Review of two popular waterfalls in Maine: Moxie Falls and Angel Falls

 

Angel Falls, Maine

During our 2 months long stay in the state of Maine, we got to experience some of the most beautiful places we had ever seen.  These include Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, and Smalls Falls.  Our rental’s location in the extreme north western part of the state, surrounded by mountains, lakes, and especially waterfalls, meant we really got to immerse ourselves with awesome hikes to places like the  Bald Mountain and to one of our favorites, Smalls Falls.

After visiting Smalls Falls, which we immediately fell in love with, thanks to its unique copper/earthy colors of the cliffs/rocks, we were itching to explore more of what Maine has to offer.  We found two which fit the bill:  Moxie Falls and Angel Falls.

Moxie Falls is located in the town of West Forks, about 75 miles away from where we were staying in Stratton, and it is the highest waterfall in Maine at over 90 feet drop.  The interesting thing about driving in north western Maine is that roads simply do not exist, for us to cut across mountain ranges, saving us time.  

A drive that should take not more than 30 miles, if there was a road cutting across to east from where we were staying, would turn out to be 75 miles!  We basically did a ‘V’ shaped drive, first cutting towards southeast, then back up northeast, to get to our destination. Oh, well…

We left on a beautiful Tuesday morning in June, excited to be exploring another waterfall.  Our drive would take over 90 minutes, but as unnecessarily long as the ‘V’ shaped drive was, we really enjoyed the riverside drive along the Kennebec River.  

Kennebec River was absolutely majestic in the morning, with the river glistening with every sunlight that would hit the waters.  The drive to get to Moxie Falls is perhaps one of the most scenic we had experienced in Maine.  We really enjoyed it!

We arrived at Moxie Falls parking lot, already full of cars and visitors by that time of the day.  We saw bunch of young hikers mulling around and loosely applying sunblock and/or bug spray.  We found a spot near the entrance to the parking lot, applied some bug spray (definitely needed!), then started our 1 mile hike to the falls.

The trail starts out with a dirt road interspersed with small pebbles.  It is also wider than most trails we’ve been on, at times easily over 5-6 feet in width in some spots.  

On the trail, Moxie Falls, Maine

As we got closer to the falls, we started seeing patches of boardwalk and wooden stairs.  Compared to most falls we’ve visited, Moxie Falls is one of the better maintained falls with nice walkable paths.

After walking for another 10 minutes, we finally made it to the top of the falls.  We walked down towards the water to feel the awesome sound of churning water, and loud crashing sound below.  We saw several young adults walking as we were, near the rocky edge, some dipping their toes, while some of them were just sitting and relaxing to the sound of the waterfall.  

We picked up our trail after few minutes, then arrived at the observation deck to get a closer look at Moxie Falls.  It was beautiful!

Moxie Falls, Maine

We wondered what lay ahead beyond the observation deck, and we walked towards the edge of what looked like a cliff to descend towards the bottom.  We looked at the drop, and decided against it, as we would have a hard time coming back up.  There were no handrails/guardrails, or even a crude steps to use when descending or ascending.

There were some young adults coming up the steep embankment, but we knew looking at the falls from the observation deck was probably our limit.  We’re always choosing safety first and foremost, and it seemed like a good idea not to push our luck at that particular embankment…

So, with that decision made, we headed back to the parking lot.  We were getting hungry by then, and we headed to the excellent Kennebec River Brewery, about 7 miles south of the falls.  

We arrived at the large parking lot, then headed inside.  We were greeted by a friendly employee at the counter, who sat us on a table, with views of outside.  We ordered a haddock sandwich and a crab cake sandwich.  

Kennebec River Brewery

My haddock sandwich was huge!  The shape of the haddock patty resembled a fish, which we thought was  cute.  It tasted good too.  I love a good meal, especially when the portions are large and they taste good!

After our excellent meal, we walked over to the arcade, next to the pool table for some after-meal entertainment.  There were arcade machines, but what got my attention was the pinball machine, which I had to try.  I got few minutes of fun entertainment playing that pinball machine.  It brought back memories of my childhood, spending good amount of time after school at number of pizza joints that had arcades just like these…

Ah, great times…

After our fun trip to Moxie Falls, we went on another day trip to visit Angel Falls, which is located in the town of Roxbury, about 40 miles southwest of Stratton.  Unlike Moxie Falls, which has paved roads all the way up until the parking lot, the roads near Angel Falls was the familiar to us by then, unpaved roads the last 4-5 miles to get to the trailhead.

According to Google Maps, the shortest path to Angel Falls was to take Bemis Road off of Route 17.  When we realized that Bemis Road was unpaved, we opted to drive further down Route 17, until we saw a small sign for Angel Falls.

We turned right at the sign, drove about 15 minutes or so until we saw the sign for Angel Falls on our left.  We parked, then walked down towards the trailhead, only to realize, that we could’ve driven all the way down to the bottom of the road, where the actual trailhead begins.  Oops…

We saw a huge boulder that had colorful graffitis greeting our arrival.  We met several hikers looking for the beginning of the trail, just like us.  We all decided to head straight in, and were relieved to see we were right.

There were signs of logging at the trailhead and at the trails.  We saw logs at several spots, at times providing a bridge to cross small creeks, or to provide walking paths along low lying, wet areas.  

We followed the hikers we met at the parking lot, when they all stopped to try out some wild raspberries.  They invited us to try, and we couldn’t say no!

Despite their tiny sizes, they were tasty little suckers.  They were sweet, with a hint of tartness.  It was awesome to try local wild fruits.  Shout out to those hikers who recommended them.

Wild raspberries!

After a tiny energy boost, we hiked behind them for another 30 minutes or so, crossing beautiful streams, using large and small boulders as bridges.  The last 5 minutes of the walk to the falls required a more strenuous effort, as the boulders got real big. 

Boulders and lots of them!

Stream crossing, Angel Falls, Maine

We needed to take bigger steps just to climb one to the next, but all that was totally worth it!  We had made it to Angel Falls.  

Angel Falls is certainly true to its name, as it looks absolutely beautiful with a drop of 115 feet in height.  We took up a ‘seat’ on one of the large boulders overlooking the falls to catch our breath, and enjoyed the grandeur of the falls.

Angel Falls, Maine

After several minutes, we wanted to catch a bit of the mist thrown up by the falls, so we got nearer.  We stood underneath the falls, feeling the tremendous power of the waters.  The area absolutely was deafening with loud, crashing sound of the falls.

We took all of that in, while getting a facial massage compliments of the waterfalls!  The falls had gotten really busy by then, as more hikers made their way up.  We decided then, to head back home, fully satisfied with our experience at the falls…

In conclusion:

There are so many beautiful waterfalls in Maine, and we barely scratched the surface, as usual.  The ones we did get to see were highly recommended by many locals and by experts, and we’re really glad we got to visit them.

Both Moxie Falls and Angel Falls are unique and beautiful in their own ways.  Moxie Falls is definitely the more difficult of the two falls to hike, simply due to the longer distance to get to the falls.  Moxie Falls is also much bigger of the two falls.

Angel Falls, on the other hand, is a shorter hike and the falls itself is smaller.  Despite these perceived shortcomings, Angel Falls turned out to be our favorite between the two.  There’s something incredibly satisfying about Angel Falls, with its impressive drop, its location tucked inside a ravine.  It just felt special and almost otherworldly…

We highly recommend both of these falls when planning a trip to Maine.  Happy trails and thank you all for reading!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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