Waterfalls in Maine

Maine's waterfalls: mountain brooks, coastal rivers and the North Woods

A hard seam of granite and quartzite runs through western and northern Maine, left over from an old collision between continents, and wherever a glacier-scoured brook crosses it, the water drops over a ledge instead of easing down a slope. That geology explains where most of the state's 175 named waterfalls sit: thick around the granite peaks of the Western Mountains, thick again in the North Woods around Katahdin, and thinner along the tidal rivers of Down East and the old mill dams near the southern coast.

Where the waterfalls are

In the Western Mountains, Oxford County has a tight cluster centered on Grafton Notch State Park and the Mahoosuc Range, and Franklin County covers the Rangeley Lakes country next door.

The North Woods spread across four counties: Piscataquis County has the most listings by far, taking in Baxter State Park and the Hundred-Mile Wilderness; Somerset County covers The Forks and the Moosehead region; Penobscot County and Aroostook County round out the timberland further north and east, much of it crossed by gated logging roads.

Down East, Washington County has falls on tidal rivers like the Machias and the Narraguagus, and Hancock County takes in Acadia National Park. Southern Maine's Cumberland County, York County, Androscoggin County, Kennebec County, Lincoln County, Waldo County and Knox County mostly hold smaller drops and old mill dams close to the coast.

Waterfalls worth the trip

• Angel Falls figures at 370 feet across three tiers in a recent drone survey, though most guides still give 90 feet for the visible veil at the base. An easy 1.1-mile round trip near Houghton reaches the cliff-walled gorge.
• Step Falls, 150 feet on Wight Brook, drops in a chain of cascades and potholes on a Mahoosuc Land Trust preserve off Route 26 in Newry, an easy walk of about a mile round trip.
• Mother Walker Falls, 55 feet through a boulder-filled gorge, and Screw Auger Falls, 43 feet on the Bear River, are both short walks from Route 26 parking inside Grafton Notch State Park.
• Smalls Falls, 66 feet in a series of tiers and pothole pools, sits right off Route 4 at a Maine DOT rest area.
• Moxie Falls, 71 feet on Moxie Stream near The Forks, is reached by an easy two-mile round trip with boardwalks and viewing platforms near the end.
• Katahdin Stream Falls, 50 feet in three steps, sits about a mile up the Hunt Trail from Katahdin Stream Campground inside Baxter State Park.
• Deep in the Hundred-Mile Wilderness, a second Screw Auger Falls, 45 feet, and Buttermilk Falls, 10 feet, sit inside Gulf Hagas, a three-mile gorge on the Appalachian Trail with stone walls over 100 feet high, nicknamed the Grand Canyon of Maine.
• Hadlock Falls, is a 40-foot single drop on Hadlock Brook inside Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor.

When to go

Spring snowmelt gives most of these falls their strongest flow, and several thin out by late summer; Angel Falls runs best from late May to early July. Moxie Stream stays steadier because it drains a lake, with a dam moderating late-season flow. Grafton Notch's day-use season and the Katahdin Trailhead Pass system both run roughly June through mid-October, and North Maine Woods checkpoints for Gulf Hagas operate May to October.

Fees, permits and closures

Grafton Notch State Park, home to Mother Walker Falls and one of the two Screw Auger Falls, charges $3 for a Maine resident adult and $4 for a nonresident in 2026, with reduced or free rates for children and Maine residents 65 and older. Baxter State Park requires a $10 Katahdin Trailhead Pass per vehicle for any hike from Katahdin Stream, Roaring Brook or Abol in 2026, plus a separate nonresident gate pass of $20 per visit or $50 for the season; pets are not allowed, and day use runs 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Reaching Gulf Hagas means passing a North Maine Woods checkpoint, which charges Maine residents $13 and nonresidents $18 per day in cash or check, with free entry under 18 and over 70. Acadia National Park, home to Hadlock Falls, charges a standard entrance fee of $20 to $35 depending on vehicle or individual passage, and driving Cadillac Summit Road needs a separate $6 reservation from May 20 to October 25, 2026. Redington Pond Falls sits on a closed US Navy reservation and is not open to visitors at any time.

Safety

Several of these falls have taken lives or caused serious injuries at their pools and ledges. A young woman drowned at Smalls Falls in 2022 after falling about 30 feet from an upper pool and becoming trapped in the recirculating current below. A hiker needed a helicopter rescue after slipping down the embankment at Moxie Falls in 2020. Loose rock and steep drop-offs have caused falls at both Angel Falls and the Grafton Notch Screw Auger Falls in recent years, and rescuers have had to carry injured hikers out on litters. Stay back from the lip and out of the current below any of these falls, especially after rain or during spring melt, when flows rise fast.