Lucifer Falls

Trip Start May 26, 2007

Trip End Jul 06, 2007

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Flag of United States Ithaca, New York
Monday, June 11, 2007

Sunday dawned as yet another utterly beautiful day.Warm, clear, no real humidity. Maria and I checked out the Ithaca Farmers Market ( a mix of local crafts, farm stalls, and food stalls) on the banks of Lake Cayuga. I was intorduced to a neighbour of theirs, an historian at Cornell, but who was introduced as "our neighbourhood shop steward". Maria then explained. The residents of Ithaca had a while back, organised themselves into a form of "rate payers union", with an elected shop steward for every so many blocks, to represent the residents in negotiations with the council and so on. This is a self organised activity, not a council intiative. A genuine exercise in grassroots democracy, designed to ensure than the community is heard. I will return to this in a later post.

We bought some Cuban fried chicken, ingredients for a gourmet salad and some delicipussereves of Sri Lankan food

1Creek above the falls

. When the stall proprietor there realised where I came from, he immediately wanted to talk about cricket!

We spent the afternoon at Lance and Maria's country house in the woods. The forest literally come sot the door, and just after we arrived, three deer bounded past the window. But the highlight of the day was the trip to the Robert Tremain National park, and the Lucifer Falls. You enter this gorge from above the falls, following the stream where it flows around a hill and into the most amazing and awesome gorge.The stream is at this stage already about 80 metres below the plateau level, and you just look down this immense sculpted cavern, with rees growing thickly right to the edge of the cliffs. It takes no effort at all to imagine partie of Indians coming over the cliff and own to the stream to fish, or raid or hunt.

The walk path follows the edge of the stream, which has carved these square baisins out of the rock, incuding ledges that tempt one to sit and dangle the feet. In some cases, round pools with under water benches have been eroded into shape, looking for all the world like spa pools. As the stream trends down, you come to the falls, and see them drop the next 60 or so metres down into deep pools, which then flow on, at the foot of these 160 - 180 metre slate cliffs. This was certainly one of the most impressive and uttterly beautiful natural sites I have ever seen.

If ant of you ever come to New York, you simply must make the trip to Ithaca. This is place that is a wonder. It must be seen.

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