Grass River Falls

A recent outing took us to the Grass River in northern New York, south of Canton. This winding river has many waterfalls and is located in the Adirondack area. While not in the park boundary proper, it feels like the foothills. Add water, and you have waterfalls.

This is the second time we’ve been here. The first was late October, and it was the last warm day of 2023. The weather went from 18 C on the day we went, to 5 C the following day. This time, it was peak heat and humidity of July, and with no breeze. Plus there were deer flies. A lot of deer flies.

We first stopped at the Allen Pond outlet. There is a channel that looks like it once powered a mill of some sort. Someone put three logs across the water to form a makeshift bridge. I wasn’t going across that. I walked along the road, found a clearing and took photos from the waters edge of the smallish waterfalls.

After that, I got turned around. I thought the easy trail we had gone on before was called Basford Falls. A nice end result – waterfalls. But on a humid day – and with those deer flies – the 0.3 mile hike was unnecessarily uncomfortable.

After some exploring, we went to Lampsons Falls, which is one of the biggest on the watercourse. This is an easy hike, the state even has wheelchair accessibility paths to most of the falls.

There is a small trail that takes you to a rocky outlook that puts you square with the main falls, and with some elevation.

This was an afternoon trip, so it was back towards home after this jaunt. A stop for supper in Canton meant stopping for the first time at Sergi’s – Such good pizza. Will definitely return.

How to get here: Cross from Canada into NY State via the Ogdensburg-Prescott bridge. Turn right at Route 37, left on Route 68 to Canton. Once in Canton, turn right on Park Street (County Road 27). Follow that until you hit the hamlet of Degrasse (not the junior high) and turn left on to Tooley Pond Road. It’s about 70 minutes from the border to Lampsden Falls; 10-15 minutes to the rest. And get the pizza at Sergi’s!