This New Hampshire waterfall comes with granite swimming holes and 19th-century ruins

Lucy Brook’s got a secret

Somewhere between North Conway and the peaks of the White Mountains, a brook tumbles down from Big Attitash Mountain and spills over 75 feet of granite ledge.

You won’t find a sign on the highway bragging about it. What they left behind along the brook makes the trip even more interesting.

Diana’s Baths sits just minutes from the village, tucked inside the White Mountain National Forest in Bartlett, New Hampshire. The water carved these pools over thousands of years, and people have been coming to wade in them since the 1800s.

The Abenaki called it Water Fairies’ Spring

Long before anyone built anything here, the Abenaki people had a name for this stretch of brook. They called it Water Fairies’ Spring.

Then, before 1859, a Boston visitor named Miss Hubbard renamed the place after Diana, the Roman goddess of nature.

In 1863, George Lucy bought five acres along the brook and built a water-powered sawmill right on the water. By around 1890, he had added a three-story, 12-room boarding house to bring in tourists.

The Lucy family later sold the land, and it folded into the national forest.

Old mill ruins still line the brook

Walk along Lucy Brook and you’ll spot the leftovers of George Lucy’s operation. Cellar holes sit half-buried in the forest floor.

Parts of the old dam poke out from the rocks, and if you look closely, you can still find pieces of the turbine gears that once powered the sawmill.

The water that ran that mill now runs free over the same granite, dropping about 75 feet across several levels of ledge. The tallest single drop plunges roughly 12 feet over large boulders.

Slide down the granite into cold mountain water

Thousands of years of flowing water carved smooth potholes deep into the granite here. When they fill up, some spin into small whirlpools.

Near the top of the falls, you’ll find natural rock slides where the water runs over sloped granite, and you can slide right down into the pools below.

Dozens of small cascades and pools spread across multiple levels, so families can spread out and find their own spot without crowding each other.

A flat half-mile walk through tall pines

The trail to Diana’s Baths runs about 0.6 miles on a flat, wide gravel path. The whole path is ADA-accessible, with benches spaced along the way.

You walk through a quiet stretch of forest with towering pine trees on both sides. Near the falls, a wooden boardwalk crosses a wet area before the brook comes into view.

At the end of the walk, three side-by-side cascades greet you at the bottom of the chain, and that first look is worth the short trip in.

Splash around and dry off on warm granite

When summer hits, families wade into the shallow pools and splash through the cascades. Kids scramble over the smooth boulders like they own the place.

The wide, flat rock surfaces around the falls make perfect spots to lay out a towel and dry off in the sun. The water runs strongest in spring, when snowmelt rushes off the mountains and fills Lucy Brook to the brim.

By summer, it’s cold enough to make you catch your breath, but on a hot day, that’s exactly the point.

Rock hop upstream for your own private pool

Past the main cascades, you can keep walking upstream along the rocky brook. The further you go, the fewer people you see.

The ledge is full of formations shaped by centuries of flowing water, and quieter pools and smaller cascades hide in the nooks above the main viewing area.

Rock hopping along the brook gives you a chance to pick your own favorite spot, sit down on the granite, and have a stretch of waterfall all to yourself.

The trail keeps climbing to 3,196 feet

If the Baths aren’t enough, the Moat Mountain Trail continues past the cascades toward the summit of North Moat Mountain. The peak sits at 3,196 feet with open ledges and views in every direction.

The full round trip covers about eight to 10 miles with roughly 2,800 feet of elevation gain, so this one is for experienced hikers, not a casual stroll.

Time it right in July and you’ll find wild blueberry bushes covering the rocky summit area.

Diana’s Baths stays open year-round

Diana’s Baths has a parking lot that is maintained through winter. When the cold sets in, the cascades partially freeze and create dramatic formations of ice over the granite.

Icicles hang from the ledges while water still swirls beneath frozen surfaces. The trail is walkable in winter, but you’ll want proper footwear for icy conditions.

Come in the colder months and you’ll trade the summer crowds for silence and a completely different look at the same stretch of brook.

Stand on a 700-foot cliff just down the road

Cathedral Ledge rises 700 feet straight up, and it’s only a short drive from Diana’s Baths on West Side Road. A one-mile auto road takes you to the top, where a short walk leads to a fenced overlook.

From there, you can see the Saco River Valley spreading out below and the White Mountains stacking up behind it.

Rock climbers scale the sheer granite face below the railing. Cathedral Ledge State Park costs nothing to visit.

Swim in Echo Lake at the base of the cliffs

Echo Lake State Park sits at the foot of White Horse Ledge, just outside North Conway. You can swim in the lake, use the bathhouse, and spread out at picnic areas along the shore.

A one-mile trail loops around the water with views of both Cathedral Ledge and White Horse Ledge. Local residents bought both ledges around 1900 and later gave them to the State of New Hampshire.

The park pairs well with Diana’s Baths since both sit right off West Side Road.

Drive 34 miles of forest with zero gas stations

The Kancamagus Highway runs about 34 miles along Route 112 through the White Mountain National Forest, connecting Conway on the east to Lincoln on the west.

The road climbs to about 2,855 feet at Kancamagus Pass, and along the way you’ll pass waterfalls, river gorges, overlooks and trailheads.

No gas stations, no restaurants, no businesses line the road. Just unbroken forest. Come in fall and the hardwood forests turn into walls of red, orange and gold on both sides of the pavement.

Spring snowmelt turns Lucy Brook loose

Water flow at Diana’s Baths shifts with the seasons.

Spring brings the heaviest rush, when snow melts off the surrounding White Mountains and pours into Lucy Brook.

After a heavy rain, the waterfalls pick up force and the pools fill deeper. By late summer, the water level drops, exposing more granite ledge and making wading easier.

Each season gives you a different version of the same stretch of brook and stone, so the time of year you visit changes what you’ll find.

Visit Diana’s Baths in Bartlett, N.H.

You can find the trailhead at 3872 West Side Road, about 2.5 miles north of North Conway village.

The flat, ADA-accessible gravel trail runs 0.6 miles each way. Parking costs $5 per vehicle at a self-serve kiosk. Dogs are welcome on leash.

The site is open year-round from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the lot is maintained even in winter. Get there early in summer, because spots fill fast and roadside parking is not allowed.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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