Plimpton Falls

Plimpton Falls is a surprisingly tall cascading type waterfall along Meadow Brook on the northwest side of Cannon Mountain near the Franconia Notch summit. The falls drop a total of 78 feet in a long, twisting cascade over fractured steps, the orientation of the falls shifting by as much as 45 degrees off-center between its top and base. The pitch of the falls also shifts in a sine-curve fashion, with the top of the cascades starting gradually, then shifting to its steepest pitch about halfway down the falls, and finally reverting to a more gradual angle of descent at its base. Because of the longer run and more gradual pitch of the falls, lower streamflow (which is likely fairly common given the small streamflow) will result in the falls appearing less significant than they otherwise might due to how the water interacts with the moss on the bedrock.
Meadow Brook has an incredibly small drainage area above Noble Falls, covering roughly one-third of a square mile (about 185 acres). When surveyed in October of 2015 the falls were flowing with barely a trickle of water, thanks to a fairly prolonged dry spell. However as tropical storms often send heavy rain into New England in the summer and autumn months, the falls can easily be brought to life at any time of year. Expect the flow of the stream to diminish quickly if there is not prolonged, consistent rain or snow melt however.Plimpton Falls was named quite some time ago, as evidence by an old postcard dating back to the 1900s (the one and only mention of the falls we had ever seen until around 2014) shows. Exactly who the falls are named for, and who was responsible for naming them is not known, however given that Noble Falls located a short distance upstream was discovered by one Lafayette Noble, there is a good chance he was also responsible for discovering this waterfall as well. The complete dearth of information about Plimpton Falls until recently suggests that it may have never been developed or publicized like many of the other waterfalls in the White Mountains were in the late 1800s and early 1900s.