Pixley Falls State Park

BOONVILLE WEATHER

Lansing Kill tumbles over a resistant sandstone cap rock to form Pixley Falls, fanning 50 feet into a plunge-pool hemmed by flat shale ledges. Because the creek bends just upstream, you can photograph the broad face of the falls head-on from creek level while remaining safely out of the spray. Smaller cascades on a tributary join the gorge directly below the main drop, creating a layered soundscape of rushing water. In midsummer, low flows reveal elegantly banded strata; after storms the curtain turns into a solid white wall. Heavy hemlock and hardwood canopy keeps the gorge cool and mossy even in July, making it a wonderful stop to cool off in the heat.

Approaching the base, visitors first hear the low rumble that echoes off the gorge’s moss-lined walls before the falls suddenly appear, fanning into a shallow plunge-pool framed by flat shale shelves. The creek is usually only ankle-deep above and below the drop, so you can wade out on stable, slabbed bedrock for centered, head-on photographs.

Flow peaks during spring snow-melt and after summer cloudbursts, when the whole lip turns white and spray drifts across the gorge. By late July the waterfall thins to graceful ribbons that reveal the dark, ribbed rock behind it—perfect for long-exposure shots. Come winter, the curtain transforms into a thick wall of ice columns and ledges, often studded with snow-crystal “flowers,” making Pixley one of Tug Hill’s most photogenic frozen falls.

A small tributary tumbles in from river-left immediately downstream, with an eight-foot seasonal cascade that makes for a beautiful photograph in the right conditions. Further down is an additional tributary with another small waterfall no more than 20 ft from the confluence.

Beyond the namesake waterfall, Pixley Falls State Park is a compact, mostly wild, 375-acre day-use preserve that feels more like a small slice of wilderness than a manicured tourist park. Steep, hemlock-draped hills funnel cool air into the Lansing Kill gorge, creating a damp micro-climate where spring trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit, and moss-carpeted shale ledges thrive. A single pavilion and a scattering of picnic tables occupy a grassy flat near the entrance; otherwise the park doesn’t have much to it other than peace and quiet.

Human activity in the Lansing Kill gorge long predates white settlers. Haudenosaunee hunters of the Mohawk nation traversed these deep woods for centuries, using the tumbling creek as a seasonal route between the Tug Hill rim and the Mohawk River flats. When white settlers pushed north after the Revolution, the first settlements appeared around 1795; by 1805 the Town of Boonville had been carved out of the town of Leyden and named for Dutch land-agent Gerrit Boon. Small water-powered sawmills soon lined the gorge, among them an operation run by the Pixley family, early landowners and farmers whose surname was eventually attached to the falls itself—though written documentation is scant and the story survives mainly in local oral histories.

According to the 1860 Gazetteer of the State of New York, the first permanent settlement at the falls began in 1795 when Andrew Edmunds, acting for the Holland Land Company, built a saw and grist-mill on Lansing Kill, although the precise location has been lost to time. Within a year, a dozen pioneer families—including the Fishers, Southwells, Porters and Springers—had taken up lots, and the new hamlet of Hurlbutville soon had its own post office, store, and inn. Local tradition (though thinly documented) holds that the place name honors an early Hurlbut(or Hulburt) family who owned land or ran one of the mills along the Kill.

The arrival of the Black River Canal proved to be a boom to industry in the valley, connecting Rome to Port Leyden through Boonville. Built between 1837 and 1855, the canal had to climb 693 feet in its first 25 miles; seventy locks were crammed into that stretch, five of them stacked like a staircase in the Lansing Kill gorge just downstream of today’s picnic area. These “Five Combines” (Locks 39–43) let barges thread the ravine while teamsters led mules along the tow-path now shared by the North Country Trail. The canal ended up consolidating business and settlement in Boonville, Rome, Port Leyden, and the settlement of Hurlbutville and the several mills along the Kill disappeared. The canal was used to haul timber and potash until competition of railroads forced its closure in 1924, but the finely cut limestone lock walls still stand in place, moss-covered and photogenic. To the south of here, along NY-46 is the The “Black River Canal Culvert,” a surviving mid-19th-century stone-arch tunnel that carried Clark Brook under the Black River Canal, and was actually one of several culverts of this type in the canal system. Today the highway runs the course of the canal over the brook, utilizing the same 175 -year-old structure.

