New York's Best-Kept Secret Features A Breathtakingly Beautiful Underground Waterfall

New York State is filled with gorgeous natural locations, from the casual to the incredibly adventurous. For the urbanites who'd rather spend their time attending art shows, clubbing, or doing celebrity sightseeing, New York City is the destination, but the state is so much bigger than its metropolitan epicenter. The rest of New York offers some of the best hiking and outdoor recreation in the country, including the beautiful but frequently overlooked Secret Caverns.

If you're already visiting the historic museums and beaches of New York's oldest city, and if you enjoy a bit of caving, it's well worth the trip. Secret Caverns is about an hour outside of Albany, right up the road from Howe Caverns, which is probably the most popular and famous caving attraction in Upstate New York. That location hosts a wide range of events for visitors, from walking tours and underground boat rides to subterranean yoga and Zumba classes. The Howe Caverns Hotel also offers overnight packages, making it more of a full-bodied tourist destination than a simple day trip spot. 

Secret Caverns is more basic in its offerings, but that doesn't make it any less worthwhile. It's a uniquely beautiful spot, and since it's just down the road from Howe Caverns, you can easily combine the two into a single expeditionary day. Here's what you should expect upon your visit to Secret Caverns and its amazing 100-foot underground waterfall.

Secret Caverns was founded by Roger Mallery, a local civil engineer. While it may not offer the lavish accommodations of Howe Caverns, it's the caves that count, and Secret Caverns absolutely delivers on that front. The tour runs from 45 minutes to an hour, with $20 tickets for adults and $10 tickets for kids ages 6-12. Children 5 and under get in free. The normal tour doesn't require advance reservations, so you can just show up and buy tickets. Tours occur every hour, on the hour, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. All of that helps make this a super easy add-on to any Howe Caverns trip or a spontaneous day trip from Albany or the surrounding area.

Of course, as with any caving experience, there are precautions to take. The Secret Caverns tour begins with a 103-stair descent and ends with a climb back up those same stairs, and the company requires visitors to wear "sturdy footwear" at all times for their safety. Secret Caverns also advertises a year-round temperature of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so even if you're visiting in the summer months, you should definitely bring some warm outerwear.

Unlike some other caves, Secret Caverns allows guests to touch the geological formations and take pictures throughout the experience. And you'll definitely want to get those cameras out for the 100-foot waterfall at the end of the tour.

Secret Caverns has a lot of natural beauty for visitors to enjoy. The caverns were formed in part during the last ice age, eroded out of the walls by a mixture of carbon dioxide and glacial melting. The limestone is hundreds of millions of years old, and there are a number of prominent fossils to see on your walk.

The main attraction, though, is the waterfall — a stunning, 100-foot cascade to cap off your tour. It's not the biggest underground lake in the U.S. or anything, but the sight is something to behold. While the whole experience will likely be appealing to cave lovers given the low price of admission, this is the big reason to make the drive out to the caverns.

New York State's expansive natural landscape is a highlight of any trip to the northeast, and spots like Secret Caverns add a diversity of experience worth checking out for any visitors or locals. Just remember to dress warm and wear a good pair of shoes.

[Featured image by FossilDS via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CCO]