Hiking at Robert H Treman State Park

We made our biweekly trip back down to Ithaca to hike to see Lucifer Falls, a 115-foot waterfall at Treman State Park.  This park encompasses the now defunct town of Enfield Glen, of which only a few relics remain.  This park encompasses a total of 12 cascades or waterfalls and is an easy 6 miles of walking on very well-maintained, albeit busy trails.  We began at the lower end of the park and walked up the Gorge Trail first.  Along the way we saw many small cascades and a bigger waterfall, all along trails edge.  When we reached the 2 mile mark we were at the base of Lucifer Falls.  From here, the Gorge Trail had washed out and we were rerouted onto the Rim Trail (are you guys noticing a pattern here, all the trails in Ithaca are named Gorge Trail and Rim Trail!) and up multiple flights of beautifully built stone stairs, which in my mind belonged in some kind of medieval castle!  At the top, it was a short walk to the view of Lucifer Falls.  

After viewing the falls, we continued uphill to meet up with the Gorge Trail once again, which you could follow for about 0.3 miles to an overlook with a bridge near the top of the falls.  We wandered back to the upper parking area and through an old flour mill, which has been restored and turned into a museum honoring both the former town of Enfield Glen and the CCC who built the trails and the parks during the Depression.  

After lunching and wandering through the museum, we took the CCC Memorial Trail to the Finger Lakes Trail to get a break from all the crowds and hike on real trail again.  There was an old woods road to walk on through the site of the former CCC camp and a bridge crossing Fishkill Creek which was out of service.  We crossed the bridge anyway only to realize why it was closed - the end on the other side had absolutely nothing supporting it!  YIKES!  After walking a short mile on the Finger Lakes Trail in solitude, we joined back up with the Rim Trail to hike back down to the car.  These two miles weren’t quite as busy as the Gorge Trail, but still very well-traveled.  When we reached the bottom, we reached Enfield Falls and the public “beach” at the bottom.

The photos above are: a swimmer on the diving board at Enfield Falls, the small falls on the Gorge Trail, NoKey’s face in a unique limestone formation,  NoKey walking up seemingly endless steps, me on the bridge over Lucifer Falls, and me jumping for joy while out in nature.