While visiting Ithaca, NY, in late October, Joe and I also took a drive out to see Taughannock Falls, just north of Ithaca along Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in central New York. Part of Taughannock State Park, the falls have a drop of 215 feet (66 meters) — one of the highest east of the Rocky Mountains.

We walked the 3/4 mile lower trail from the parking lot off Route 89 to the Falls early in the morning. The trail was level, well marked and bordered by the high-walled gorge. The stream was just a trickle of water sliding over shale and limestone at the bottom of the gorge. The air was cool, the light quality beautiful, and the only sounds you could hear were a few bird calls.