Stairs Falls

Stairs 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. Stairs Falls is encountered just over two-thirds of a mile from the trailhead, just upstream of the first crossing of Dry Brook.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. Stairs Falls is the first encountered along the trail, found where Dry Brook pours over an 18-foot tall ledge which has cleaved in such a way to form a very distinct stair-like shape with an exceptional pool below (though it has been filled in with rocks and boulders in the past – and may change again with future floods). Dry Brook is not a large stream by any means, the basin above Stairs Falls covers an area of only about three-quarters 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.