Yesterday we visited Ripley Falls in the Crawford Notch State Park of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Ripley Falls is a 100-foot waterfall, which flows over a rock wall that is at an approximate 60-degree angle.  It is one of the steepest angled slides waterfalls in New England, and is sourced from the Avalanche Brook.  The trail is less then a mile in length, however ascends up to 500 feet in elevation.

There was a sign for the Ripley Falls directly on Route 302 so the parking lot cannot be missed.  We were excited to start today’s adventure on a much cooler summer day.  We started the trail full of anticipation of the end result – a beautiful waterfall.  The trail was full of rocks, and roots, and slowly would slope up before flattening.  The sound of the rushing flume waters was constant on our journey to the falls, singing the sounds of nature.  Parts of the trail were steep on the side, but not to a level of danger.  We saw very few people on our hike to the Falls, but wondered if they had chosen to venture to other trails along the route.

It is hard to know what to expect when visiting a waterfall, but I was highly impressed, and mesmerized by the beauty, and height of Ripley Falls.  Upon arrival we spent some time relaxing, and enjoying, with the entire site to ourselves.  I jumped from rock to rock trying to photograph this majestic site, but sadly did not feel too successful in capturing the gorgeous flow of water, streaming from above.  Shadow appeared a little disappointed as he had some difficulty following me as a traversed the rocks, however he enjoyed cooling down in the water, and sitting on the beach.  I do think Wilma was enthralled with all the rocks, although she also appeared concerned that Shadow was not hoping along with us.  We spent a good amount of time at this peaceful location, until dozens of other hikers began streaming in.  The hike back to the car was quite quick as it was predominately downhill.  I definitely was awed, and impressed with the Ripley Falls, and would highly recommend it to those other waterfall seekers (Rating:  5)