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New York

Watkins Glen & Rainbow Falls

Autumn Guide ↗ put the peak at Taughannock Falls State Park around October 13. That day has gone, so the newest pictures below are the truer guide to what is left on the trees.

Photographs of Watkins Glen & Rainbow Falls and the country around it, anywhere within 25 miles of Watkins Glen & Rainbow Falls, newest first. Each is shown with the day it was taken.

Photographs by date

Looking up into black walnut crowns still mostly green, with the first yellow leaves catching the light. — Black walnut just yellowing, Ithaca
Photograph · October 5, 2026
Photograph by Robert Ross · iNaturalist ↗ · CC0 1.0 ↗
Ithaca, New York
Original source photograph ↗

One maple gone orange from top to bottom, standing among taller trees that are still green. — Orange maple among green trees, Ithaca
Photograph · October 4, 2026
Photograph by tryalilbite · iNaturalist ↗ · CC BY-NC 4.0 ↗
Ithaca, New York
Original source photograph ↗

Green and yellow canopy remains readable along the gorge rim and beside the bridge above the cascades. — Rainbow Falls at Watkins Glen
Photograph · September 30, 2026
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved ↗
Rainbow Falls, Watkins Glen State Park, New York
Original source photograph ↗

Leafy foreground branches and wooded gorge slopes retain substantial foliage; the blue-green treatment removes natural leaf color. — Taughannock Falls — leaf-retention view
Photograph · September 23, 2026
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved ↗
Taughannock Falls upper overlook, New York
Original source photograph ↗

The falls slide down mossy rock beside a shrub just turning yellow, the gorge trees otherwise green. — Lucifer Falls, mid-September
Photograph · September 16, 2026
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Lucifer Falls, Robert H. Treman State Park, New York
Original source photograph ↗

Water spills over the creek's stone steps under a solid wall of green summer trees. — Taughannock lower falls in August
Photograph · August 5, 2026
Photograph by jheaneyphotos · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Taughannock Falls State Park, New York
Original source photograph ↗

Earlier autumns

Taken between late September and mid-November in earlier years, these show how the season runs here.

2025

Evening sun lights orange and gold oaks along the gorge rim above the falls, with bare trees on the slope below. — Taughannock Falls in November light
Photograph · November 2, 2025
Photograph by njusic · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Taughannock Falls State Park, New York
Original source photograph ↗

The broad falls run full after rain, with the last orange and red leaves on the rim and many trees already bare. — Ithaca Falls in early November
Photograph · November 1, 2025
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Ithaca Falls, Ithaca, New York
Original source photograph ↗

Orange and yellow trees lean over an old mill wall and a still pond that mirrors the cliff and sky. — Six Mile Creek mill pond
Photograph · October 25, 2025
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Six Mile Creek near Wells Falls, Ithaca, New York
Original source photograph ↗

The long cascade runs down into the swimming pool between hillsides of orange and gold trees with a few still green. — Buttermilk Falls in full colour
Photograph · October 22, 2025
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Buttermilk Falls State Park, Ithaca, New York
Original source photograph ↗

The falls drop into a rock gorge below a footbridge, with orange, yellow and green hardwoods around Beebe Lake behind. — Triphammer Falls and Beebe Lake
Photograph · October 11, 2025
Photograph by John Baggaley · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Triphammer Falls and Beebe Lake, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Original source photograph ↗

A wide cascade steps down stone ledges below trees turning orange and yellow along the gorge wall. — Devil's Kitchen Falls in early October
Photograph · October 8, 2025
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Devil's Kitchen Falls, Robert H. Treman State Park, New York
Original source photograph ↗

The tall falls drop into the gorge between green trees, with orange and red crowns just starting on the rim above. — Taughannock Falls, first colour
Photograph · September 24, 2025
Photograph by LJS74 · Flickr ↗ · All Rights Reserved
Taughannock Falls State Park, New York
Original source photograph ↗

2019

Between red and orange trees on a rim, the view opens over pavilions to farm fields and a long ridge of rust and orange hardwoods under a streaked grey sky. — Seneca Lake country from a wooded rim
Photograph · October 20, 2019
Photograph by David Zhang · Wikimedia Commons ↗ · CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗
Seneca Lake
Original source photograph ↗

2017

From the dry creek bed a shale cliff rises under hardwoods mostly still green, with a few crowns turned orange and yellow at its foot. — Taughannock gorge wall from the creek
Photograph · October 1, 2017
Photograph by Andre Carrotflower · Wikimedia Commons ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗
Taughannock Creek gorge
Original source photograph ↗

2016

The falls drop down a sheer grey amphitheatre past a slope of fallen leaves, with bare and rust-brown trees along the rim and yellow shrubs by the path. — Taughannock Falls from the gorge trail
Photograph · November 12, 2016
Photograph by See1,Do1,Teach1 · Wikimedia Commons ↗ · CC BY 2.0 ↗
Taughannock Falls
Original source photograph ↗

2010

The falls drop in one long white ribbon into the shaded gorge, with orange, red and gold hardwoods along the cliff tops and green ones still among them. — Taughannock Falls from the rim
Photograph · October 10, 2010
Photograph by LBM1948 · Wikimedia Commons ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗
Taughannock Falls
Original source photograph ↗

2009

Looking down on a small fall in the Treman gorge, its ledges covered in fallen brown and gold leaves, with green and rust shrubs in front. — Treman gorge falls under fallen leaves
Photograph · October 14, 2009
Photograph by Dougtone · Wikimedia Commons ↗ · CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗
Robert H. Treman State Park
Original source photograph ↗

About these views

Compare the photographs around this area and their dates; their captions identify the setting and any location uncertainty.