Maine has a glacier-carved notch with waterfalls, a 4,170-foot peak, and almost no crowds

It’s bigger and wilder than you’d expect

Grafton Notch State Park sits in western Maine, tucked into the Mahoosuc Range where glaciers once ground everything flat and then left.

What they left behind is a U-shaped valley with waterfalls dropping through bedrock gorges, a mountain that tops 4,000 feet, and trails ranging from a 10-minute stroll to a five-hour slog.

Over 3,100 acres of it run along Route 26 between Newry and Upton, about 14 miles north of Bethel. Most people drive right through.

The ones who stop find that it goes a lot deeper than the road suggests.

Glaciers carved the whole valley and left their mark on the rocks

Stand on one of the higher ledges and you can still see the grooves.

Glaciers dragged across this bedrock during the last ice age and left striations carved into the stone.

Down in the valley, the melting ice dropped what it carried: sand, gravel, and large boulders called erratics scattered across the floor like they were set down mid-thought.

The Grafton Notch Scenic Byway follows Route 26 through the park with pull-offs where you can stop, look up at the peaks, and start to get a sense of what the ice did here.

The state bought this land in 1963 from a paper company

Before it was a park, this was logging land. The state of Maine bought 2,875 acres from the Brown Company in 1963, added more parcels through the 1960s, and finalized the park boundaries in 1977.

Today, the park is bordered by the eastern and western sections of the Mahoosuc Public Reserved Land, which together cover over 31,800 acres.

The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, the Trust for Public Land, the Land for Maine’s Future Program, and the Mahoosuc Land Trust all had a hand in protecting it.

It’s a big conservation win, and most visitors have no idea.

Screw Auger Falls drops 23 feet through carved bedrock

About a mile north of the park entrance, the Bear River narrows and drops 23 feet through a gorge so tight the water goes dark between the walls.

That’s Screw Auger Falls, and it’s one of the easiest stops in the park.

A short path of about a tenth of a mile with guard rails takes you right to the viewing area, where interpretive signs explain how glacial forces cut the channel.

Below the falls, the river spreads into cascades and shallow pools. Picnic tables and grills sit nearby if you want to stay a while.

Mother Walker Falls runs through a gorge 40 feet deep and nearly 1,000 feet long

A little over a mile north of Screw Auger Falls, the road passes another stop worth pulling over for. Mother Walker Falls runs through a V-shaped gorge named for a long-time local resident, and it goes deep.

The canyon drops more than 40 feet and runs nearly 980 feet.

A short walk from the road brings you to a viewpoint above where the water tumbles over broken rocks through the cut.

Come in spring, when the snowmelt comes off the mountains, and the falls run hard enough that you can hear them before you reach the edge.

Moose Cave hides a canyon where water disappears underground

You walk a quarter-mile loop to reach Moose Cave, and the trail gets narrow and steep before it opens up. The gorge itself is 200 feet long and cut 45 feet down into bedrock, with lichen and moss thick on the walls.

At the bottom, water moves around boulders and then vanishes under a large granite slab into a cave below. The cave takes its name from a local legend about a moose that fell into the gorge.

It’s a short hike, but the ground you cover underground, so to speak, goes far below what you’d expect.

Table Rock sits 900 feet above the road with open views across the notch

The Table Rock Loop Trail runs about 2.4 miles and climbs 900 feet to a wide rock ledge on the side of Baldpate Mountain.

From there, you can see Old Speck Mountain, the Eyebrow cliffs, and the full length of Grafton Notch laid out below you. The orange-blazed route is rated moderate to advanced and involves some boulder scrambling.

The Appalachian Trail gives you a more gradual climb to the same top.

Either way, the summit ledge drops away steeply on one side with no fencing, so watch where you step.

Old Speck tops 4,170 feet with a fire tower and 360-degree views

Old Speck Mountain is the highest peak in the Mahoosuc Range at 4,170 feet, and the only 4,000-footer in Maine that’s part of the White Mountain chain.

The Old Speck Trail follows the Appalachian Trail for about 3.5 miles with roughly 2,700 feet of elevation gain. The hike is rated strenuous and most people take five to six hours round trip.

At the wooded summit, a fire tower is typically open, and from the top of it, you can see across western Maine and into the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

The Eyebrow Trail uses iron rungs and cables to cross exposed cliffs

If Table Rock felt like a warmup, the Eyebrow Loop Trail is another thing entirely.

The 2.2-mile route climbs roughly 1,100 feet on the lower slopes of Old Speck and crosses sections of exposed cliffside with steel cables and iron ladder rungs bolted into the rock.

Hike it counterclockwise so the steepest section is going up, not down. At the top of the Eyebrow cliffs, you look straight down into Grafton Notch.

The trail is not recommended for children or people new to technical terrain.

A 38-mile backpacking loop crosses multiple summits in the Mahoosucs

For multi-day trips, the Grafton Loop Trail covers about 38.6 miles through the Mahoosuc Mountains, connecting to the Appalachian Trail at Old Speck and at the East Peak of Baldpate Mountain.

It was completed in 2007 to take pressure off the heavily used AT section nearby.

Primitive campsites are spread along the route, though you should confirm campsite and water-source conditions before you head out.

The trail crosses Sunday River Whitecap, where raised walkways protect the fragile alpine plants and the views open up on all sides.

Peregrine falcons nest on the cliffs above the notch

The park sits on the Maine Birding Trail, and the cliffs above the notch are active peregrine falcon nesting habitat.

Warblers and thrushes move through at lower elevations, while higher up in the spruce forests, you can find spruce grouse and boreal chickadees, northern species most people never see this far south.

On the ground, moose, black bear, white-tailed deer, fox, bobcat, coyote, and fisher all move through the park and the surrounding Mahoosuc Public Lands.

The Spruce Meadow picnic area in the park’s northern section looks out over a wildlife-rich marsh with Old Speck rising behind it.

The Bear River runs cold all summer with natural swimming holes

The Bear River cuts through the park and keeps its temperature well into summer. The shallow pools above and below Screw Auger Falls are where most people wade in on hot days.

About a half-mile away along Route 26, a separate property called Step Falls Preserve sits on 24 acres managed by the Mahoosuc Land Trust.

Wight Brook drops more than 250 feet total through a series of cascades over open rock ledges into plunge pools. It’s not part of the state park, but it’s close enough to make a natural second stop.

The park closes in mid-October and has no camping on-site

Grafton Notch runs day-use only from May 15 to Oct. 15, nine a.m. to sunset, with an entry fee collected at the park (cash or check only).

You can come in the off-season during the same hours, but the facilities are shut.

In winter, the ungroomed trails draw snowshoers and cross-country skiers, and snowmobilers use the ITS 82 route through the area. Dogs are welcome on leash year-round.

Brook trout fishing is open in the Bear River and the surrounding streams.

Cell coverage is spotty to nonexistent through most of the park, so download your maps before you leave the car.

Visit Grafton Notch State Park in Maine

You’ll find the park on Route 26 between Newry and Upton, about 14 miles north of Bethel, Maine. The season runs May 15 through Oct. 15, from 9 a.m. to sunset.

Entry fees are collected on-site, cash or check only, so come prepared.

No camping is allowed within the park, but low-impact camping is available on the adjacent Mahoosuc Public Lands.

Cell service is unreliable through the notch, so download your trail maps ahead of time and check the official website for current trail conditions before you head out.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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