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Moss Glen Falls (Granville) |
Overview: Beautiful, well known waterfall; ugly surroundings Location: Granville, VT Stream : Unknown Height : 30 feet (estimated) Finding : Easy Access : Roadside Swimming: No Basking : No. Deeply shaded Privacy : None. Popular spot along a major highway Legal : Green Mountain National Forest
There are actually two Moss Glen Falls in Vermont. The other one is in Stowe. This falls is in Granville Gulf right along Rt 100. You can see it wiz by as you drive. There is a slightly wide spot in the road just a little way North of the falls for parking. Since it's right in the middle of Granville Gulf there really isn't a whole lot of space to carve out a parking lot.
The falls are pretty neat. A small stream flows down the side of Granville Gulf and spills over a fairly high rock outcroping. It's not a clean drop so there is lots of splashing and spraying. Alas, the location is rather beat up. I was disgusted to see that a large tree had been cut down to make the falls more visible from the road (or so I assume). There was also a fair amount of litter around.
To the North of the main falls and right near the parking area there is a smaller stream that spills over the same rock formation. It's not as steep there, but it was still very interesting. The view was more wooded and less intimidating. I actually liked the smaller falls better.
I visited these falls again with my friend John and his girlfriend. We were on our way back to my house from a genealogy trip, and John wanted to try his hand photographing a waterfall.
We arrived at the falls relatively late in the afternoon. The skies
were overcast with snow flurries sprinkling down on us. John had to use his tripod to get
the photographs he wanted because it was so dark. I just held my camera by hand.
Since my last visit, someone had put up an elaborate boardwalk. The boardware was carefully fenced in to discourage, I suppose, people from wandering all over the falls and killing themselves. Personally, I didn't like it at all. For one thing, it was hard to get a good picture without also getting that boardwalk into the field of view. For another thing, I don't entirely approve of attempts to "tame" nature. I felt that the beauty of the spot was ruined by the addition of all that safety.
The falls themselves were their usual self. They were surrounded by snow and ice and looked very cold.
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