Rushing water has always fascinated me, especially as it tumbles out over a drop, cascading into the air in a roar of excitement. Growing up in New York, I've had a bit of time to check out some of the best locations to see waterfalls in the state.

There is this feeling of awe that fills your bones when you stand beneath a spray of white, the sun spinning through the droplets of water. Some places never leave your memory and keep you coming back for more.

Plotter Kill Waterfalls, Rotterdam

There is something about this place that draws me in every time I visit. Some days, when it hasn't rained in weeks, and the creeks are filled with a single trickle of water flowing over the rocks, I still come to stand beneath the craggy drops. It's one of my favorite places to visit, ever.

Streams flow across stony beds, tumbling over small shelves and a series of much larger falls. Hiking trails lead you along creeks and a deep ravine, filling you with excitement enough to scramble down the steep slope of the gulch to the bottom of the falls. In the preserve, there are three major waterfalls, but this is my favorite one, with a shallow pool and a ledge beneath it, perfect for photos. Where a tributary tumbles down another massive drop and into the main creek, a small, arching birch makes the perfect place to hang up a hammock.

Levitation below the waterfall after a dry month

Barberville Falls, Poestenkill

Only a few minutes from where I live, this waterfall is a local classic. Tumbling 97 feet down a series of ledges, the falling water cascades into a deep pool begging for you to swim in. The pool is deep and perfect for diving into, swimming out to the bottommost ledge to clamber onto. It's illegal to swim there, and the hike to the falls is closed for the summer, ruined for all by kids who would break bottles and leave trash, and the grumpy old man who lives above the falls, plastering 'private property' signs over the rocks and trees along the side of the Poestenkill Creek.

Still, if you don't mind taking a dip on a cool august day, running laughing for safety when the old man yells at you from atop the falls, or taking the long trek up the creek bed, wading through pools of water from town to the falls when it's closed, this spot is the perfect getaway.

Rainbow Falls in the Adirondacks

Deep in the Adirondack High Peaks, Rainbow Falls bursts to violent life throwing itself into the air to tumble down the walls of a box canyon in the side of the great range. Whether the weather is moody and dark, or wonderfully full of light, this place is amazing. It's like a scene from a movie, where the heroes walk by on their way to do some quest, or destroy a ring. Whenever I'm in the Adirondacks, this place calls to me, trying to lure me back to it, to sit on a rock and stay there forever, listening to the baiting call of water on stone, live in the chaotic peace of it.

Bash Bish Falls, MA

A treat around an hour south of Albany, this spot is technically in Massachusetts. Some of the park the waterfall is in crosses into New York so I'm counting it. Although summer makes this place amazing, you can escape the crowds by going off season. When winter blows in, the rocks grow a translucent armor of ice, and the icy blue of the falls plunges into a frigid pool in a way that captures the imagination. If you crawl up the slope and into the ravine above the falls, smaller waterfalls lay hidden between the rock walls. On warm days you can swim in the pools above the waterfall, just be careful you don't go over.

Whittaker Park, Martinsburgh

This is a hometown favorite of mine, close to the small town of Lowville. The small park and campground is a breath of fresh air in a beautiful area. The shale stream bed tumbles down off Tug Hill, pouring over small ledges and into shallow pools begging to be waded in. One of the parks big drops falls into a crevice and then into a deep crack in the rock, making a fun spot to swim in.