In looking for a description of the upcoming Arethusa Falls hike, I came across an email that Allen had written to accompany a hike report describing our trip to the falls In June 2023.
“When we named Jeff Sturgis as the Denmark Mountain Hikers’ Assistant Hike Leader at our 2,000-mile party in December 2021 he and I had no idea how often he would be thrust into the role of leading our hikes while John Patrick and I were absent. I want to thank Jeff for taking over for us and appreciate that he has (so far) been able to successfully herd the cats that our group represent and has not had to invoke our rule that “returning with 90% of the hikers that started up the trail is an acceptable ratio of losses!
Once again, I could not join the group on our 16 June hike to Arethusa Falls and Jeff did an admirable job, dodging rainstorms and thunderstorms, as well as trains on the tracks at the trailhead.”
In Greek mythology Arethusa was a nymph. The river god Alpheus fell in love with Arethus. Who was in the retinue of Artemis. Arethusa wasn’t cool with this and fled to the island of Ortygia, where she was changed into a spring. Alpheus wasn’t one to give up and made his way beneath the sea and unite his water with those of the spring.
Since the last time we hiked to Arethusa, AI has come to dominate my computer’s search engine and provides this description: “Arethusa Falls is a tall waterfall located in the White Mountains National Forest in Hart’s Location, New Hampshire, within Crawford Notch State Park. The falls are approximately 140 feet (43 m) tall and are reached by hiking trails, most commonly the Arethusa Falls Trail, a 2.8-mile round trip hike with moderate elevation gain.”
Allen wrote about Arethusa Falls on page 254 of his “Go Take a Hike” book wherein the claims that the falls is actually 160 feet. This seems to fit with his theory that the mountains were getting taller as he got older.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance 1.5 miles
Hiking time 1 hour 10 minutes
Vertical gain. 900 feet
Trailhead directions: head north on route 302 from North Conway, through Bartlett and into Crawford Notch. At the south end of Crawford Notch State Park turn left at the marled turnoff/. It is just beyond the Crawford Notch General Store & Campground. There are two parking lots. A lower one and an upper one.
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