Georgiana Falls

Take Interstate 93 to the town of Lincoln and depart the freeway at Exit 33, signed for US Route 3, North Woodstock and North Lincoln. Turn north onto Route 3 and continue for just one-quarter of a mile, then turn left onto Hanson Farm Road. After a few hundred feet the road turns into Georgiana Falls Road (Hanson Farm Road bears right) and ends a short distance later at the parking area. The Georgiana Falls Trail passes under Interstate 93 and follows an old roadbed for the first half of a mile, then cuts toward Harvard Brook and becomes a more defined path (the old logging road does continue, so be sure to find the right point to turn). After traversing through the woods. After about three-quarters of a mile of hiking the trail encounters the bare rock slabs at the bottom of Lower Georgiana Falls and follows blazes painted onto the rocks along the side of the falls. Georgiana Falls proper is encountered after approximately 1.2 miles of hiking. The trail climbs more steeply between Black Pool and Georgiana Falls as it ascends along the narrow gorge below the falls. There are two good viewpoints of Georgiana Falls available just off the trail, both from natural unguarded rock platforms at the edge of the gorge. The trail then continues upstream to the brook at the top of the falls.Georgiana Falls is one of several significant waterfalls found along Harvard Brook as it tumbles into the Pemigewasset River valley. The falls drop for a total of 112 feet in three distinct tiers, though two of them are difficult to see due to their positioning within the deep gorge below the main drop. The falls start as Harvard Brook sheets across a wide granite bedrock slab and then pours 51 feet over the side of a narrow trough-like gorge. During periods of high flow, a considerable breadth of the broad cliff face can be covered with a sheet of thunderous water, and a portion of the brook can sometimes split off and form a distinct parallel cascade separated by perhaps 50-75 feet from the main column of water. Below the main fall, the brook gathers in the narrow ravine and drops over back-to-back falls of 30 and 31 feet, neither of which can be easily seen from the trail, but through-the-tree glimpses are possible depending on the light. The Harvard Brook basin is fairly large, covering an area of about 5.6 square miles upstream of the falls. In addition to the size of the catchment, there are two flatwater features – Bog Eddy and Bog Pond – which will retain a considerable amount of surface water throughout the year and help to ensure a good flow remains in the creek at all times. The large basin also ensures that during the spring freshet, or after heavy rainfall, the stream can and often does swell to impressive levels.Confusion has surrounded the names of the waterfalls on Harvard Brook at times in the past - usually stemming from an inability to positively identify which waterfall was intended to be named as Georgiana Falls. This fall, while now known for certain to be the correct feature to be titled Georgiana Falls, had been known as both Upper Georgiana Falls and Harvard Falls in the past. Both names were intended to distinguish it from the lower set of falls on the brook, which had occasionally been misidentified as Georgiana. The name Harvard Falls further caused confusion as Harvard Cascade is located about 400 feet upstream from the top of Georgiana Falls.