Roxbury Falls is a 10-foot tiered waterfall on the Shepaug River in Roxbury, Connecticut, where the river breaks over two drops into rapids a short way above its mouth on Lake Lillinonah. It was historically known as Shepaug Falls.
The falls
The total height is 10 feet in two drops. The drop forms rapids just upstream of where the Shepaug River flows into Lake Lillinonah.
Getting there
A parking lot sits at Roxbury Falls on Minor Bridge Road, designated for Roxbury residents only. From that lot, the Erbacher Preserve trail starts about 700 feet up Minor Bridge Road.
For a view of the river mouth below the rapids, the land trust's 24-acre River's Edge Preserve has a small gravel lot on Lower River Road: from the Roxbury green, take South Street 3.5 miles to Lower River Road, and the signed lot is 0.25 miles ahead on the right. Its 1-mile loop is rated moderate, with steps down a steep embankment, steep climbs and narrow paths.
When to go
Spring runoff is when the river most often carries enough water for canoeing; at other times the level is only sporadically high.
On site
On the River's Edge loop, the trail passes along the lake shore through the town-owned Sherman Park, with a picnic and fishing area, and then a hemlock grove overlooking the point where the Shepaug enters the lake below the rapids.
History and name
The Roxbury Land Trust bought the River's Edge property from Connecticut Light & Power in 2000 with a gift from an anonymous donor; parts of it had been used as a gravel mine.
Nearby
Jacks Brook Cascade is about 1.7 miles away, Caroline Glen Cascade about 4.6 miles and Prydden Brook Falls about 8.8 miles.
Distances are straight-line.