

Photographer: Carl Crumley

Summary Authors: Carl Crumley; Jim Foster

It seems that there's only one waterfall in the world with a flame burning beneath it. This is the Eternal Flame Waterfall, on Shale Creek, in Chestnut Ridge Park, near Buffalo, New York. A pocket of natural methane gas in an alcove below the waterfall seeps out through a fracture in the rocks. The flame goes out from time to time (it's not really eternal) but is easy to relight. We'll probably never know who the first person to light it was. Photo taken on June 27, 2010. [Revised November 2017]

Photo Details: Canon EOS-5D camera; 24-105 mm lens; f/18; 1.3 second exposure; ISO 400.