As the canal was decommissioned, New York purchased 375 acres around the waterfall to create Pixley Falls State Park, ensuring public access to the gorge and a steady supply of trout water for anglers. During the summer of 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp A-122 added stone fireplaces, picnic tables and the original pavilion—much of the rustic masonry you relax beside today.

The park functioned as a small campground for decades, but rising maintenance costs and low occupancy led to its conversion to day-use only in 2010; the focus returned to quiet hiking, fishing and winter cross-country skiing along the historic tow-path.

Difficulty: Easy. A short walk down a mild gradient, but there are exposed roots, some steps, and it may get muddy in early spring and after heavy rain.

Markings: A sign points you to a well-maintained trail. Other trails in the park have colored blazes.

Distance: About a half mile one-way.

How to get to Pixley Falls:

1. From the main lot, walk to the opposite end of the loop from the parking lot/entrance. Follow the offshoot gravel/dirt road to the overflow lot in the woods.
2. On the right, before you get to the end of the overflow lot, there will be a sign and an opening to a dirt trail leading into the woods. Take this trail down. (not the trail at the very southern end of the lot).
3. You’ll end up at the base of Pixley Falls, with a feeder creek and small waterfall at your right.
4. If you are feeling adventurous and water levels allow for it, head downstream on the same side as the first feeder creek. You’ll find another small gully. Walk up it about 20 feet to see another small waterfall.

Other Trails in Pixley Falls State Park:

1. Nature Trail (0.7 mi) Yellow on the map, Blue Blazes as the NCT trail overlaps. Continues the path to the falls south along the Kill and then loops back up to the south of the overflow lot.
2. Black River Canal Trail (1.25 mi) Green Blazes. From the gravel/dirt road leading to the overflow lot, there is a trailhead about halfway down that leads east into the woods. It loops back to the softball diamond north of the picnic area.
3. Red Trail (.48 mi) Red Blazes. A loop that extends south from the Nature Trail.
4. Black River Canal Trail (Blue Blazed through this area) is a linear multi-use path that follows the 19th-century towpath of the Black River Canal and its Feeder Canal. Taken together, the two principal segments provide roughly 20 miles of continuous off-road travel through woodland, farmland and the scenic Lansing Kill gorge south of Boonville, NY. The route is open to hiking, running, mountain and gravel-biking, snowshoeing and (in groomed season) classic cross-country skiing. It also forms part of the 4800-mile North Country National Scenic Trail.

Map: Interactive; Trail Map (PDF);

Waterfall on a seasonal feeder creek near Pixley Falls. Photo by Chris Babcock. Chris has been exploring waterfalls around New York State and beyond for decades. Check out his Flickr.

Give Winter a Shot

• The park is peaceful and the falls will still flow through most of winter. It can freeze up in especially cold winters, leading to a crystalline blue ice shell creating a shell over the falls.

Wet Feet

• While swimming is prohibited (and the pool below the falls is not that deep anyway, it should be fine to wade in the water a bit to frame your shot better.

Silky Water Effect

• To get that smooth cotton-candy look to the falls, you need to use a Neutral Density (ND) filter on your lens. The ND filter will block some of the light from entering the lens without altering the color, and thus allows your shutter to stay open longer. This blurs the water and creates a soft white gloss to the foamy areas of the falls.  Check out the article for all of the details.
• For larger falls with ample water flow, shoot shorter shutter speeds, or you risk softening the feel of power. 1/5 to 1/3 of the second is just enough for this one.

More tips

• See the Articles for more photography tips.

Pixley Falls State Park
Phone: 315-337-4670