Waterville Cascades

Waterville Cascades are found in the town of Waterville and are accessed from the Waterville Ski Area. Take Interstate 93 to the town of Campton and exit onto NH Route 49, following signs to Waterville Valley. Continue for 11.2 miles then turn right onto Boulder Path Road and continue for four-tenths of a mile further to a large parking area on the right, and park.
The trail begins by following a Ski trail up the hill across Cascade Ridge Road from the parking area – follow the dirt path up the grassy slope and follow “Trail” signs pointing the way. The trail crosses Cascade Ridge Road further up the hill, then enters the woods. About four-tenths of a mile from the parking area, veer left onto the Cascade Path, marked with a sign and yellow blazes. At the 1.2 mile mark from the trailhead reach a junction with the Norway Rapids Trail just after crossing a footbridge.
At this point the most common route is to loop up the right side of the Waterville Cascades, and down the left. Continue straight (right) at this junction and the lowermost section of the Waterville Cascades will be encountered in less than one-fifth of a mile, with subsequent falls coming quickly after. The Cascade Path ends at a dirt road / ski track about one-third of a mile later. Another trail runs parallel to the Cascade Path on the opposite side of the brook, which can be used to return to the Norway Rapids trail and make a loop out of the hike.Waterville Cascades are a series of seven distinct and arguably individual waterfalls grouped closely together along Cascade Brook near the resort village of Waterville Valley. The seven falls drop a collective 108 feet over a linear run of X, with no individual fall exceeding 26 feet in height, and each separated by anywhere between 60 and 150 linear feet of stream. Because of the linear separation between some of the sections of the cascades, there is an argument to be made that there are multiple distinct and separate waterfalls in this series, however as the group is generally accepted as a collective entity, we have deferred to that standard for the time being.
The seven distinct sections of falls, from top to bottom, consist of the following: the uppermost tier is a sliding chute style fall which drops 14 feet. The second fall is a small series of gradual but rugged cascades which drop 8 feet. The third tier is a smooth sliding cascade which expands outward over a rounded rock, dropping 13 feet. The fourth tier is a sheer plunging fall of 11 feet. The fifth tier is the largest drop by far, plunging a nearly sheer 26 feet into a pool within small gorge, and the sixth tier is a sliding 10-foot cascade which pours almost directly out of said pool. The seventh and final fall of the series is an eye-catching horsetail style drop in the general shape of an hourglass, with a concave depression in the middle that causes the water to jet outward somewhat halfway down the fall.
The distance between the second and third drops, as well as the fifth and sixth drops are fairly insignificant, but the spacing between the remaining tiers of the cascades is remarkably consistent, averaging between 100 and 150 linear feet separating each subsequent drop in the chain. Trails on both sides of the brook allow easy access to good viewpoints for all seven sections of the cascades, though some tiers are better viewed from one side of the stream than the other.
Cascade Brook is a small to moderate sized stream, draining from a basin which covers approximately 2.2 square miles in area. The falls don’t need a whole lot of water to appear scenic, and the stream seems to sustain a fairly healthy flow throughout the year, even without consistent rainfall to replenish its headwaters (do expect to see a reduced flow later in the year however).