Adirondacks and the St. Lawrence Valley
83 waterfalls · St. Lawrence County, Essex County, Franklin County, Hamilton County, Clinton County, Warren County, Herkimer County, and Fulton County
Northern New York holds the largest concentration of named falls in the state. Rivers draining the Adirondack dome drop repeatedly as they cross from hard Precambrian rock onto the lowlands, and many of these falls are near small towns such as Hannawa Falls, Canton and Gouverneur, where they once powered mills and now feed hydroelectric plants. In Essex County, falls in the High Peaks around Lake Placid and Elizabethtown are wilder, often reached by forest trails along mountain brooks or found in rocky gorges cut by the Ausable and Boquet rivers. Hamilton and Franklin counties add falls deep in the lake country around Tupper Lake and Lake Pleasant.
Start with: Split Rock Falls, Lampsons Falls, Auger Falls, Rainbow Falls, Monument Falls
Tug Hill and the Black River Country
45 waterfalls · Lewis County, Jefferson County, Oneida County, Oswego County, Onondaga County, and Madison County
The Tug Hill Plateau, east of Lake Ontario, receives some of the heaviest lake-effect snowfall in the eastern United States, and its meltwater feeds streams that cut sharp gorges into layered limestone and shale at the plateau's edges. Salmon River Falls in Oswego County, one of the most reviewed falls in the state, plunges into a broad gorge on the plateau's western side. Lewis County, around Lowville, holds many falls on tributaries descending to the Black River, and Jefferson County's falls lie on rivers flowing toward Lake Ontario. South of the plateau, Onondaga and Madison counties add gorge falls in the hill country near Syracuse.
Start with: Salmon River Falls, Chittenango Falls, Talcott Falls, Pixley Falls, Delphi Falls
Finger Lakes and Western New York
44 waterfalls · Tompkins County, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Cayuga County, Yates County, Livingston County, Wyoming County, Monroe County, Niagara County, Steuben County, Cortland County, Chenango County, Genesee County, Chautauqua County, Cattaraugus County, and Tioga County
Few places pack in waterfalls like the Finger Lakes. Around Ithaca, Ithaca Falls lies within walking distance of downtown, Taughannock Falls drops into a deep amphitheater in its state park, and Lucifer Falls tumbles through the gorge of Robert H. Treman State Park. In Schuyler County, Shequaga Falls drops right in the village of Montour Falls and Hector Falls can be seen from a bridge on Route 414. Carpenter Falls in Cayuga County spills off a limestone overhang. Farther west, the Genesee River descends through deep gorges in Livingston and Wyoming counties, and Niagara County holds American Falls and the rest of Niagara Falls.
Start with: Ithaca Falls, Taughannock Falls, American Falls, Shequaga Falls, Awosting Falls
Catskills, Hudson and Mohawk Valleys
49 waterfalls · Ulster County, Greene County, Delaware County, Sullivan County, Albany County, Columbia County, Schoharie County, Otsego County, Washington County, Saratoga County, Montgomery County, and Orange County
Southeastern New York's falls are set in steep, forested mountains close to the Hudson Valley. Kaaterskill Falls, a two-tiered drop on Spruce Creek in the Catskills of Greene County, is one of the oldest tourist attractions in the country and a subject of Hudson River School painters. In Ulster County, the Shawangunk Ridge holds Verkeerder Kill Falls and other drops over white quartz conglomerate, while the eastern Catskills hide falls in narrow cloves. To the north, Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk River near its junction with the Hudson is a broad, powerful drop. Otsego, Delaware and Schoharie counties add quieter falls in rolling hill country.
Start with: Kaaterskill Falls, Cohoes Falls, Mine Kill Falls, Stony Kill Falls, Rensselaerville Falls
