A Majestic Waterfall Just Outside New York City

It's manmade but it's still a wonder.

The New Croton Dam and waterfalls are located in Croton Gorge Park in Westchester County, New York. The dam was built to provide water for New York City. It is the third largest hand-hewn structure in the world, which means all the stonework that went into it was crafted with hand-held tools.

The park opens at 8 am and I got there just a few minutes later so I pretty much had it all to myself. It’s not a huge park. It only spans 97 acres but the views of the dam, the falls and the origin of the Croton River are pretty impressive.

You can actually climb to the bridge overlooking the dam and the falls. But not this way. I took an indirect walk along trails through the woods to get there. I rate it an easy hike but, obviously, it’s not always on level terrain.

This tiny spillway parallels its big brother and is along the path to the bridge. It was only accommodating a trickle of water - a literal drop in the bucket when compared with the water raging down from the 200-feet-high dam. But I felt it was a spot worthy to pause and take a photo.

All that water racing over the dam originates here, in the Croton Reservoir which has a capacity of about 34 billion gallons. I want to come back in the fall and take this same photo when the colors are changing. I’m betting it’s a spectacular view.

Looking down on a section of the falls from the bridge. The bridge is closed to motor vehicles and is used by hikers, bicyclists and runners.

Looking down over the dam to the start of the Croton River and the bridge and road leading from the state park entrance to the parking lot. (Did you catch the mini-rainbow in this photo? I saw plenty of them as the sunlight filtered through the mist).

A pretty long shot from the bridge over the dam to my van, the Van Gogh, which gets me to my photography adventures. The van seems lonely but that’s a good thing because getting to the park early offered me a degree of solitude.

It’s not just the waterfalls. As you can see, the view while hiking through the woods isn’t too shabby either.

All photos copyright Gary Baumgarten.

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