The picture below was our first picture of Taughannock Falls taken in August 2001. Subsequent photos show the continual process that is forming the Taughannock Creek canyon. The soft shales and the numerous fractures make the gully building process easy work. Click each of the cameras to see the process over time.

We estimate that the dimension of the missing rock is approximately 10 x 15 feet by 5 feet thick (3 x 4.5 x 1.5 m).

This photo was taken several days after a tragic accident which killed one and injured three members of a family. We had taken photos a week earlier that showed children playing at the exact spot where the fatal rockfall occurred. The mass of rock in the upper right corner of the alcove in earlier photos is the probable cause.

August, 2001

November 9, 2002

November 16, 2002

August 27, 2005

The inset below is the same scale to give you
an idea of the size of the rockfall.