What a fun day this was, we managed to fit in so many small hikes to a dozen water falls. Granby Connecticut is home to the famous Enders falls but also the lesser known Cathles Trail fall, and 3 waterfalls in the McLean Game Refuge.
We headed up to Granby and spent close to 6 hours on this trip. Our first stop was the McLean Game Refuge. While researching water falls in CT I found a vague reference to there being 3 waterfalls in this area, but I couldn't find an exact map. The McLean Game refuges official map does not include the falls on their map so I had to rely on an old blog post from 2008/9 to hunt them down.
The first set of falls is named North Gate falls. Take the Firetown Rd. from the south and you'll find a pull out big enough for 3 cars on your right. Just cross the street into the woods where you can hear the water flowing and you'll find the falls 40 feet from the road. This parking area can be found on google maps if you zoom in enough!
(you're welcome)
Pictured to the right is Nina on top of the highest fall... having somehow climbed to the rocks in the middle and gotten stuck.
This is a three tier set of falls, pictured to the right. The lowest tier is an 8ft drop of small cascades. This is also where you can view all three tiers at once. The area is slippery and full of loose rock so be careful while exploring.
The second tier is easy to reach from the first, a small path leads right up to it. A small rocky "beach" allows anyone with a wide angle lens to capture both 12 foot falls here. I believe the correct term is "horsetails"?
The third tier of falls are by far the hardest to navigate. We had to hop between small slippery rocks to get good angles on them. They are small and the least picturesque of the group. There are also several stone walls at the top similar to one you'll find at the bottom of the first fall.
After this there is no trail, you have to return to the road to move on.
A very quick hike up the road and you'll find a private driveway on the left. Follow this for a minute and you'll find access to the trail. Less then five minutes further and you'll hear water on your left. Follow the small side trail to to this gorgeous fall. It doesn't seem to be named so I'll call it the west ledge trail falls.
You can continue this hike all the way to the next falls... or do what we did and just drive! Head up Simsbury road and take a left onto broad hill rd. A small pull off awaits and the trail you'll find is an easy gravel road. At least a mile in you'll see an old bridge blocked off by concrete barrier blocks. Head to the left without crossing and you'll find a trail down to see Carpenter Falls. This is the biggest and most impressive set of falls in the refuge and well worth the trip.
The McLean Game Refuge connects to Both Enders Falls and the Cathles trail that we also visited this day. But they do so unofficially as the owners of the land do not wish to officially connect the parcels and want things to remain in their natural state.
Enders Falls has to be one of the single most popular parks in Connecticut. Consisting of multiple waterfalls of varying size, this park has some new stairs and viewing platforms while retaining some less developed sections.
From what I understand, somebody died here a few years ago prompting them to upgrade the park for safety reasons. It certainly turned out nicely! A fair bit of warning though, this park can get absolutely swamped with people, so don't expect to have any of the falls to yourself for very long. At one point I had an actual line form behind me as I tried to take a photo!
When you arrive you'll head immediately down a gravel hill. To your right will be a long path heading upstream where you can see the brook flow more gently. Head left to find all of the water falls.
Some will require strategic positioning in order to photograph, they flow through some very narrow gaps in the rocks in spots. As you head further down stream towards the boardwalk the falls really open up and get large.
The most famous of the falls is currently not easy to see. The structure of the new stairs is designed to keep people from playing on the big waterfall ledge. In order to see the fall pictured to the left you will either need to disregard the safety warnings and large X signs or
bushwhack to the other side of the river by going further downstream first. Pictured to the left is the friend I made, fellow traveler @Darthbigslurp on Instagram. Who travels around to set up free c*vid testing sites all over the country. He decided he was going for a dip, and who would I be if I didn't capture a few photos... I personally am not a big fan of stream water in CT!
The stairs next lead past the main cascade, which is quite large, before heading by a few more falls. I've posted most of the photos in no real order here because I can't recall from memory which came first. Suffice it to say that many of the falls are positioned in such a way that it is difficult to take super nice photos from these new platforms. As you head south the terrain becomes rugged again and there is one last fall to check out.
While it's a steep climb down loose dirt, it's short and worth it. This set of falls are the easiest to see head on and are probably the third largest in the park. Just remember that you've been heading down hill the entire time and now you have to ascend all the way to the parking lot...
Our final hiking spot for the day was the Cathles trail in the southern most section of the area. We parked at the end of a cul-de-sac and hiked to the top of the mountain via the red trail. I was told there was a view but it was heavily blocked by trees and guarded by the most persistently defensive bumble bee I have ever seen. I was lucky to have gotten this single shot from the top
At the base of this mountain, and located only five minutes from where we parked, is the Cathles waterfall. This fall consists of several small cascades and falls down a 20 foot rock face. We went right after it rained and it was quite small, so temper your expectations. It is not highly photogenic and you may wish to watch our video above before you decide to visit. This was still a nice spot to check out since we were in the area, I just wouldn't head here for this alone.
We finished our day by heading to the Saville Dam. This is easily one of the top Instagram photo locations in all of Connecticut. While we were there we witnessed no less then 13 people come up to take a selfie. This architectural structure is positively stunning so I can't blame them!
Overall this trip to Granby was AWESOME.
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