Upperville Falls

This natural treasure can be easily seen from the Quaker Settlement Road bridge near the intersection with NYS Route 80.  Finding a safe place to park at this time of year is another issue.  Driving into the plowed snowbank is not usually a smart move but the uphill climb going in made backing out easy.

Little remains of the early settlement here.  This part of New York State was settled by people moving southward from the Mohawk River Valley forming the L shaped lowland.  River transportation to this general area made the trip from New York City possible. Steep hills limited the potential of this specific area making travel in or out difficult.  This eight foot waterfall still shows signs of is use to power an early mill.  A channel was cut into the bedrock above the falls directing water flow toward the somewhat open area to the right.  Only occasional chunks of well rusted metal mark the likely location of the mill.

This highway bridge marks the limit of my exploration of this stream.  Pleasant Brook makes a long occasionally steep drop to the distant Chenango River  where wide flat valley farms still exist today.  More waterfalls are likely to exist near here but no safe legal access presents itself.  Falling down while trespassing is a totally no win situation but different seasonal pictures taken from this bridge still might be seen here in the future.

 

Unexpected Beauty

For the past several months, weekly trips to Syracuse have been the norm.  A nearly straight line route utilizing a combination of town, county and state roads traverse a geologically varied region of New York State and make for a challenging  drive.  My focus is on finding the best track for the numerous S curves.  I failed to notice this waterfall until last week.  Traveling west the curve in the road and the shale ledge effectively hide the waterfall.  Most of the time little water moves in this stream.  Last week my drive followed a rainfall of some significance and huge volumes of white water poured over this ledge.  Traveling east, it was impossible to miss seeing this roadside waterfall but prior planning was required for a safe stop here.
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A shale deposit is very near the surface in this area.  Soil is thin and large areas of flat land suitable for farming are nonexistent here.  Small fields supported unprofitable farms in the past and the falling skeletons of abandoned barns are now common in this valley.  Soon even they will be gone.  Clusters of old tattered mobile homes surrounded by accumulations of trash tend to focus ones attention on quickly and safely clearing that area.  Music from the film Deliverance finds its way into the mind.  Then there is this spot of natural beauty.

Shingled shale slope is a frequently used combination of words used to describe this type of waterfall.  Water is continuously removing small bits of shale that now line the pool at the base of the falls.  One should reasonably expect that such mounds of wet stones would not provide secure footing.  That lesson was quickly taught as my foot pushed a pile of these stones back into the pool.  Once lightning fast reflexes combined with agility severely dulled by age kept both my feet and the camera dry but my move was certainly laughable.  In a place like this, there is no video!

This natural feature is one hour from our home.  Plans to make excursions here to capture the seasonal changes have already been made.  These trips will follow heavy rainfalls so that the water flow will be impressive.  Located right next to the road, pictures of ice formations will be possible with relative safety.  Hard as it is to believe, that has me looking forward to next winter.