Frankenstein-Arethusa Loop (May 2, 2021) - 4.5 hours

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Saco valley.    Saco valley.

The Frankenstein-Arethusa Loop is a nice short hike to start the season and see the falls full of water. On the way to climbing the Frankenstein Cliffs we took a detour to the railway trestle bridge for a view up the Saco valley (left). At the top of the cliffs is the classic vista spot with a view down the valley (right).

Arethusa Falls.    Arethusa Falls.

Also from that spot we had a distant view of Arethusa Falls where we were headed (left) and of the Montalban Ridge with prominent Stairs Mountain across the valley (right).

Mt. Washington.    Arethusa Falls.

We continued on and did the detour to Falcon Cliff, which has the same view but with trees in the way. We reached the high point where there is a limited view north toward Mt. Washington (left) and then went down to Arethusa Falls (right), which are the highest falls in New Hampshire. We had hardly seen any snow all day but there was quite a bit of snow here on the other (north-facing) side of the stream below the falls.

Bemis Falls.    Coliseum Falls.

From there we headed back the Arethusa Falls Trail, across two new bridges and then taking the steep detour down to Bemis Brook to see Bemis Falls (left) and Coliseum Falls (right).

See also: 2021 Hikes