In hindsight, I *may* have been hyperfixating on waterfalls when I planned our summer trips… but it’s fiiiine – now that they’re over, I’m not complaining. Our first one was over Memorial Day weekend and consisted of ping-ponging between all of the super-green trees in Vermont to catch some beautiful waterfalls (including some one in New Jersey and one in New York too).

I didn’t want to drive 7-ish straight hours from our house in Baltimore to our campground in Vermont, so I needed to find a way to stretch our legs. We left home around 5:30am and drove straight to…

1: Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, New Jersey

Paterson Great Falls is 3 hours away from Baltimore and I thought would be a good one, especially since we could get a stamp in our National Parks passport. When we arrived around 9am on a Thursday, we found a fairly trashed parking lot with a few locked porta-potty’s, people chilling in their cars smoking cigarettes, and lots of construction happening on the historical building in front of the falls which unfortunately was a huge photobomb.

The park itself pays homage to Alexander Hamilton who founded this place as one of the nation’s first industrial hubs. It’s nestled right inside of a now-not-so-great part of town that you can tell used to be super reliant on factory jobs, and I wouldn’t leave my car unattended at this park for any stretch of time. The park rangers hang out in a small historical-looking brick building adjacent to the parking lot and they were super friendly. The National Parks Passport cancellation stamp is inside of this building – just knock, the ranger will take it inside to stamp it for you after asking where you want it, then bring it back to you.

The falls are actually huge and look really powerful, but you can’t get that great of a view of them right now due to the construction (May 2024). We got our stamp and moved on quickly.

We got gas in New Jersey before going to our next stop. I always feel strange when I’m in this state because they pump your gas for you and I’m always so close to getting out to do it myself (which is illegal, apparently!). Wild.

It absolutely poured rain on our way to the next stop, at some points I was actually worried that our four-lane highway would be too flooded out to keep going. I can’t remember the last time it was that bad. Luckily it was fine and we found ourselves at…

2: Kaaterskill Falls, Palenville, NY

From Paterson, it was about a 2/2.5 hour drive to this amazing place. We arrived around 10:30am and the drive up was super scenic, especially when you get to about half an hour away from the parking lot. Somehow while planning this I didn’t realize Kaaterskill Falls is within the Catskills Mountains! I’ve heard about “the Catskills” a million times so it was cool to accidentally be at them.

Make sure to not drive too quickly on the windy road 15-ish minutes away from the parking lot because Haines Falls comes out of nowhere on the side of the road you’ll easily miss gawking at it.

The parking lot is fairly large and we had no issues finding parking on a Thursday morning, but I can only imagine what a weekend must be like given how beautiful it is. There are no bathrooms/porta-potty’s in the parking lot, so don’t count on that. We got a cute Catskills map from a table where staff were sitting and chatting.

Sadly, this area is notorious for people dying by slipping on various parts of the waterfall(s), and the last death was less than two weeks prior to our visit. There are staff and plenty of signs reminding you not to get on any ledges.

The trail is a little over two miles with a little under 400 ft elevation gain, and starts through some miscellaneous woods before coming up to the upper falls observation platform which is a great place to take photos. If you are exiting the platform and go to the right (instead of back onto the gravel path), you can find a trail that will take you to some huge boulders and the VERY top of the falls where it all starts. There’s a great view of the mountains too.

The best part is that locals have been carving their names in the rock up there for over 100 years. It was surreal to imagine them up there in there old-timey clothes and using chisels (probably?), and exploring the same exact spot where I was standing. I kept closing my eyes to use my imagination to see them, I felt like I could almost hear them. I wonder if Edna would’ve wanted to be friends.

From there, your next stop is the very bottom of the falls which is found along a steep descent with plenty of warning signs, a metric ton of wet, shallow, (but aesthetic) wooden stairs, and many questions as to why we were doing this in 90F+ degree weather. I just took my sweet time and it was fine, and I was grateful it wasn’t crowded. It was at this point that I saw a few people opt out and stay at the mid-point instead.

On my way back up, I stopped at the mid-point and you can hang out at the (surprise) middle falls. The mist here feels soooo good. This seems like probably the most “dangerous” of the sections in regard to how people might fall. It’s the muddy/slippery orange-ish sandstone-type rock that places like the Grand Canyon and Zion have – ya know?

We headed out and finally headed to settle in to our home for the next two nights at…

3: Jamaica State Park, Vermont

… which was about 3 hours from Kaaterskill Falls, and we arrived around 5:30/6pm.

The office at the front entrance was closed for the day so we found the hang tags for our campsite in a brochure holder on the desk, paid for and picked up some of their firewood, and settled into our site. I had no idea that Jamaica State Park is Vermont’s #1 rated state park. Pretty cool.

We got a lean-to site and it was great. Ours was Ironwood.
Just note: the trailhead for one of the ways to Hamilton Falls (one of the main attractions of the park) is basically IN the site and acts as the dividing line with your neighbor. When we went, the trail was still closed (flood damage) so we didn’t experience any of that foot traffic.

The site has the lean-to of course, which has some coat hooks and a bit of shelving which we found super convenient to keep our random knick knacks close by and off the ground. There’s a fire ring with a grill top, a picnic table, and our site faced the woods so we had plenty of area to collect downed wood. Non-potable water is a short distance away via spigot to wash dishes (we brought a case of bottled water for drinking), as well as the bathrooms which are actual flushing stalls with regular sinks, mirrors, some outlets, a shower.

There are black bears in this area apparently, so we were super careful to pack up all of our food and trash in the car before we went to bed but absolutely none of our neighbors did the same so I’m not sure how prevalent they really are (or if the locals just don’t mind).

Our lean-to site at Jamaica State Park cost $44/night total. I’m almost positive that they require a two-night minimum stay, and they’re reserved by going here: https://vtstateparks-visit.com/.