park was one of three New York State parks at which we used our Empire Pass during our weekend getaway.

Chittenango Falls State Park is located approximately 20 miles southeast of Syracuse, NY.  According to park descriptions that I read, while planning our weekend getaway, the main attraction at Chittenango Falls State Park is a picturesque 167-foot waterfall.  The waterfall may be seen from the top, as well as from a winding trail into the gorge.  At the bottom of the gorge is a footbridge that crosses Chittenango Creek.   After crossing over the footbridge, visitors can return to the top along a small trail on the opposite side of the gorge.  When we visited the park, the footbridge was closed because of flooding.  I believe both trails on either side of the gorge, though, were open for hiking.  We hiked only the park side of the trail, which was enough for me.  The trail was moderately steep and slippery in parts.

This was a raging waterfall..  The amount of water falling was quite impressive. The significant rainfall from the previous day was the reason for the gushing water.

Near this portion of the trail a fellow hiker mentioned that there was a smaller waterfall just a short way farther down the trail.  He urged us to continue down the trail, even though we wouldn’t be able to cross over the footbridge, to see the smaller waterfall.  He told us that it is rare to see any water flowing on the smaller waterfall during the summer months.

I am happy that we hiked down the trail just a little farther.  What a beautiful waterfall!

I definitely want to return to Chittenango Falls State Park one day, when there hasn’t been torrential rainfall the day before.  I would like to have the opportunity to walk to the bottom of the gorge and across the footbridge to the other side of the gorge and back up to the top.  I would like to capture additional images of Chittenango Falls, but more normal looking images of the falls.