With a population of just over 32,000, in Upstate's Finger Lakes region on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, a 3½-hour drive from capital Albany and a bit over four hours from New York City, Ithaca is a prominent college town but also a a “gorges” city. I say that because it's surrounded by rocky gorges, many of them with waterfalls like Taughannock - more than 150 within a ten-mile radius. Within the city limits themselves, a one-third mile hike uphill – the Cascadilla Gorge Trail -- is exhilarating not only because of the trek itself, but for the vastness and variety of six freely flowing cascades along the way.

Read more in Tripatini contributor Fyllis Hockman's post Ithaca, New York: A Place of Gorges, Greenery, Gardens - and Goats.