| County: |
Hamilton |
| Town: |
Long Lake |
| USGS Map: |
Deerland |
| Waterway: |
Raquette River |
| Latitude: |
N 43.91489o |
| Longitude: |
W 74.48463o
|
| Drop: |
40' |
|
As you travel south from the village of Long Lake on NYS Routes
30/28N, you will be paralleling the lake for a stretch.
Where the road makes a sweeping bend and up a hill to the left,
the North Point Road will exit to the right. Follow this,
also known as CR 3, for about 2.1 miles. There will be a
small parking area on the right with a sign indicating
"Buttermilk Falls". From here, you are about 350'
from the falls down a trail that is fairly welled maintained and
easy to pass.
Buttermilk Falls is a very picturesque
setting. It is located on the Raquette
River, which is one of New York State's longest. Even in
late summer, there is a significant amount of water flowing.
This, along with signs promoting it and its ease of access, makes
Buttermilk a very popular place to visit.
Russell Dunn in his book "Adirondack Waterfall Guide"
lists the Raquette River as the second longest in the state.
I've seen this same claim on a couple of websites promoting the
river and Buttermilk Falls. Wikipedia lists it as 146 miles
and states that it is the "third longest river entirely in
the state of New York". It lists the Hudson (315 miles)
and Genesee (157 miles) ahead of it. This could present some
argument. The Hudson starts and ends in New York State and
it never leaves the state, per se. A portion of it, however,
does form the border with New Jersey which a purist might argue
means that it is not "entirely" within New York
State. Likewise, Wikipedia lists the source of the
Genesee as being in Ulysses Township, Potter County,
Pennsylvania. Although a very small portion of it is
actually in Pennsylvania, how is it that it is entirely within New
York? Looking at these facts, perhaps the Raquette is the
longest river located completely within the state borders!
The Raquette River enters Long Lake within a mile downstream of
this location. From there it flows into Raquette Pond, which
could be considered as part of Tupper Lake. The river
eventually makes its way into the St. Lawrence river in Massena,
New York.
|
