Entirely different from Upper Ammonoosuc Fall. This place is so big and round that it seems like a design rather than a natural occurrence. In fact, part of the right bank is a gravel road and some scars in the rock point to earlier industrial use, but the present appearance is largely unspoiled. At the top is a long, low-angle cascade over dozens of individual shelves from couch size to garden size. They separate the water into so many different leaps and falls that it really adds to the character.

The swimming area happens at the bottom of the cascade where a dogleg forces the Ammonoosuc River to swell into a hole big enough for ducks to land in. It’s the biggest swimming hole in the White Mountain National Forest and among the biggest swimming holes in this book. The best part is the accessibility. Grandpa can take the kids down here six weeks after his hip surgery while you and the spouse have brunch at Bretton Woods. The Lower Fall is only two tenths of a mile from the parking area. Rocks at the cascade are cut into even angles like stair steps six to nine inches high.

It has at least one killer pothole higher up in the run. It’s about the size of a double jacuzzi. Much of the rest of the riverbed above and below has lots more boulder clutter. Few places more than six feet deep, but worth exploring since privacy at the main hole is doubtful.

Copyright Running Water Publications 2002