White Mountain Waterfalls

Saturday, we checked out early and made the short drive up to the Appalachia Trailhead in White Mountains National Forest.  Despite arriving just after 7, the parking lot was full and we had to park along the side of the road.  A forest volunteer said she arrived just after 6 and it was already full.  We first hiked Maple Way to Fallsway and there was a small unnamed waterfall on Snyder Brook at the intersection.

Heading downstream just a short ways, we came to the scenic Gordon Falls.

After some pictures, we got back on the trail heading upstream.  There were a number of scenic spots on the creek with nice little drops and cascades.

Soon, we came to Lower Salroc Falls, a couple small drops over some boulders.  It wasn't real impressive but we could see the upper falls above.

We had to scramble down from the trail to get to the base and a good view of Upper Salroc Falls.

There was a view from the trail as well, but I liked the view from the base best.

A short ways further, we came to Tama Falls, the biggest and most impressive of the bunch.  

There were some branches blocking the view, so I waded the creek for a better perspective.

The waterfall was really beautiful and great to see so many waterfalls in such a short hike.

From here, we took Valley Way down and then turned left on Sylvan Way and followed this to the end at Cold Brook.  Cold Brook Falls was just upstream.

It's a very pretty 20-foot waterfall on its namesake creek.

I scrambled around on the rocks to view it from both sides of the creek.

There were some nice cascades downstream as well.

A little further downstream was a footbridge over the creek.  We went the opposite way on the Link Trail to head back towards the trailhead.

There were a lot of tubes attached to trees throughout the forest.  I later learned these are to collect sap.  When we reached the powerline clearing, there was a lot of goldenrod flowering.

And then we made it back to the car.

From here, we headed to the parking at Wildcat Ski Area.  Behind the lodge, we picked up Thompson Falls Trail and made it to Lower Thompson Falls in just over half a mile.

It's a scenic drop over a clamshell rock.  The trail continued a short ways on river-left side up past the lower falls.

I got to the base of the main drop Middle Thompson Falls and had to cross.  It was very tricky crossing here.

I noticed some cascades immediately below and scrambled down.  There was a much easier way to cross here where Sandy and Alex crossed.

Continuing up the trail on the river right side now, we soon came to Upper Thompson Falls.  It was really scenic dropping into a little gorge.

And there was another drop on the other side of a little island in the creek.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a spot to get a picture of both drops.

The trail went a little further and had another view of the upper drop.

Soon, the trail ended and I could tell there was another waterfall, but no way to get down to creek level for a view.  Backtracking about 100 feet, I got into the brook and creek-walked up to the base of the waterfall, that I'm calling Thompson Fourth Falls.

After some pictures, we headed back.  Since parking was such an issue, we left our car and walked along the road to the AMC Visitor Center at Pinkham Notch.  Taking Tuckerman Ravine Trail, it was a quarter-mile to a bridge over Ellis River.  There were some nice cascades just upstream.

Just past here was a viewing platform for the spectacular Crystal Cascade.

This was a really spectacular 100-foot waterfall.

I climbed down from the overlook for some pictures and then we headed back.

From the visitor center, we continued along the road less than another mile to Glen Falls Scenic Area.  Going under the road, the paved Glen Falls Trail led along the river past some nice cascades near the top of the waterfall.

The trail then led down to the base of Glen Ellis Falls.

This was another really beautiful waterfall that dropped into a lovely green pool.

There were some nice cascades just downstream.

Sandy and Alex went back to the picnic area while I ran back and got the car.

From here, we headed to Crawford Notch State Park and parked at the trailhead for Arethusa Falls.  Hiking up the road, we got on the trail and right away took a detour on Bemis Brook Trail.  This trail followed the creek closely and soon we came to Fawn Pool.

A small waterfall tumbled down a number of little steps into a pretty little pool.  Just a little further upstream was Coliseum Falls.

This one fell down some beautiful rock ledges.  There were some more little steps just downstream.

A little further we came to Bemis Brook Falls.

This one was the biggest of the three.

There were more cascades continuing down the creek.

From here, the trail got quite steep leading back up to Arethusa Falls Trail.  Once back on the main trail, it was still uphill but much more gradual.  In under a mile, we came to the split and went left and down towards the base of Arethusa Falls.

We scrambled down to the creek and up to the base, but it was very crowded.

The waterfall is very high, but the stream isn't very big up at this elevation.

I scrambled around on the rocks for some pictures from different angles.

Then we started making our way back.

That was our last hike for the day, but continuing on US-302, we made a stop for a couple more roadside waterfalls.  Silver Cascade is a tall roadside waterfall falling through a narrow gorge.  It would be pretty nice had the water level been higher.

I scrambled up the side to the gorge, which was pretty nice even in low water.

Just a few hundred feet up the road was Flume Cascade, but like Silver Cascade, the water level was low.

I didn't bother trying to climb up for this one.  But the view of the mountains was pretty nice.

Then we headed back to the car and took off.

We drove into Vermont, to Stowe, and checked into the Stowe Motel and Snowdrift.  Alex took a nap while we had Mexican for dinner at Tres Amigos.