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Cascade Lakes Falls

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

Lake Placid Quadrangle

Cascade Lakes FallsThe 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

Hover on any of the thumbnails to see an enlarged image

Cascade Lake Falls Cascade Lake Falls
Cascade Lake Falls Cascade Lake Falls
Cascade Lake Falls Cascade Lake Falls
Cascade Lake Falls

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