Ripley Falls

White Mountain National Forest / Crawford Notch, New Hampshire, USA

About Ripley Falls

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Ripley Falls was one of the more unique waterfalls that I saw in the New England area.

What differentiated waterfall from most of the others was that it featured a slide that somewhat twisted on its way down while yielding somewhat interesting curtain patterns in the waterflow.

Ripley_Falls_033_10022013 - Ripley Falls
Ripley Falls

The sloping characteristic of the underlying smoothed out rock had enough of a slope to look like a legitimate 100ft tall waterfall.

Ripley Falls’ Mesmerizing Waterflow

Yet it wasn’t so steep that the water would lose contact with the rock (thereby yielding the mesmerizing flow patterns that constantly changed with time).

This mesmerizing waterflow action would probably best be appreciated when looking at one of the videos we’ve included further down on this page.

In addition to the waterfow, I also noticed that the Fall colors and the somewhat orangish hue on the rock face added a bit of color to the scene even on a day when the skies were heavily overcast and muted out the sunlight.

Ripley_Falls_023_10022013 - Rippling effects on the waterflow of Ripley Falls
Rippling effects on the waterflow of Ripley Falls

Even though Arethusa Falls deservedly gets most of the publicity and attention, Ripley Falls had enough character and uniqueness in its own right to warrant a visit.

In fact, the trailhead parking was quite full on the day that I showed up to do this hike.

In addition, Arethusa Falls could also be combined with this hike if you want to extend it for a few more hours.

Nevertheless, I decided to stick with the shorter 1.2-mile round trip hike from Ripley Falls’ own trailhead.

Hiking to Ripley Falls

Ripley_Falls_007_10022013 - Crossing the railroad tracks to continue hiking to Ripley Falls
Crossing the railroad tracks to continue hiking to Ripley Falls

From the Ripley Falls trailhead (see directions below), the trail immediately made me ascend as it was on its way up to some railroad tracks that I had to cross.

On the other side of the tracks, the trail continued climbing before flattening out somewhat.

During the ascent, I saw the trail forked where the Ripley Falls Trail kept left while the Ethan Pond Trail veered right and coincided with the Appalachian Trail.

I also had to be careful with the footing on the Ripley Falls Trail because there were the odd rocks and protruding roots conspiring to twist my ankle or trip me up.

Ripley_Falls_009_10022013 - The Ripley Falls Trail continuing to climb beyond the railroad track crossing
The Ripley Falls Trail continuing to climb beyond the railroad track crossing

Eventually, the trail made a final descent that got me right in front of the impressive waterfall.

I still had to scramble a bit amongst the large boulders flanking the Avalanche Brook for an improved view that wasn’t as subject to foliage obstructions above.

Nonetheless, I didn’t do too much awkward scrambling to see what other possibilities there might have been in terms of changing up the view of the falls.

However, as you can see from the photos on this web page, the views I was able to get were good enough.

Ripley_Falls_017_10022013 - Descending towards the bottom of Ripley Falls
Descending towards the bottom of Ripley Falls

When I was done experiencing the Ripley Falls, I almost got lost following what I thought were obvious paths going further downstream.

But when the trail became less obvious, I then realized that the blue blazes were back by the waterfall and that the trail climbed before it was all downhill again on the way back to the parking lot.

On a final note, I did this hike solo because our daughter took her afternoon siesta and Julie had to watch her.

So I was able to go faster than I was able to do earlier this morning when I was burdened with carrying the weight of my daughter.

Ripley_Falls_031_10022013 - Making it up to the rocky plunge pool in front of Ripley Falls
Making it up to the rocky plunge pool in front of Ripley Falls

Thus, it only took me about 50 minutes to do the entire excursion, including all the time taking photographs.

Authorities

Ripley Falls resides in the White Mountain National Forest near North Conway in Carroll County, New Hampshire. It is administered by the US Forest Service. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website or Facebook page.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual subscribers. See Membership Options.
Content is for subscribers. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: white mountain, white mtn, national forest, crawford notch, carroll county, north conway, new hampshire, waterfall, new england, harts location



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
Read More About Johnny | A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls.