Potter's Falls is a beautiful waterfall in Six Mile Gorge, which is a bit of an urban wilderness in Ithaca. This site is popular with many from this liberal college town, including students from Cornell University. Nudity is very well established here. The deep pool below the falls is a popular skinnydipping hole, and there are flat areas of rock for nude sunbathing.

Potter's Falls is located between two reservoirs formed by Six Mile Creek. As you hike upstream toward the falls from the parking lot, you'll get to the lower reservoir, where nude swimming and sunbathing often take place near the dam. Depending on your physical condition, you may wish to simply stop there. The trail from the lower reservoir on to Potter's Falls is steeper. If you continue, you'll get to a 25-feet waterfall that cascades over a sloping area of rock and spills into a large pool. You should not attempt the hike from the lower reservoir to Potter's Falls if the trail is muddy. Slipping is potentially fatal.

The Six Mile Creek Gorge is managed by the City of Ithaca, which employs its own rangers to patrol the area. The city does not officially permit swimming anywhere in the gorge, but enforcement of the swimming prohibition is not strict. Rangers generally inform swimmers of the regulations and ask them to get out of the water. Nudity is unofficially tolerated, and hassles seem rare. Rangers may occasionally tell nudists that they have to put swimsuits on, but even gentle verbal admonitions are uncommon.

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GPS: 42.4186, -76.4639

city, county, state, country  Ithaca, Tompkins, New York, U.S.A.

classification  2 (traditionally nude)

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