Location

On Trumansburg Creek, a tributary of Cayuga Lake, in Seneca County, New York.

Access

Private. Wholly within the boundaries of Camp Barton, a Boy Scout camp of the Baden-Powell Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It is unlikely that permission will be granted to outside visitors while camp is in session.

Details

This is a short hike to a spectacular waterfall. It is an easy 1/3 mile walk on a woodland trail from the camp, but we hiked for about a mile along the shore of Cayuga lake from a private home to get to the camp. To approach the base of the falls, you must walk in the stream or on ledges at the bottom of the steep canyon wall.

Trumansburg Creek parallels Taughannock Creek, which is less than a mile to the south. Trumansburg Creek is much smaller than Taughannock Creek (it drains about 14 square miles/36.5 km² compared to 68 square miles/176 km² for Taughannock Falls). Frontenac Falls is less than a 1/4 mile from Cayuga Lake while Taughannock Falls is more than a mile . It is easy to imagine that Frontenac Falls looks today like Taughannock Falls did some 8-10,000 years ago.

Warning: The walls of this canyon are very high and unstable and the danger of falling rocks and ice is great. Exercise extreme caution when hiking near the waterfall and avoid this place altogether in wet or thawing conditions.