Bingham Falls

Bingham Falls is found a short distance from Route 108 in Stowe, about 3.25 miles southeast of Smuggler's Notch, or 6.3 miles northwest from downtown Stowe. Watch for large pullouts on either side of the road to mark the unsigned trailhead. The wide, easily graded trail runs downhill to the top of the gorge in about one-quarter of a mile, then descends to the base of the falls in a flight of stone stairs (which may be a bit slick when wet).Bingham Falls is a very scenic series of falls and cascades in a narrow gorge which drop a total of 91 feet, the largest of which is a very scenic veiling horsetail type fall of 30 feet into a beautiful blue pool. The upper sections of the falls include an interesting series of poorly formed pothole pools in a narrow crack in the rock, followed by two more vertical falls of 10-15 feet each and another drop where the river flows around some large boulders which have wedged in the gorge. The West Branch of the Waterbury River is fed primarily by aptly named Big Spring high up in Smuggler's Notch, just along the side of Route 108. The spring bubbles out of the ground with a perfectly constant volume of water and ensures the falls retain adequate flow all year, though the river does swell considerably with rain or snowmelt during the wet season.At one point in the past each of the individual tiers of the falls were referred to with a unique name: the uppermost drop was known as Orpha Cascade, the second tier was Lewis Falls, the third was Grotto Cascade and the final leap Roaring Falls. Some early postcards label these individual sections as Bingham Falls as well, so whether these alternate names were in common use is not known, but there was ample precedent for referring to the whole series with one title by the time the name was made official.