White Mt. NF--Sabbaday Brook Trail, Waterville Valley

White Mt. NF--Sabbaday Brook Trail, Waterville Valley

Sabbaday Brook Trail White Mountain National Forest

Official Website
White Mountain National Forest Official Website

About this Location

Sabbaday Falls is one of the most popular locations on the Kancamagus Scenic Byway and is accessed via an easy 15-minute walk on an evenly graded and gravel-surfaced trail from a paved parking lot, with a stone staircase and gravel walkway directly adjacent to the falls. The falls are a picturesque series of cascades in a narrow flume. Interpretive panels explain the geology of the falls. Swimming is not allowed. There are restrooms and picnic tables available in the parking lot. There is also a self-serve pay station as this is a fee site.

Located 15 miles west of Conway on the Kancamagus Highway.

About White Mountain National Forest

See all hotspots at White Mountain National Forest

In the decades prior to 1911, the unregulated logging practices of private timber companies in the White Mountains had resulted in a damaged landscape susceptible to both fire and flood. Fires had burned thousands of acres, and flash floods affected the water power necessary to the mills of major industrial centers downstream, such as Manchester, New Hampshire, and Lowell, Massachusetts. Concerns over losses to industry, business, and tourism, and the growing conservation movement led to citizen action. The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and Society for Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF) spearheaded an effort to ensure the permanent protection of the White Mountains from further depredation. After years of lobbying and intense public pressure, Senator John Weeks of Massachusetts, a native of Lancaster, New Hampshire, introduced legislation that became known as the Weeks Act. The Weeks Act was passed by Congress in 1911, appropriating 9 million dollars to purchase 6 million acres of land in the Eastern U.S. In turn, this led to the creation of the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) in 1918, and twenty-one other national forests throughout the north and southeast. Many of the groups who were instrumental in the passage of the Weeks Act, including the SPNHF and the AMC, are still active today, and the WMNF has grown from 7,000 acres to almost 800,000. Today, the reforested mountains and hillsides supply forest products and provide magnificent recreational opportunities while maintaining healthy watersheds and ecosystems.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Entrance fee

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

Content from Official Website and White Mountain National Forest Official Website

Last updated November 12, 2023