Exploring Step Falls
Jun. 27th, 2021 09:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerMaine Week Travelog #27
Step Falls Preserve, ME - Sunday, 20 Jun 2021, 11am.
Our week-long adventure in Maine is close to over... according to the calendar. We leave tomorrow. But when we look at our list of things to do... well, we're still in the thick of it. We're aiming to hike several trails and visit numerous waterfalls today. ...Assuming the weather holds out, unlike yesterday when it rained.
We got rolling from the hotel around 9am after enjoying breakfast of leftovers on the common deck outside our small room. 9 was later than I wanted, but fortunately many of the hikes were clustered and not too far away. Our first destination, Step Falls Preserve, was a simple, 20 minute drive.
We pulled into the small trailhead parking lot and rejoiced that ours was the only car there. We'd enjoy solitude of having the park to ourselves! But then another car pulled in and three hikers jumped out and practically ran to the trail ahead of us. Well, at least they were a) quiet and b) kind of disappeared ahead of us.
![Exploring Step Falls on a quiet morning [Jun 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/744534/744534_original.jpg "Exploring Step Falls on a quiet morning [Jun 2021]")
The hike to step falls is a walk through the woods to a spot where water tumbles over a long, gentle slope of exposed granite. During the melt season this must be quite a sight though right now, in the almost-summer, it's fairly sedate. We took advantage of the low water levels by climbing around on the rocks, exploring many of the tiers of the falls.
![Step Falls is a long cascade of small drops [Jun 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/744855/744855_original.jpg "Step Falls is a long cascade of small drops [Jun 2021]")
Step Falls Preserve is a small park, owned by the Mahoosuc Land Trust. There's but a single trail and it's barely 1/2 mile long. While it's short on length it's long on views.
![Atop Step Falls [Jun 2021]](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/canyonwalker/33413618/745069/745069_original.jpg "Atop Step Falls [Jun 2021]")
We spent over an hour in the park. Exploring all the little steps of Step Falls was fun. Having it virtually to ourselves was awesome. And the morning sun felt good— though I realized after of an hour of it I'd forgotten to apply suntan lotion. We'll see how I feel tonight.
On our walk back to the car we passed a few more small groups of hikers coming in and saw several cars at the trailhead. We got in— and out— just in time to enjoy the solitude.
Step Falls Preserve, ME - Sunday, 20 Jun 2021, 11am.
Our week-long adventure in Maine is close to over... according to the calendar. We leave tomorrow. But when we look at our list of things to do... well, we're still in the thick of it. We're aiming to hike several trails and visit numerous waterfalls today. ...Assuming the weather holds out, unlike yesterday when it rained.
We got rolling from the hotel around 9am after enjoying breakfast of leftovers on the common deck outside our small room. 9 was later than I wanted, but fortunately many of the hikes were clustered and not too far away. Our first destination, Step Falls Preserve, was a simple, 20 minute drive.
We pulled into the small trailhead parking lot and rejoiced that ours was the only car there. We'd enjoy solitude of having the park to ourselves! But then another car pulled in and three hikers jumped out and practically ran to the trail ahead of us. Well, at least they were a) quiet and b) kind of disappeared ahead of us.
The hike to step falls is a walk through the woods to a spot where water tumbles over a long, gentle slope of exposed granite. During the melt season this must be quite a sight though right now, in the almost-summer, it's fairly sedate. We took advantage of the low water levels by climbing around on the rocks, exploring many of the tiers of the falls.
Step Falls Preserve is a small park, owned by the Mahoosuc Land Trust. There's but a single trail and it's barely 1/2 mile long. While it's short on length it's long on views.
We spent over an hour in the park. Exploring all the little steps of Step Falls was fun. Having it virtually to ourselves was awesome. And the morning sun felt good— though I realized after of an hour of it I'd forgotten to apply suntan lotion. We'll see how I feel tonight.
On our walk back to the car we passed a few more small groups of hikers coming in and saw several cars at the trailhead. We got in— and out— just in time to enjoy the solitude.
