Quick escape from the city.

Living in a city space can be confining. Although parks help, there’s not much in the way of boundless wilderness like what one might find in the Catskills or beyond. But Buttermilk Falls County Park in Orangeburg, Rockland County comes close. Less than a mile away from one of the biggest malls in New York State, Palisades Mall, Buttermilk Falls County Park has two rocky overlooks on which the hiker may gaze upon the landscape 300 feet below and a waterfall that—because of its nearly impossible-to-access gorge—lay unspoiled from the humanity cropping up in settlements around the park’s perimeter.

If you live in the area, there’s no question that you should visit. I’d say the park was meant for you. But if you need to drive a-ways to get there, you may find Buttermilk Falls County Park less alluring as you will not get the isolation in Mother Nature you might be expecting. You will constantly hear the noise of road traffic and the roar of low-flying jet planes to and from New York City. Care must also be taken that you not inadvertently trespass into the backyards of the occasional homes nearby.

Still, a waterfall cascading and falling on black rock as to make the waterfall uniquely black-faced, I’d say Buttermilk Falls State Park has the makings of an attraction—an artistic expression of Mother Nature if you will—that can draw visitors from far and wide.