Ripley Falls
A seasonal waterfall cascades down the side of Mont Ripley ski hill to form Ripley Falls. The largest drop is about halfway up the hill, a sudden plunge down an exposed rock face. Most of the other drops are smaller cascades over huge boulders. While the parking area and first part of the hike is in a residential area of Hancock, hiking up the hill along the small creek is wooded and fairly quiet. Some access roads and the cropped grass of the ski hill surrounding the creek’s cut make for an easy and scenic hike down.
Directions
Park at the old Ripley School (now an apartment building) on 2nd street just east of Mont Ripley’s entrance. Head to the pine-covered hill on the north side of the parking lot and hunt around for a trail. A few footpaths led up this hill and along the creek. Try to stick far above the creek until you pass the house with a bench in the backyard to avoid trespassing.
The first waterfall shows up just past this house, so cut down to the creek here and follow the creek upstream. A few railroad grades sit near the top with some small rapids upstream. The ski hill has some access roads on west side of the creek for an easy walk back.
Photographs
Visits
Seen in April, July, October and November.
- overflowing
Overflowing creek water gushed out over the plunge, skittering and splashing as it hit the different rock formations before meeting the canyon's floor and sliding out. I stood close and let the mist flow over me. Before I could get to the falls, though, something showed up in the way. A truck-sized boulder had crashed down from the hill above and was sitting right in the middle of the path. Maybe this hillside wasn't as sturdy as I had assumed.
- all but empty, a thin trickle
Doubt began to trickle in as we walked, with the creek dry far below us. True enough, the first drop was all but empty, a thin trickle of water flowing under and around the boulders, and above only the occasional cascade poked out of the dark rocks. A few of the drops over solid bedrock were a bit more defined, including the large drop that is over halfway up the mountain, but there was nothing spectacular to see.
- barely flowing, water covered up by leaves
When we cut down to the lower waterfall I was immediately disappointed. The creek was barely flowing, water covered up by leaves and undergrowth. Along the way up the hill we found a deep canyon with an impressive drop along it, one that I'd consider to be the main drop of Ripley Falls, but the water was so faint on the rocks that I didn't even take a picture of it.
While the creek and waterfall were small it was still a pretty sight. Huge rocks and mossy trees lay scattered about with the creek seeping around and pouring over the obstacles. The lowermost waterfall was just past a private backyard, so I headed down quickly, took a few pictures, and retreated from the falls.
Comments
2 comments
Looks like Mont Ripley pushed a bunch of trees, roots, and debris onto the trail farther up the hill. And the 2018 Father's Day Flood made a mess of the falls - there's a big wash-out next to the falls, treee and debris all over. It started raining, so we did not attempt to climb to the more upper falls.
We found the trail up a steep embankment to the left of a mint green house across from the fire hall and followed it until we found the path blocked with a lot of tree debris. We backtracked and saw a steep path down to the creek bed, ending up across the creek from the bench mentioned in the post. We crossed the creek to the east embankment and continued a somewhat treacherous climb uphill to multiple falls. There is a lot of rock and tree debris in the area from the 2018 Father’s Day flood.
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