Taughannock Falls State Park (icon) is located in the Town of Ulysses

Ulysses, New York

Ulysses is a town located in northwest Tompkins County, New York, U.S.. The population was 4,900 at the 2010 census. The town was named after the hero of the Odyssey....

 in Tompkins County, New York

Tompkins County, New York

Tompkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, and comprises the whole of the Ithaca metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 101,564. The county seat is Ithaca, and the county is home to Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community...

, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The park is northwest of Ithaca

Ithaca, New York

The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

 near Trumansburg, New York

Trumansburg, New York

Trumansburg is a village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 1,581 at the 2000 census. The name is a variant spelling of the surname of the founder, Abner Treman...

. The name Taughannock comes from the Algonquian

Algonquian languages

The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

-speaking Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Indians, referring either to chief Taughannock or the word taghkanic (great fall in the woods).

The main cataract

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

 of the falls is a 215 feet (65.5 m), making it 33 feet (10.1 m) taller than Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...

. It is one of the largest single-drop waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

.
The water flows through a long gorge with cliffs up to 400 ft (121.9 m), characteristic of the area's gorges that give rise to the common "Ithaca is Gorges" bumper stickers and t-shirts. The waterfall and gorge comprise an example of a hanging valley that developed in a very similar fashion to the one at nearby Watkins Glen State Park

Watkins Glen State Park

Watkins Glen State Park is located on the edge of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County. The main feature of the park is the hiking trail that climbs up through the gorge, passing over and under waterfalls...

. None of the local gorges were "carved by glaciers." In fact all of the gorges are post-glacial valleys carved by the streams that still run through them. It is the valleys over which the waterfalls hang that were eroded (over-deepened) by the advance of the Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 ice sheets.

Visitors can reach an excellent view of the waterfall by walking along a 3/4-mile-long trail (1.2 km). The gorge trail is open all year long, unlike the rim trails which are closed to the public in winter. Visitors in autumn can enjoy the picturesque colors of the surrounding trees. Swimming under the waterfall is hazardous and strictly forbidden.

The Park offers hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

 and nature trails, camping

Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...

, picnicking, swimming, fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, and a boat launch, as well as ice-skating, sledding

Sledding

Sledding , sledging , sleding or tobogganing is a common activity in wintry areas, similar to sliding, but in a prone or seated position requiring a device or vehicle generically known in the US as a sled or in other countries as a sledge or toboggan...

, cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...

in the winter at Rice hill just north of the park.