Taughannock Falls State Park

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Taughannock Falls

Taughannock Falls Summer 2006 - A particularly wet season for the area, contrast with many other pictures which show much lower water levels.
Location Tompkins County, New York
Coordinates 42°32′42″N 76°36′22″W / 42.545, -76.606 (Taughannock Falls)Coordinates: 42°32′42″N 76°36′22″W / 42.545, -76.606 (Taughannock Falls)
Total height 215 ft (65 m)
Number of drops 1

Taughannock Falls State Park (pronounced /təˈgænək/) is located in the Town of Ulysses in Tompkins County, New York in the USA. The park is northwest of Ithaca, New York near Trumansburg, New York. The name "Taughannock" comes from the Delaware Indians, referring either to chief Taughannock or the word taghkanic, meaning "great fall in the woods"[citation needed].

The main cataract of the falls is an astounding 215 ft drop, making it 33 ft taller than Niagara Falls and the largest single drop waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains.[citation needed] The water then flows through a long gorge with cliffs up to 400 ft high, characteristic of the area's gorges that give rise to the common "Ithaca is Gorges" bumper stickers and t-shirts. The waterfall and gorge is an example of a hanging valley that developed in a very similar fashion to the one at nearby Watkins Glen State Park. None of the local gorges were "carved by glaciers." In fact all of the gorges are post-glacial valleys carved by the streams that are still in them. It is the valleys over which the waterfalls hang that were eroded (over-deepened) by the advance of the Pleistocene ice sheets.

Visitors can reach an excellent view of the waterfall by walking along a 3/4 mile long trail. Visit in autumn is particularly interesting because of the picturesque colors of the surrounding trees.

The Park offers hiking and nature trails, camping, picnicking, swimming, fishing, and a boat launch, as well as ice-skating, sledding, cross-country skiing in the winter.

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