Sterling Falls

From the town of Stowe, take VT Route 100 north for 1.7 miles then bear left onto Stagecoach Road. Continue along Stagecoach Road for another 1.7 miles then turn left onto Sterling Valley Road, and proceed another 4-1/2 miles, then turn left onto Sterling Gorge Road. The parking area will be found on the right in another eighth of a mile, just before crossing Sterling Brook. Pick up the Sterling Falls Gorge Trail across the bridge from the parking area, and follow it downstream along the rim of the canyon. The trail descends a sometimes muddy route down to the base of the gorge, offering somewhat fleeting views of the upper parts of the gorge en-route. The most scenic sections of the falls are found at the bottom of the gorge, and may require getting your feet wet to view properly.Sterling Falls Gorge is an off-the-beaten path attraction located in a less visited portion of the town of Stowe, and features a series of waterfalls that appear rather inconsequential at first, but collectively adds up to a considerable height. The falls collectively drop 106 feet in 11 distinct steps, however no individual fall is more than 14 feet tall, and only four drops exceed 10 feet in height. From the top down, the individual steps of the falls drop 8, 11, 10, 14, 8, 11, 9, 14, 5 and 7 feet respectively. The final four drops can be seen (somewhat) collectively from the bottom of the gorge, but for the most part it’s difficult to see more than two individual steps at a time due to how the brook winds through the narrow ravine. Sterling Brook drains from an area of approximately 2 square miles in size upstream from the entrance to the gorge. Because the stream is quite constricted within the gorge, even at low flow the falls appear presentable despite the smaller size of its drainage. During the spring months the creek will swell enough that it may be difficult to photograph the best parts of the falls without getting wet, so the best time to visit may be the early summer or autumn months.