Cascadilla Gorge Trail

Robert H. Treman purchased this gorge in 1909 and gave it to Cornell — and what he gave was a 1.3-mile trail through bedrock that Cascadilla Creek has been cutting for the past 20,000 years. The creek drops 400 feet from campus to downtown Ithaca, past six waterfalls, through sedimentary rock laid down hundreds of millions of years ago. The stone trails and staircases date to construction between 1928 and 1931. Go in the direction that ends downtown — the descent earns the city.