Wiscoy Falls is one of those places that should be on every Houghton student’s bucket list. Set back a mile or so from the well-frequented Route 19, this chain of three waterfalls is a gorgeous sight to see and explore. To get there, simply drive 10 minutes north of Houghton on Route 19, and take a left at the sign denoting Wiscoy. As you follow its direction, you will come to a Y in the road, at which you should continue to the right. Very soon, you will reach the bridge that overlooks the first of the falls. Most Houghton students that expedition here will make use of the small dirt parking space next to the condemned mill building just past the bridge, and then proceed along the path that extends from there.
Visitors should follow this pathway through the woods, and then there is a hike across a firm dirt trail along the river. After dodging briars and climbing the dry sides of the waterfall’s shale, visitors can splash through the shallows on their way upstream. As they chase the river toward its source, visitors will encounter three waterfalls before finally being faced with the dam that spills the water down toward the Genesee. All three of these waterfalls are accessible to the adventurous expeditionary, and they all hold secrets of their own for the discovery.
As visitors approach the second waterfall from downstream, they will find the riverbed to be hazardously pot-marked with greater or lesser depressions in the rock. The deepest of these begins a short way from the strongest portion of that particular fall and extends right up to the crashing of the water. However, there is a ledge that can be traced from the right side of the falls (facing upstream) that will lead visitors along the edge of the falls. Visitors will be led to a point where their faces are stung by the spray of the water and they have no more ledge to trace, and it is at that point that visitors may let themselves fall into the powerful curtain of water and startlingly find themselves safe in an open cavern beneath that very curtain. This moderately sized cavern is my personal favorite place to explore when I travel to the falls when the water is warm.
Since it is only early spring, I would not recommend swimming at Wiscoy just yet. But you may still enjoy the picturesque scenery and take the opportunity breathe the clear air of a white-water Spring.