Buttermilk Falls State Park

The last stop on my Ithaca tour was going to be Cascadilla Gorge. This is typically a difficult location for me to get to. If the parking isn’t difficult, there is always a chance put the wrong location into the GPS and end up in the middle of Cornell University. Being so close to the start of the semester, if it hadn’t already started, I didn’t want to chance trying to drive through the university. I got the right directions to the start of the gorge trail but parking is a challenge. After trying to find a spot to park, I gave up and headed to Buttermilk Falls. It is my favorite location.

Going later in the morning to Buttermilk Falls was an exercise in patience, which I don’t always have. The gorge trail was more crowded than I typically want to see, especially with me trying for five to ten second exposures. Don’t get me wrong, most people are great and I don’t have any issues, but Friday seemed to be a gathering of the opposite kind. As I entered the gorge trail and came upon my first location I found a couple swimming, I assume they were swimming, he did seem to be taking a lot of pictures of her… OK, will get that spot on the way back out.

The next obstacle was the two couples who were right behind me. They had a knack for hovering in locations and apparently were oblivious to my tripod and camera. In general, most people see me setup and pause on the trail. I wave them through or pick up and let them enjoy the scene, but these couples didn’t not have that willingness to share the trails. I kept walking ahead as fast as I could before I lost any sense of patience. To be honest, it put a huge damper on my visit to the park. Eventually I started back on the trail and once we passed I felt the weight of frustration lift allowing me to enjoy my remaining time in the gorge.

As with Taughannock creek, Buttermilk creek was a rich chocolate color when the water was deep and collecting in pools. I decided to process this one as a monochrome image to remove the distracting color of the water. The rains definitely provided the creek with plenty of water and this cascade section of the gorge had exactly the look I hope for in my waterfall images.

Summer Cascade
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 5s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 100