| Directions
On NY 73 between Lake Placid and Keene you will pass
Upper and Lower Cascade Lakes. From Lake Placid you
will pass the Cascade Mountain trailhead. From the
east you will pass Pitchoff Mountain trailhead. Between
the two, there is a trailhead parking for both of these
trailheads. Not far from there, there is a section
of land that separates the two lakes. Look for a dirt
road that exits 73 at a sharp angle and steep incline toward
the lakes.
|
| County: |
Essex |
| Town: |
Keene |
| USGS Map: |
Keene Valley |
| Waterway: |
A tributary of Cascade Brook |
| Latitude: |
N 44o 13' 22" |
| Longitude: |
W 73o 52' 12" |
| Drop: |
100' |
| Type: |
Ribbon cascade |
| Region: |
NY 73 between Lake Placid and Keene |
| Parking: |
Dirt lot |
| Trail type: |
Parking lot |
| Length of hike: |
Parking lot |
| Difficulty: |
Easy |
| Accessibility: |
Public |
| Name: |
Unnamed |
|
 The Cascade Brook and the lakes are very prominent as you drive
through this area. The road leading into the parking area
for a roadside park between the lakes isn't quite as obvious.
If you are coming from the east, the turn will be a sharp left.
From the Lake Placid side, it is a gentle swing to the right.
Orient yourself in the parking area toward the upper end of Lower
Cascade Lake. That is the lake on the left as you face away
from the highway. You will see the falls plummeting down the
side of the mountain.
This is one of the few Adirondack waterfalls that you can see
from a highway. That is only the case for a portion of the
year. It is on a small brook and relies on the melting snow
for its flow. By mid to late summer, it slows considerably.
In the winter it is frozen, so the best time of year to view this
one is in the spring and perhaps early summer.
Your views of this waterfall are distant from this vantage point,
but easy to get to. The alternative is to hike the trail to
the waterfall . Information on-line indicates that this is
a 5 mile, round-trip walk, up the side of the mountain. A
contributor has also informed us that if you start at the Cascade
Picnic Area and follow the trail, which is unmarked, you will end
up at a rock slide. A brief scramble around the rocks will
get you to the base of the falls. The last three photos in
the array were taken from this vantage point.
The waterway that contains this waterfall is an unnamed
stream. Since it doesn't flow year-round, the powers that
be probably decided it didn't deserve a name. We are
calling it Cascade Lakes Falls because it flows into them.
The water from Lower Cascade Lake flows through Cascade Brook
into the East Branch of the Ausable River about five miles from
here in Keene. Do not confuse this with another Cascade
Brook not far from here. That Cascade Brook contains
Rainbow Falls in the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. It also
flows into the Ausable's East Branch upstream from this one but
is a lot more difficult to get to.
Last update: April 30, 2017
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