It's only a mile up the trail and hiking to it does not involve any serious climbing. Willey, but along the way, the trail crosses Kedron Flume, a long series of cascades. The Kedron Flume Trail is used by hikers to access 4000-footer Mt. The Willey House is on the west side of Rt. Trailhead is located at the Willey House, in Harts Location, NH. We had the two-tiered falls to ourselves, a fitting way to end the day of wandering for waterfalls.īut Crawford Notch has more charming cascades best left for another day.Blah blah blah Kedron Flume Length: 2.0 miles out-and-back Difficulty (click for info): Easy Elevation Gain: 700 feet Rating (click for info): 5/10 Height: 600' Hikers were using Avalon to reach Mount Willard, but we had the Cascade Loop to ourselves, entranced by the thunderous roars at each.Įnchanting Gibbs Falls, about a 1.2-mile round-trip hike off Crawford Path on the north end of the notch, swoops down into a small pool, the waters fluttering and fanning. Next was venturing by the Crawford Depot and train for the mile return trek to lovely Beecher and Pearl cascades off the Avalon Trail and Cascade Loop. Kedron’s proximity to the air-conditioned gift shop made a stop for a cold drink imperative before a brief break by driving to plunging Silver Cascades, with its pathway that takes you close to the falls, and then the uninspiring Flume Cascade. With an outlook onto Webster Cliffs, the pretty, lengthy and narrow flume is but a playful tease as it drops over a headwall and is hidden from sight with apparently hard-to-find safe access for viewing. Kedron Flume, about a two-mile roundtrip on its namesake trail, was the wildest, accessed by sometimes steep and gravelly switchbacks. About 1.2 miles round-trip, Ripley, like many falls, has lots of rock scrambling at its base where visitors seem to vie for the best vantage points. Leaving Arethusa, we ran into other hikers and would see many along the trails as we drove among trailheads, seeking parking.Īnother of the state’s highest, Ripley Falls - reached along a sometimes narrow Ripley Falls Trail - towers high against angled slabs looking like a gracefully draped watery sheet. Wow moments came often we saw each fall as if discovering them for the first time, seeing them narrow and fan, run strong and throw mist. Starting south and working north, even in summer’s swarm, the early hiker gets the solitude on a 3.2-mile circuit with the Arethusa Falls Trail and sometimes rough Bemis Brook Trail that wraps up three falls - the ledgy steps of Bemis Falls, horsetail of Coliseum Falls and stunning Arethusa, one of New England’s highest. But there’s also plenty of steep stuff that will fry the ill-prepared.Īnd they are a photographer’s dream when captured with skill. Some are easy, like roadside Silver and Flume cascades. Don’t think hiking to waterfalls, at least to all of these, is a cake walk. They were the peaceful and picturesque headliners, the journey themselves. The waterfalls weren’t an out-of-the-way detour. Instead of aching to see blue sky between the trees signaling a mountain top or ledge is ahead, we strained to hear the first dribbles of the flumes indicating they were nearby. Instead of focusing on summits, we were cascade-centric. They provide a new perspective on the ordinary. It took us to trails we’ve hiked before and on others we had never considered. In the bustle of summer, both provided looks at various types of hikers, from the pungently scented and thoroughly prepared AT through-hikers to sneaker-wearing, dog-carrying, ain’t-got-no-backpack-on-my-back-or-water-with-me hikers. The journey took us briefly on two storied pathways - the Appalachian Trail and the 200-year-old Crawford Path. We appreciated the cold dollar sodas at the air-conditioned Willy House gift shop, a place we never visited in Crawford Notch State Park, and its views of Webster Cliffs. We saw glimpses of the notch, like from Kedron Flume and at a hidden scenic vista across from Flume Cascade, we hadn’t seen before. Route 302 in the stunning mountain pass that gave us new looks at a place we thought we knew. Inspired by a state park blog post about hiking eight Crawford Notch waterfalls in a day, my wife, Jan, and I upped it to 10 and hiked approximately nine miles in less than eight hours as we explored the cascades off U.S. That’s what happens when you spend a day chasing cascades in the White Mountains. In the heat, there was welcome coolness, often shade and always refreshing waters, nature’s own version of streaming. The thin stream would widen, and the rushing water would flow and bellow with a symphonic intensity as it continued its meandering adventure. In the stillness of the woods, it often began with a quiet trickle.
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