NYFalls.com Talk

Wilsey Creek Falls are located on Butler Road, a dead end street outside of Burtonsville. Just after crossing over the bridge immediately above the falls you'll find a parking area on the right. The trees on half the parking lot bear No Trespassing signs. The right side of the lot back to the bridge is not signed, and a well worn trail starts at the lot to the top of the falls. A less worn but visible trail follows the top of the gorge away from the bridge. Be careful, as it is a sheer drop down into the stream bed.

Above the bridge there's a small five foot fall, and above that several smaller falls. If you walk back across the bridge, back up the hill you can see these additional cascades from the roadside. 42.822352, -74.264349.

I arrived about noon on a sunny day. The light reflecting off the water made it difficult for me to get a proper picture, as I wasn't quite sure what settings would work for the best picture.

Walking along the trail on the rim of the gorge I looked for a way down. I noticed another faint trail below leading to the stream bed. There was a way down, but you'll need to hang onto trees and rocks as you clamber down a very steep section of the bank. Take a moment to consider that you'll have to come back up this way before you head down.

Walking upstream toward the bridge leads, of course, to the falls. The volume of water coming over the falls created a mist I could feel even where this was taken.

Heading back the way I came, I noticed another much smaller falls near where I came down the bank. I doubt this exists year round so you may not see it after spring run off or only after heavy rain. About 45 feet tall.

I really like the way the falls hits that flat ledge near the bottom. If water levels are tame, I would shoot from the pool below, putting the bottom curtain in the bottom third of the frame, then the top 2/3 would be the upper section of the falls. I was looking for a falls like this to try this composition. Thanks for posting this.

Took a hike through the Schoharie Creek Preserve in Esperance, which includes the Wilsey Creek Falls. If you want to just view the falls, there is a parking area right beside the bridge on Butler Road that goes over the creek at the top of the falls. The trail segment on the parking area side of the bridge is short, and has no easy way to get down to the bottom, but by going back over the bridge after parking, and then walking East up into the woods, you'll encounter the trail that runs through the park. The water flow was a lot less than when the prior pictures in this thread were taken, but still a good flow.

Here is a view of the creek flowing down towards the falls from the upstream side of the falls:



Here is a view looking at those same little falls from under the Butler Road bridge, and at the top of the big falls:



The loop trail through the preserve is a nice walk, and it runs along the Schoharie for a bit so there are some steep sections, but not too bad.
Overall a nice walk, and only a little over a mile long if you don't go bushwhacking and explore here and there.
Thanks to the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy for maintaining this area:



If you cross over to the eastern side of the falls, and walk down the path that leads down the spine of the divide between the Wilsey Creek and Schoharie Creek, you can climb down the water level, and possibly make your way back upstream to the base of the large falls. We didn't make it all the way back this time, but here is a view looking back towards the bend just below the falls:



Here is a view of the Schoharie Creek, looking back upstream from the little penninsula where Wilsey Creek enters the Schoharie:



And while climbing back up the spine to the main trail, this is a view of the large falls mostly obscured by trees: