PTO days are a wonderful thing, if you can get them. Fortunately, I was able to take on yesterday, giving Mandy and I time to drive up to Ithaca, NY, for a day away from it all. If you’re not familiar with Ithaca, that’s not surprising – aside from being the home of Cornell University and Ithaca College, I’m not sure that it’s very well known outside of the northeast.

Ithaca sits in the hills at the southern end of Cayuga Lake, the longest of NY’s Finger Lakes. It is most definitely a college town, filled with a mix of student-oriented businesses and tourist shops. Overall it is quaint, with a bit of a hippie feel.

For nature photographers, it’s a sort of Mecca. “Ithaca is Gorges,” say the T-shirts, and that’s the truth. Within an easy 15 minute drive from downtown, there are at least 5 waterfall sites open to the public, covering everything from informal city access to lovely state parks. Over several years of visits I’ve seen most of them, as well as a few located farther from the city. On this trip, however, we only went to one – Lucifer Falls in the lovely Robert Treman State Park.

Lucifer Falls

Robert Treman State Park (not to be confused with Treman Marine Park on the lake) is set back into the hills a short drive west out of Ithaca. It is essentially comprised of a hiking trail that follows along the creek as it descends through a series of waterfalls before finally leaving the park at the lower entrance, which is a popular swimming hole. We hiked in from the top, since the most impressive falls are within the first 1/2 mile or so, culminating with Lucifer Falls itself.

I’ve done the hike before with a DSLR and backpack full of gear; even with the carved stone steps and excellent trail, it can be challenging with the extra weight. Since I was more interested in enjoying the hike, I took the little G10, although I unfortunately neglected to bring my table-top tripod. A combination of ISO 80, f/8, and the built-in ND filter let me reach shutter speeds as low as .3″, which was enough to let the water stream out, at the same time being just about too slow to hand hold, even with the IS. Where possible I braced the camera or myself against the stone; otherwise I went up a third-stop to 1/4 sec and shot multiple frames, hoping for a sharp one. This “spray & pray” philosophy wasn’t very advanced, but it did pay off with a few good shots.

Without the built-in ND filter, I’d have had no chance of slowing the water down, which goes to show just how bright the light really is, even on overcast days.

Overall, it was the perfect afternoon to be working around the falls. The foliage is still decent in the area, and the warm mineral tones in the rock mirrored it. Definitely better than a day in the office!