4.25 miles | 250 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★

The plan was to drive over to Buttermilk Falls just before dinner on Saturday night. Google gave us one set of directions, Waze another longer route. We assumed Waze knew something Google didn’t about traffic or obstructions (it usually does, regardless of them being the same company) and went with it. 30 minutes later we arrived at a blocked road. So…we drove around to the other side. Also blocked. Apparently the direct road to the falls was blocked with “covid restrictions” according to the Delaware Water Gap’s website. We learned later that they were rebuilding the parking lot.

Given our lack of sleep Saturday night, we scrapped the more ambitious climb up Mount Tammany and decided we’d walk to Buttermilk Falls. The 1.9 mile road walk was wide and uneventful. When we arrived to the falls, it had beautiful cascades but was surprisingly light given the amount of rain we’ve experienced thus far this summer.

For kids, the climb to the top of the falls observation platform is great – it’s STEEP but via stairs, with the waterfall in view the whole time making it high reward. Though I don’t know that the 1.9 mile road walk to get there is worth it or will go over well with young ones.

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I’m always game for a waterfall, but would I go out of my way to visit Buttermilk Falls again? Probably not.