Photo of Stairs Falls, located in Franconia Notch State Park in Lincoln, New Hampshire. The trail is accessed from the Trailhead Parking Lot on I-93 North. Take the Old Bridle Path Trail for .2 miles to Walker Brook, then veer off to the right over the footbridge to Falling Waters Trail. Both trails lead up to the Franconia Ridge Trail, which is part of the Appalachian Trail and includes Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Lincoln, and Little Haystack. From the footbridge, hike another .6 miles to Stairs Falls. On the way, you will need to cross Dry Brook where, unless the water is low, you need to hop across rocks to get by the small cascades and pools. The height of Stairs Falls is 20 feet.

It is worthwhile continuing up the trail past Stairs Falls for another .6 miles, as it passes the 60 foot Swiftwater Falls and the 80 foot Cloudland Falls. The altitude gain of the 1.4 mile hike from the parking lot to Cloudland Falls is 1100 feet, at an altitude of 2900 feet. Right before Swiftwater Falls, you must again hop over rocks to get to the other side of Dry Brook. Of the three falls, the smaller Stairs Falls is the prettiest, in my opinion. Nice photos can be taken of Cloudland Falls, but I did not find Swiftwater Falls to be very photogenic. I will post a photo of Cloudland Falls a little later.

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/vug3cu