Akron Falls Earthcache EarthCache
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Akron falls is located within a beautifully wooded 284-acre county park in the village of Akron, NY. This park is a picnickers haven. It’s loaded with tables, grills, swings, jungle gyms, the gurgle of a flowing creek, and the shade of large trees. Who’d suspect that this docile waterway is called Murder Creek? Legend has it that the creek is haunted by the ghosts of three Seneca Indians murdered by a white settler.
There is a nice trail that climbs through the woods to a waterfall where the waters of Murder Creek slip though the rocks and plummet over the Onondaga Escarpment. Western New York has three major escarpments or rock ledges. They are roughly parallel, north-facing ledges. The best known is the Niagara Escarpment, which forms Niagara Falls. Sixteen miles south, the Onondaga Escarpment ranges from 30 to 70 feet high as it crosses western New York from Buffalo. The southernmost escarpment is the Portage or Lake Erie Escarpment, which forms the northern border of the Allegheny Plateau.
The water in Lower Akron Falls is channeled at the crest. Depending on water level it may form a curtain or several narrow wisps as the water freefalls over a dam to the gorge below. Upper Akron Falls, found 1600 feet upstream, is also a free fall from an overhung cap rock but it fills the width of the creek channel. The upper falls is a complicated waterfall whose appearance depends greatly on the amount of water. There are three distinct parts to the falls. On the right side, facing the falls, the creek plummets 40 or so feet straight down. In the middle section, the creek comes out of the rocks about 20 feet up. The left most part of the falls is a rocky cascade. In lower water, the 40 foot drop dries up.
In summer you can walk the creek bed to the base of the falls, but it is a dangerous place to walk. The rocks are unsupported and loose. Erosion is an ongoing event here as the waterfall slowly walks upstream. There is a cave below the main part of the upper waterfall. It used to be blocked by a metal grate but the forces of nature have damaged the grating, so it’s now open. Do not attempt to enter the cave.
Since the flow of this creek varies greatly over the seasons, your task here, in addition to posting a snapshot of the falls, is to use your log to describe, in your own terminology, the amount of water flowing over the falls and over which of the three sections at the time of your visit along with a quick description of the current weather conditions.
Give the Akron Fall Bonus Cache a try while you're standing right there!
FTF:) Gayuga Crew until he deleted his log & pics. LOL
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