Cloudland Falls

Cloudland Falls is accessed from the Falling Waters Trail in Franconia Notch State Park. The trailhead is located directly along Interstate 93 about 8 miles north of Lincoln, or 2 miles south of the summit of Franconia Notch – there are separate parking areas for the northbound and southbound lanes, with a foot tunnel connecting the two. The Falling Waters Trail climbs gently through the forest, crossing Walker Brook less than a quarter mile from the trailhead, and then Dry Brook around seven-tenths of a mile in, after which the grade starts to pick up. Cloudland Falls is encountered approximately 1.3 miles from the trailhead just after the pass scrambles through a large jumble of boulders. At the falls the trail climbs steeply up more large rocks, hugging the cliff opposite the falls in a semi-circle and running around to the top of the falls in a quickly ascending set of boulder-built stairs.The Falling Waters Trail is one of the most popular hikes in the Franconia Notch area, not just for its quick access to some of the higher summits of the White Mountains, but also for harboring a handful of very nice waterfalls – along the first mile and a half of the trail, one can encounter five separate falls. Cloudland Falls is the third and largest waterfall encountered, and is easily the most popular destination for casual hikers along the Dry Brook trail. Here, the brook accelerates down a narrow chutes and veils over a cliff of block-like fractured granite for 56 feet in an exceptionally eye-catching veiling shape, with a broad rocky streambed occupying the basin below the falls and cliffs flanking the opposite side of the valley. Cloudland Falls is often cited as one of the tallest waterfalls in the White Mountains, usually said to drop 80 feet. Our survey of the falls in October of 2015 found that estimate to be too generous by about one third, though if the next falls upstream is considered to be an upper tier (we consider it to be a separate waterfall entirely) then the estimated height would come out to something close to accurate. Dry Brook is not a large stream by any means, the basin above Cloudland Falls covers an area of only about two-thirds of a square mile. Though the upper end of the basin on the west slope of Mount Lincoln does stretch above the 5,000 foot mark, it’s also steep enough and consists of enough exposed bedrock that ground water is not retained very well. This means that precipitation will run off moderately quickly, and the brook will dwindle in size considerably during prolonged dry periods.