About Campbell Falls
Campbell Falls was a very photogenic waterfall where I was glad I brought my tripod
The waterfall featured a pair of drops said to have a cumulative height of about 50ft so it wasn’t large. However, the direction of the flow of water for each of the drops occurred in different directions so it may have a so-called zig zag appearance depending on the angle of the view. In any case, it was this twisting characteristic that made this waterfall stand out in my mind considering it was unique amongst the New England waterfalls that I’ve encountered so far.
The hike down to the base of the falls (where you can get the view in the photograph at the top of this page) was a fairly short descent of about 5-10 minutes or so (maybe 15 minutes going back up). Something that caught my eye was that about half-way down the trail, there was a small pylon where “CONN” was on one side and “NM MASS” was on the other. Apparently, the trail crossed from Connecticut into Massachusetts so the falls was technically in the state of Massachusetts.
Once I was at the bottom of the trail, I was right before the falls and its dark plunge pool. There was an informal scramble that allowed me to go above the lower drop of the falls for a closer look at the taller upper tier. But aside from this and the view from across the plunge pool, I didn’t notice other ways to view the falls. It was simply one of those excursions where it was enough to bask in the silence of Nature broken only by the sounds of rushing water as well as the odd birdsong and rustling leaves.
I spent about an hour away from the car (see directions below). But most of that time was spent taking photographs and enjoying the falls itself. I’d guess that only 20 minutes of it or less were spent hiking.
From the town of North Canaan, CT, I went east on Highway 44 until it junctioned with Route 272 just before the town of Norfolk, CT. I then turned left onto Route 272 and followed it for about 4 miles before turning left onto Campbell Falls Road (note that I crossed from CT to MA at this point). Then, the road became unpaved as I followed it for about 0.4 miles towards a small car park and traihead area on the left.
This car park was easy for me to miss because of the tree cover and because I was the first one there. However, if another car happened to be parked there, I’m sure the trailhead wouldn’t be so easy to miss. By the way, this car park was just across the state border on the CT side. And the trail would take me back across the border to the MA side again.
Finally, for some context, New Marlborough was 11 miles (under 30 minutes drive) north of Norfolk, CT, 48 miles (about 90 minutes drive) northwest of Hartford, 144 miles (3 hours drive) north of New York City, and 144 miles (over 2.5 hours drive) west of Boston, Massachusetts.
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Looking up and down the falls before zooming out and panning downsteram to see the Fall colors
Bottom up sweep from above the lower waterfall ending above the upper waterfall
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