Photo-of-the-Week #166, Taughannock Falls, Cayuga Lake, New York, July 2014

I love serendipity and the last few days have just been one serendipity after another. I took this photo on the way north from Ithaca, New York to Seneca Falls, New York along the western shore of Cayuga Lake, one of the larger of the Finger Lake series. As I drove I saw a sign for an overlook for Taughannock Falls. Well, since I didn't have any deadline to be anywhere in particular at this time, I couldn't pass up the chance for a shot of another waterfall. I found two interesting waterfalls the day before on my trip south to Watkins Glen.

So, I wheeled My McVansion up the road when the turn came up. The falls is about one mile from the lake. It's carved this gorge over thousands of years beginning at the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago.

Now, let me give you a bit of perspective on this waterfall. I shot this photo from the overlook, so I was probably about a quarter mile or more from the actual falls. The vertical fall of this waterfall is 215 feet. To add even more perspective, the longest vertical fall of Niagara Falls is 173 feet on the large Horseshoe Falls. At 215 feet, it is the highest vertical fall waterfall in the northeastern U.S.

To give a little more significance to this photo, if you can see the small colorful dots at the foot of the waterfall, they are people standing on shale rock formations at the base. This was a real serendipity. There are numerous waterfalls around the entire state. If you're a fan of waterfalls, I commend you to consider exploring central New York.