Eternal Flame Falls

Eternal Flame Falls, Shale Creek Preserve Chestnut Ridge Park, Eire Co New York

     When I was in undergrad school I had heard about an eternal flame falls but didn't find out where it was located.  All I knew it was to the east of where I lived.  I had no idea where to begin to look for it and forgot all about it even though I really wanted to see it.  For years I never gave it another thought, until a fellow blogger Jessica Ball @ Magma Cum Laude gave this post on it. http://blogs.agu.org/magmacumlaude/2010/11/12/gas-seeps-in-western-ny/
She wrote  "One of my favorites is in the Shale Creek Preserve at Chestnut Ridge Park"
That finally gave me a clue as to where to look.
When I clicked on the Shale Creek preserve I got this website.
http://www.wnyhikes.com/index.php
I realized it was in Eire County - upstate New York.  That was close to Niagara falls and I knew Niagara Falls was just a couple of hours away from my mothers home.  I figured the next time I would visit I could go there.  The trouble was when I would visit I was too busy with other things and didn't have much of a chance to visit until just recently.  I had a reunion to go to on the 12 of July, and my brother was visiting my mom on July 4th and left on the 6th.  I realized I could go visit my mom & brother and also go to the reunion all in the same trip.  It also gave me a week free to do what I wanted.  This was the perfect time to go.   So I looked it up in Wikipedia because I was having trouble remembering where to find Jessica's post.   

Here's what Wikipedia had and it was not very helpful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Flame_Falls

I then did a google search and found this website: http://nyfalls.com/waterfalls/eternal-flame-falls/
They gave these directions to get there:

Location:
 In Chestnut Ridge Park; just outside of North Boston, Town of Orchard Park, Erie County, New York Maps: Google Map, Bing Maps, Multi-map (topo); Interactive map.
GPS: Parking and Trailhead: (N 42.69993 / W 78.75238)
Eternal Flame Falls: (N 42.70158 / W 78.75113)
Roadside parking: (N 42.70012 / W 78.75255)
Directions: Take I90 to US Route 219 and follow it south for 11 miles. Take the NY-391 exit toward Boston/Hamburg and turn left onto Boston State Rd. Take the 3rd left onto NY-277 (Herman Hill Rd.) and follow it for just over a mile and a half. It becomes Boston Ridge Rd. Take a sharp left on Seufert Rd and park immediately on the right.
Or use Google Directions.
Parking: Park alongside Seufert Rd. Spaces for roughly a dozen cars.


Now having this information I  was all set to go.  I was going to go on Monday but when I woke up it was pouring down rain.  I checked the weather map and they were predicting rain all day long.  I decided not to go due to weather.  Tuesday I had other commitments and couldn't go, which was just as well since it rained on and off all day long.   Then on Wednesday I was finally able to go, with my son.  As we were driving there we encountered some more rain which surprised us since it wasn't suppose to rain that day.   We decided to try it anyway and I was glad we did since the rain had stopped by the time we got there.  In fact I felt like the rain was a real blessing since I had read that in the summer the creek could sometimes dry up or just have a trickle running through it.  They recommend seeing it in the spring.


For us it was the perfect day since there was a lot of water and we could get the full impact of the water falls.
We parked where they recommended and got out and followed the trail.  We crossed  this creek and wondered where the falls were.  Since the trail continued on we decided to follow it. 

 We got to a point were it split and luckily we came across another hiker in the woods who told us to go left and to look for the flame signs on the trees.  That really helped a lot and once we saw what we were looking for it made it so much easier to do.

 The hiker told us that the trail basically follows the ridge and the creek is down below with the falls.  he told us the ravine was pretty steep and not to try to go down any other way than the trail.  So we followed his advice and could see what he was talking about.

 This was looking down at the creek.

 I was beginning to wonder if it would be worth it to see, but was enjoying seeing the glacial boulders and such along the way.  It felt good to be hiking in the woods after being couped up for a couple of days like we had been.

 We finally got down to the creek bed and was able to follow it up river to the falls.  I was glad the hiker had told us which way to go because the signs weren't very helpful at this point.  But we did run into some more people looking for the flames and they had been there before and knew which way to go. 

We came across this one falls and I was wondering if this was  it, but was told it wasn't.  I was glad because there wasn't much water coming down from it.

 This is the shale that was lining the walls of the ravine and I could see why it was called shale creek preserve.  It reminded me a lot of the parks in the Cleveland Metro park system.
Jessica tells us that this is the Hanover Shale, Devonian age. http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/UnitRefs/HanoverRefs_1964.html

 Then we came upon the falls.  People said this was it.  I realized from the pictures I had seen that I had to go to the right side to really see the flame.

 And then I saw it.  It was so fascinating to see.  I also felt it was very spiritual.  It was such a contradiction to see that flame burning with all that water flowing over it. It was mind boggling!!  Amazing!!! Incredible!!  Everyone who came up to it would make and exclamation of some sort. 

 The natural gas seep is probably from the Medina group which is produced a lot in the region.
http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/UnitRefs/MedinaRefs_2722.html
I tried to look up natural gas seep and also gas seep in Wikipedia but all they had was cold seep.

 I did take some video of it and am trying to include it here.
I can see the video on my computer but not on my cellphone.  I don't know if you can see it or not. 

 

 If you ever get a chance to go to Upstate New York I highly recommend making the effort to go see it. To me its just as great as Niagara Falls.
  I also want to thank Jessica Ball for blogging about this in the first place and helping me find out were it was located.