Swiftwater Falls

Swiftwater 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. Swiftwater Falls is encountered approximately eight-tenths of a mile from the trailhead, just a few hundred yards past Stairs Falls. The trail crosses Dry Brook the second time without a bridge immediately below Swiftwater Falls, so it’s impossible to miss (in periods of high flow, it may not be possible to cross without getting wet). Use caution on the smooth, slick rock slabs below the falls, which the trail ascends to continue upstream toward Cloudland Falls.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. Swiftwater Falls is the second waterfall passed on the trail and could be argued is the most unique of the several falls encountered. Here, Dry Brook accelerates down a sloped chute carved out of polished, fractured slabs of granite bedrock. Near the top of the falls the creek actually splits around a small island of trees and forms two channels of cascading water. The two channels accelerate down their respective chutes for about 20 feet, and then converge just as the falls leap free of the cliff for a short plunge, and then slams onto a smooth slab of granite and slides into an emerald green pool below. The total vertical drop of the falls is 43 feet, however because of the shallow overall pitch of the falls - somewhere in the vicinity of 45-50 degrees - and the falls having a long run, it isn't easy to view the entire waterfall from any one location in any way which truly illustrates its size and shape properly. Good views of the lower two-thirds of the falls are available from the trail, but the upper third can only be glimpsed through the trees from the side as the trail climbs up past the falls (though it may present itself more readily during periods of heavy flow). Dry Brook is not a large stream by any means, the basin above Swiftwater 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.