Lana, Falls of

Take Route 7 south from Middlebury to Salisbury, where you will turn east on Route 53 heading to Lake Dunmore. Follow Route 53 for about 4 miles to a large parking area on the left (uphill) side of the road. From the parking area, follow the Silver Lake Trail uphill for a few hundred feet to a dirt road, then bear left on the road and walk an easy fifth of a mile to where the penstock comes down the hill from above. At this point, find obvious boot paths which head left down along the edge of the penstock clearing to views of the middle and lower tiers of the falls. To see the upper tiers of the falls, continue along the road for another 500 feet or so, then descend along the rocks next to the top of the falls. During low water periods its possible to cross Sucker Brook above the falls to obtain better views from the north side, but in high water it will be necessary to hike another quarter mile further up the road and use a bridge to cross the creek, then follow a blue-blazed path back downstream.The Falls of Lana are an extremely unique series of horsetails and cascades totaling 138 feet in height found where Sucker Brook attempts to make its final descent to Lake Dunmore. The falls are comprised of four primary tiers, with a fifth minor cascade a short distance downstream. The initial two drops are narrow back-to-back horsetail style drops of about 20-25 feet a piece, which terminate in a small pool. The pool is formed by part of the bedrock formation which juts up perpendicular to the direction the creek flows, which causes the stream to turn 90 degrees to the left and spill down the next tier of the falls, a 35-foot tall sliding casacde, in a way that it bears a resemblance to a staircase and banister. At the base of the cascade, the creek bends back to the right and falls another 25 feet over the fourth fall and then resumes its course towards Lake Dunmore. In the process of descending the falls, the creek essentially makes a sharp bend of nearly 180 degrees to circumvent the bedrock formation which creates the falls. Unfortunately this results in only portions of the falls being visible from any one location.
Sucker Brook has been harnessed for hydroelectric production, as is plainly obvious by the presence of the large penstock adjacent to the falls which runs from nearby Silver Lake to the powerhouse near the base of the falls. The volume of water siphoned off of the creek is fortunately not enough to result in the falls being irreparably reduced in stature thanks to the rather modest size of the drainage basin below the diversion. During periods of heavy precipitation the falls have been known to go pretty nuts, but in the dry months of the late summer the volume is considerably more tepid.In 1848 a party of explorers led by United States Army General John E. Wool discovered the falls while exploring the Lake Dunmore area. The party wished to give their discovery a proper name but didn't care to name it for the stream, so they opted to recognize General Wool, having been fresh from a tour in the Mexican War - the spanish word for Wool is "Llana", though the second L was summarily dropped.