Travel. Hometown Tourist. USA.

My Quest to Find Lower Falls Cave in Rochester, NY

A place I didn’t know existed until last year

Rochester, New York, is known for a few things, most notably, garbage plates, Kodak, George Eastman, and this article’s feature: The Genesee River. There are three different waterfalls along the Genesee in Rochester; High, Middle, and Lower Falls.

During the pandemic, I explored so many new areas in my hometown, including hiking down to the base of Lower Falls, an oasis within the city.

Lower Falls

Over the summer, I was inspired by a photo on the @rochesterny Instagram account and wanted to find the location, going off only a few vague directions in the comment section. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, but I knew it was in the vicinity of Maplewood Park and Lower Falls.

Attempt #1

I started just searching “Maplewood Park” in my phone and hoping the trail down into the gorge would be relatively obvious. Unfortunately for my friend and me, Maplewood Park is quite long, and when you type in “Maplewood Park” on Apple Maps, it takes you to the northern end, which is not where we needed to be.

We spent about an hour exploring the Genesee trail, including the Riverway Trail Bridge that gives you a great view of the tree-lined river and Veterans Memorial Bridge. I meant to come back when the foliage was…