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Ithaca Falls
New York · 492-foot drop · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at Ithaca Falls is light today (39 cfs) — visit for the geology, not the volume. July averages 4.9" of precipitation here — expect high flow.
Right now
Streamflow
39.1 cfs
FALL CREEK NEAR ITHACA · 1h ago
Overnight
66°F
Mostly Cloudy
Friday
84°F
Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
Today's daylight
Sunrise 5:37 AM · Sunset 8:44 PM · 15h 6m
Snapshot built 9m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS BGM.
Ithaca Falls is a waterfall in Tompkins County, New York. It drops roughly 492 feet. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Ithaca Falls sits in Tompkins County, New York. It drops along It is the last of a series of waterfalls along the hanging valley formed where Fall Creek. The base sits at roughly 646 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 1 minutes from Ithaca. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 260 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Ithaca Falls is a waterfall located within the city of Ithaca, New York. It is the last of a series of waterfalls along the hanging valley formed where Fall Creek intersects the glacial trough of Cayuga Lake. The falls are in an amphitheater formed by freezing and thawing of the weak shale which makes up most of the gorge walls. The splash pool, and the creek just below the falls, are a popular spot for fly fishing. It has a height of 150 feet (46 m) and a width 175 feet (53 m)
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 04234000 · 1 mi away
FALL CREEK NEAR ITHACA NY
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 73.3 cfs · 65% of last year — significantly drier
When to go (from the climate data, not our opinion)
Monthly averages from Open-Meteo's reanalysis dataset (2020–2024). Highlighted months are when we think the waterfall is at its best — but the numbers are the numbers regardless.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip (in) | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 36 | 24 | 3.4 | 20.2 |
| Feb | 39 | 22 | 2.9 | 16.2 |
| Mar | 48 | 30 | 3.6 | 11.4 |
| Apr | 57 | 38 | 4.5 | 7 |
| May | 70 | 48 | 3 | 1 |
| Jun | 79 | 58 | 3.8 | 0 |
| Jul | 83 | 65 | 4.9 | 0 |
| Aug | 81 | 64 | 5.5 | 0 |
| Sep | 73 | 57 | 4 | 0 |
| Oct | 63 | 48 | 3.7 | 0.2 |
| Nov | 51 | 37 | 3.3 | 8.8 |
| Dec | 41 | 30 | 4 | 14.6 |
Source: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API · ERA5 reanalysis 2020–2024.
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ithaca Falls (this page) | — | 492 ft | — | — | — |
| Horseshoe Falls | 0 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Rocky Falls | 0 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Triphammer Falls | 1 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Potter's Falls | 3 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Buttermilk Falls | 3 mi | — | — | Y | Free |
Side-by-side comparisons
Ithaca Falls compared head-to-head with other documented falls — height, access, fees, dogs, swimmability in one row each.
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~492 ft)
- Snowshoe Falls492 ft
- Engle Falls489 ft
- Ice Falls480 ft
- Lilliwaup Falls466 ft
- Mist Falls518 ft
Questions visitors ask about Ithaca Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How tall is Ithaca Falls?
Ithaca Falls is 492 feet (150 m) tall. Height is sourced from Wikidata.
How far is Ithaca Falls from a major city?
Ithaca Falls is 1 miles from Ithaca (about 1 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in New York
Where it is
42.4528, -76.4916
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Falls
Wikidata (Q16909460)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16909460
GeoNames (5122435)
https://www.geonames.org/5122435/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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