Imp Falls
When hiking in and about the Great Gulf area of the Presidential Range you can sometimes look out across the Peabody River valley to the Carter-Moriah Range and see a large waterfall.
A thin line glistening white in the distance, high up in the steep bowl of the Imp Brook valley, the waterfall is shown on no map that I know of and has no name as far as I can tell. There is no ready made trail to these falls and so to get there you are going to have to bushwhack.
Without a name, I call this waterfall "Imp Falls".
About the Imp
The Imp Face is a geological feature much like the Old Man of the Mountain, the face of an Imp perched up high on a ledge of some 3100 foot elevation and viewable from the highway below. The Imp Face rises above a bowl shaped valley that has the Imp Trail loop running along its lip and sheer thousand foot drop offs to Imp Brook and the falls below.
The Imp Trail is a popular climb in the White Mountains. Its loop of 6.3 miles with wonderful views of the Presidential Range and down into the Imp Brook valley make for an excellent day hike.
A Waterfall Few Know About
Intrigued by this as yet undiscovered waterfall (by me), I located the likely location of Imp Falls on a USGS topographic map and entered its latitude and longitude into my Garmin 60CS GPS unit. With the contour lines of the northern branch of Imp Brook nearly touching, I knew this area would be exceedingly steep and perhaps even treacherous. Let the adventure begin.
N 44-19-09
W 071-11-16
Elevation 2500 feet
Armed with this information, I was able to hike in and locate the falls. And it is well worth the effort.
To get to the falls park at the northern Imp Trail parking lot about five miles south from Gorham NH on Route 16. Follow the Imp Trail for about a half a mile to where it crosses Imp Brook. Now follow this brook upstream.
Bushwhacking to Imp Falls
The beginning of the bushwhack is through an excellent hardwood forest. It behooves you to stay on the left side of the brook and on top of the brook embankment as you make your way upward, as you will eventually hit an old eight foot wide logging road from the horse and sleigh days that can aid considerably in your ascent. The usual array of blowdowns and hobble bush will still impede your progress, but the logging road avoids the worst of the ups and downs of the topography and further assures you that you are on the right track.
Eventually the valley narrows and if you are on the old logging road you will have a difficult scramble pushing yourself through very thick growth and blowdowns. The alternate choice is walking down closer to the brook, which I tried but found too difficult with all the angular boulders and steep stream bank to contend with.
In time you will emerge into a brief respite where the valley bottom opens up just a bit, revealing a huge glacial boulder 17ft wide by 22ft long by 17ft high with a cave worth exploring or even camping under. You can easily climb the boulder and see that it is so large it has its own private forest growing upon it.
Nearby is also the remains of an old logging camp with its varied castoffs that invite exploration. This little opening near the boulder is the logical location for a logging camp in the olden days, as it is the last reasonable place for living quarters before the terrain becomes exceedingly steep.
Just beyond the huge glacial erratic boulder is the intersection of the two main branches of Imp Brook. The land here has a wild appearance, with steep banks and lichen covered rocks all around. Take a right and continue up the northern branch of the brook. A good method here is to head straight uphill, at about a 70 degree vertical angle, from the brook until you cut the old logging road again. It is amazing that the old loggers persisted in cutting a road on the edge of this steep embankment to get at the trees here.
Keep pushing onward past every obstacle the forest will throw in your path. In places it is very difficult going. Eventually the old logging road ends where high water has turned the landscape into a multitude of old boulder strewn channels and broken trees after heavy rains or during spring runoff. It is here, looking upstream, you will first see the lower part of the falls.
The Imp Falls
The Imp Falls are actually a series of falls, some of them quite high, with flumes in between. The lay of the land is very steep to be sure, with sheer ledges all around. When I was at the falls it was quite cold and beautiful ice formations were everywhere, with water bouncing and splashing all around.
I continued to the end of the main falls, several hundred yards of frothing water and ice formations over sheer cliffs. From there I bushwhacked upward to the lip of the bowl where I connected with the Imp Trail. A word of warning: this final bushwhack upward could be one of the most difficult things you have ever done in your life. Thick forest growth. Intertwined branches. Exceedingly steep and ledgy slope will fight you all the way and tax your patience as you struggle every step of the way, often on your hands and knees.
The bushwhack up the headwall of the Imp Brook valley is dangerous with many ways to become seriously hurt. Darkness was approaching in a few hours and for a time I thought I may not get out before lack of light made things even more difficult. Fortunately I always have with me the 15 essentials of my survival kit allowing me that extra margin of safety that can mean all the difference should I become injured or have to spend a night out in the mountains.
It took me about one hour to make the final two tenths of a mile distance.
Imp Falls Topography
As you can see from the topo map, the Imp Brook drainage is very steep. This makes for an excellent White Mountains Waterfall, tailor made for the bushwhacker. Also on the topo map are red dots representing positions where I took GPS readings. You can see where the big glacial erratic is, the location of the waterfall complex, and where I came out from the bushwhack up the headwall. From the Imp Face itself are excellent views down toward the waterfall and also out to the Presidential Range from whence the falls are visible.
If you are the kind of person who enjoys going off the crowded beaten track, and do not mind a few scrapes and bruises (no graded path here) the bushwhack into the bowl of Imp Brook is well worth the effort. The Imp Falls is certainly one of the best waterfalls in the White Mountains, one of the least known, and and one of the least visited.