Lower Bully Brook Falls

The waterfalls of Bully Brook are accessed from the Keewaydin Trail in Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area in Wallingford. Take US Route 7 to the town of Wallingford, then turn east onto VT Route 140 for two miles, then bear right onto Sugar Hill Road. Take the next right onto Forest Service Road 52 following signs to the White Rocks Picnic Area, and continue to the trailhead at the end of the road. Follow the Keeywadin Trail uphill for approximately one-third of a mile and the falls will be audible in the gully to the left. Viewing the falls requires following a faint user trail, steep at times, for about 100 feet down into the gorge to an unguarded vista atop a small pulpit of rock.Two sets of waterfalls can be found along Bully Brook within the White Rocks Recreation Area near Wallingford. The lower falls is a two-stepped fall which plunges into a cliff-ringed alcove at the head of a steep ravine. The falls first drop 16 feet as the stream drops into a small pocket partially obscured by a fin of rock that juts up from the cliff face, and then upon flowing around the fin, falls another 32 feet down the lower tier of the falls into the basin below. Several branches on an adjacent tree partially obscure the upper tier from view as well, and when the flow of the stream is lower, or the sun is out, it can be difficult to even see the upper tier. While this waterfall is audible from the nearby Keewaydin Trail, there is no clear view available without scrambling toward the gorge via a faint user path which is not suitable for those with mobility issues, or for small children. Bully Brook drains from an area covering about 2.2 square miles, and heads in a small pond and a farily modest area of wetlands and marshes that will help to ensure a regulated flow in the stream into the summer months. Because the drainage is fairly small, expect the quality of the waterfall to diminish during prolonged periods without rainfall, but outside of the summer months, the falls should have a healthy flow for most of the year.Russell Dunn's Vermont Waterfalls book refers to this entry as Bully Brook Cascade, but it's not clear whether this was actually an accepted historical name for this falls, or if it was simply an informal reference (as in "Cascades on Bully Brook").