White Mountain National Forest: Sabbaday Falls (Blog Hike #164)

Trail: Sabbaday Brook Trail

Hike Location: White Mountain National Forest, Kancamagus Highway

Geographic Location: west of Conway, NH (43.99741, -71.39310)

Length: 0.7 miles

Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)

Date Hiked: August 2004

Overview: A short hike to the pretty, flume-type Sabbaday Falls.

Area Information: http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/whitemountain/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=74927&actid=50

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=941470
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: Sabbaday Falls is located near the midpoint of the scenic Kancamagus Highway (SR 112) 19 miles east of Lincoln and 15 miles west of Conway.  Park in the well-marked paved parking lot on the south side of the road.  The trail starts at the information board on the south side of the parking lot.

The hike: The Kancamagus Highway (pronounced Kan-ca-maw’-gus) is well-known as one of the most scenic drives in the northeast.  The name comes from Chief Kancamagus of the Penacooks Indian tribe.  In 1685, Chief Kancamagus led the final revolt of the Penacook Indians against the white settlers.  For 34 miles, the road winds up and over Kancamagus Pass with numerous overlooks and trailheads along the way.

One of the more pleasant, popular, and shortest diversions from the highway is the trail to Sabbaday Falls.  The name Sabbaday Falls is a corruption of the words “Sabbath day.”  The falls earned this name because visitors from nearby towns only had time to reach the falls on the day of rest.  The modern trail is wide and gradually sloped for the entire 0.3 miles to the falls, and the reward is well-worth the small amount of effort it will take to get there.  This hike makes a nice leg stretch while you are driving the highway, not to mention an opportunity to see a pretty waterfall and the natural mountain environment.

Trailhead: Sabbaday Falls Trail

            Begin at the information board where the trail immediately enters the hemlock forest.  Sabbaday Brook flows against you on the left and the hillside rises steeply to the right.  After only 0.25 miles of gradual uphill hiking, the spur trail to the falls exits to the left.  This trail comes out at an observation area beside the medium-sized but shallow plunge pool at the base of the falls.  From here, you can look upstream into the narrow chasm through which the falls tumbles in a pair of 6-foot drops and some other less dramatic cascades to arrive at the plunge pool.

Sabbaday Falls

Looking down the flume

            The trail heads upstream, climbing some steps built beside the stream as it falls.  At the top of the falls, the spur trail rejoins the main Sabbaday Brook Trail.  Although one could continue hiking the Sabbaday Brook Trail upstream beside the brook, the going gets steeper and more difficult, and the highlight of the trip is over.  So turn right and descend moderately back to the parking lot, completing the hike.