Taughannock Falls State Park New York, Hiking, Trails, Pictures, Movies and Maps

Taughannock Falls State Park features a 215 foot vertical waterfall at the end of a wide and wooded 3/4 mile gorge, scenic woodland and a large span of shoreline along Cayuga Lake. You can experience the park's rich scenery along hiking trails, at the swimming beach, at scenic picnic areas and on the play fields.

Sparkling lakes, breathtaking waterfalls and rolling pastoral land dominate the landscape of the finger Lakes Region. Over thousands of years, gigantic glaciers and coursing streams carved this landscape shared by generations of people. On Cayuga Lake's western shore, Taughannock Falls State Park is one of 26 facilities of the Finger Lakes State Parks Region were you can enjoy these treasured landscapes and discover the lives of people and the past.

Water has shaped the natural landscape of the park. During the past million years, water in the form of giant mounds of ice, or glaciers, covered New york State several times, dramatically transforming the land in its path. In this region, the most recent glacier moved through shallow river valleys leaving in its place deep, steep-sided throughs. When the glacier receded north about 10,000 years ago, water filled these new troughs, creating the 11 Finger Lakes.

For more information about the Finger Lakes New York State Parks go to Finger Lakes State Parks.

The Finger Lakes State Parks of New York are the most dazzling and mesmerizing series of waterfall bonanzas that I've ever Hiked. I wondered, how could awesome natural beauty like this have been created. Once again the answer came with a little basic Geology. The many waterfalls are left over from the last ice age. Mother Nature sculptured out her master pieces using time, cold weather,heavy ice, water and gravity. I wish I could have been around all those years to witness it.