| County: |
Essex |
| Town: |
Wilmington |
| USGS Map: |
Lake Placid |
| Waterway: |
Ausable River,
West Branch |
| Latitude: |
N 44.34868o |
| Longitude: |
W 73.87451o
|
| Drop: |
80' |
|
These falls are located in a very popular tourist attraction area
known as the High Falls Gorge. It is somewhat ironic that,
although it is called High Falls Gorge, and it is comprised of
four waterfalls, none of them are named High Falls! These
falls are basically four steps through this gorge. They
literally flow one into the next and could almost be construed as one waterfall having four
steps. In this case, however, they carry four names.
The High Falls Gorge facility is located at 4761 State Highway
86 in Wilmington, on the highway between the villages of
Wilmington and Lake Placid. It is a very well promoted,
highly commercialized site. You won't be able to miss it!
When you arrive, you must enter through the gift shop area and
pay an entrance fee to access the gorge itself. Because of
this, access is limited to business hours which vary depending
upon time of year and day of the week. The adult
admission in 2011 was $10.95 with a reduced rate for
children. To the hiker/waterfall lover, this price is a bit
steep. What you get is a 1/2 mile round-trip over well
maintained trails, stairs and bridges. There are several
informational signs describing the local geology. In fact,
there is more information on the gemstones, fossils, arrowheads
and geology of the area than on the waterfalls.
Somewhat disappointing to the waterfaller, of the three pamphlets
we picked up, only one identified the falls by name. The trail map provided when you pay your
admission locates three, Main, Mini and
Climax. It is interesting that, in several pieces of promotional
information found elsewhere, three falls are mentioned, but they
are Main, Rainbow and
Climax. Staff members questioned about this discrepancy
and the existence of four versus three
falls weren't particularly clear as to specifics. The
promotional brochures we acquired at the gorge and in the area did
have some pictures of the falls, but the text of them focused more
on the gift shop, the cafe and the outdoor equipment such as skis,
snowboards, snowshoes, hiking maps and so on that can be rented or
purchased there.
Northern New York saw a particularly heavy winter in
2010-2011. The resulting run-off was quite harsh throughout
the area. The flow through this gorge was so intense that it
ripped out some sections of the walkways. Since they were
still rebuilding them when we were there in July 2011, we were
given a "rain check" that we could use anytime within
two years so that we could come back and see the facility in its
complete state.
Coming
downstream you first encounter the Main Falls, a 35' drop.
This falls almost immediately into the 5' Mini Falls. After
a short pool is Rainbow Falls, which falls 20'. This can be
confusing because there are two other Rainbow Falls on the Ausable
River. One of them is on the East Branch and the other
further downstream after the two branches converge. Just
below Rainbow is the
final drop, Climax Falls. This is another drop of 20'
or so. Please note that these measurements are estimates
because the promotional material gained there do not provide this
information.
The Ausable River West Branch joins forces with the East Branch
in Ausable Forks. The combined Ausable River empties into
Lake Champlain in the town of Peru.
|
