Triphammer Falls: What Was Possible
Why do we keep adjusting our plans based on weather that changes its mind every hour? The morning at Ludlowville Falls had been a wash—overcast skies, heavy fog, barely any water flowing. By the time I got back to the Airbnb, I’d written off waterfalls for the day. But Bhavna wanted to walk the trails at Beebe Lake, and Kiran had recommended it for the autumn colours. I thought we’d just take a stroll, enjoy the foliage, and call it a day.
Beebe Lake sits on Cornell’s campus, a human-made reservoir on Fall Creek. It’s peaceful, surrounded by forested trails and connected by footbridges. In autumn, the reflections of the trees in the water are supposed to be beautiful—when the light cooperates. Triphammer Falls was technically on my shot list, but after the morning’s disappointment, I wasn’t thinking about it.
When we arrived, the clouds had cleared just enough for the sun to poke through. The light was usable. My plans changed immediately. If the sun stayed out, I could photograph Triphammer Falls on Fall Creek and then make it over to Cascadilla Falls before the day ended. Cascadilla Falls is tucked into a narrow gorge, with water cascading over multiple ledges. It’s one of those spots that looks dramatic in every photograph you see online.
Ithaca waterfalls are “gorges.” If you want to see waterfalls in Ithaca, you have to visit a gorge. The city is built on them—steep-walled canyons carved over millennia by creeks cutting through sedimentary rock. The gorges give Ithaca its character, but they also make the waterfalls harder to access. You can’t just walk up to them. You have to descend into the gorge, navigate slippery trails, and hope the viewing platforms are open.
Unfortunately for us, a portion of the Cascadilla Gorge Trail between Stewart Avenue and College Avenue was closed for construction. It won’t reopen until spring 2026. That meant Cascadilla Falls was off the shot list. At least for this visit.
We parked at the Martin Y. Tang Welcome Centre—free parking, which is always a relief on a university campus—and walked over to the Beebe Dam Bridge, which sits just above Triphammer Falls. From the bridge, you can look down into the gorge and see the water crashing over the dam into the ravine below. It’s dramatic, but it isn’t the best view. The best view would be from below the bridge, down on Fall Creek, where you can see the full force of the falls and the layered rock walls rising on either side.
I checked the Cornell Botanical Gardens website on my phone whilst we walked. The Hemlock Gorge trail upstream of Sackett Bridge was also closed. The Fall Creek Gorge Trail was shut as well—apparently, a section west of the suspension bridge is unstable and closed until further notice. That trail usually offers dramatic views of the gorge, with steep cliffs and rushing water below. It’s one of the best spots to photograph the creek’s energy and depth.
Fall Creek downstream from Triphammer Falls, Cornell University, Ithaca · Saturday 25 October 2025
Autumn colour along the creek banks.
FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 160 · 1/340 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/4.5
We couldn’t walk the lower rim paths that drop under the Suspension Bridge or hike upstream to view the falls from below. That left me with only one option: the Triphammer Falls overlook on Thurston Avenue Bridge, using the trailhead on the north rim behind Risley Hall.
Triphammer Falls is a powerful drop right in the heart of Cornell’s campus. The water crashes over the Beebe Dam and plunges into the gorge below in two distinct tiers. The upper tier is the dam spillway—a wide, even cascade that flows across the width of the creek. Below that, the water gathers and drops again, this time in a more concentrated stream that falls into the shadowed depths of Fall Creek Gorge. The layered shale walls frame the falls on both sides, and in late October, the trees along the gorge rim were at peak colour—brilliant golds, deep oranges, and touches of red against the grey rock and dark water.
It’s dramatic and easy to photograph from the bridge, but the angle isn’t ideal. You’re looking down at the falls, which compresses the scene and flattens the sense of scale. From below, the falls would feel immense. From above, they feel more contained. The bridge itself—a pedestrian walkway with metal railings—sits in the background of every shot, which adds context but also limits the compositional options. You can’t eliminate it. You have to work with it or around it.
By the time the sun finally showed up—just after noon—everything was lit from the wrong angle. The light was coming from behind the falls, backlighting the water and turning the foliage into silhouettes. Not ideal. I waited for partial cloud cover to diffuse the light and composed narrowly on the falls to avoid the worst of the backlighting. I left just enough in the composition for the colour of the trees to show through—those brilliant oranges and golds that made the trip worthwhile.
I shot a few frames of the full two-tier cascade, adjusting the composition to balance the falls, the gorge walls, and the autumn canopy. The XF27mmF2.8 R WR was still mounted on the X-T3, and whilst it wasn’t the lens I would have chosen for this scene, it worked. The focal length kept me focused on the falls themselves rather than trying to capture the entire gorge.
I also turned upstream and photographed Fall Creek as it approached the dam. The water was calm there, flowing smoothly between the tree-lined banks. The autumn colours were even more vibrant upstream—golden yellows and warm oranges reflecting in the water. It was quieter, less dramatic than the falls, but just as beautiful. Sometimes the scenes we don’t plan for are the ones worth keeping.
Bhavna wasn’t interested in the technical challenges of photographing waterfalls—she just wanted to enjoy the autumn colours and the crisp air. I envied that. Photography can feel like a problem-solving exercise sometimes, where you’re constantly adjusting for light, composition, and equipment limitations. It’s easy to forget to just look at the scene and enjoy it.
We spent about an hour at Beebe Lake and Triphammer Falls before heading back to the car. The light never quite cooperated, and the trail closures limited what I could shoot. But I got a few frames I liked, and Bhavna got her autumn colours. That’s enough.
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