Elevation: 1,129 ft (overall) 1,220 ft (total)
Time: 1:26 (Bridal Veil Falls) 1:38 (Holden Falls) 2:29 (Total)
Trails: Coppermine Road, Coppermine Trail, Bushwhack, Coppermine Trail, Coppermine Road
The parking lot for this hike is just off Rte 116 at the start of Coppermine Road (on the left). You walk the road for a bit before bearing right on a road that says it's only open to foot traffic. This will eventually turn into the trail and head behind some of the houses on the road that goes left.
On the way to this hike, I was lucky enough to see a black bear with 3 cubs on the side of the road not long after getting off Interstate 93. Unfortunately, they all ran off before I could even get my car stopped to try and take some pictures. It wasn't long after, I was at the trail head and noticed that the temperature had dipped a few more degrees in the last 15 minutes and it was now down near freezing. Good thing I had a pair of work gloves in the car that I could use on the start of this hike.
After walking up the road some, the trail starts off wide with a gradual incline. It's easy to follow and doesn't have too many rocks. It eventually starts to get closer to Coppermine Brook. As it does this, there is one "intersection" that you will come to. There is a woods road that heads uphill to the left. You'll want to continue straight/right and you should see a blue sign off to the right to help you remember this.
Early section of trail
Short climb on the trail
The trail starts to have some short climbs in it, but never any real hard ones. By the time I was here, I had already removed my gloves and fleece as it was warming up nicely. As I continued up the trail and got closer to the tributary that Holden Falls is on, I started to scope out how hard it would be to get down to the brook and across it. The brook that these falls are on, isn't really distinctive and there is nothing letting you know they are further up stream.
Eventually I came to the bridge that crosses the brook. From here, it is just a short distance to the Coppermine Shelter and then Bridal Veil Falls. I was lucky enough to be the first one up here today, so I was able to take all my photos without worry of anyone else being in them or me being in their photos. I went up the right side of the lower cascade to get to the upper portion of the falls and it was quite slippery with a thin wet layer of moss and slime on the rocks. The couple that showed up when I was getting done tried the left side, but I didn't stay long enough to see how that worked out for them.
Bridal Veil Falls
Bridal Veil Falls
The entire cascade
On the way back down, I headed off trail at the spot I picked out for going to Holden Falls. I found a small herd path that I started to follow, but it continued further past the area where the falls are. I had the location in my GPS, so I knew I was close and didn't need to follow the path any further. I could also hear the waterfall too. I worked down to the falls and pushed through some branches to get to the base. This waterfall was smaller than Bridal Veil Falls, but at least as good. It's got a more remote feel to it plus the water cascades down over the rocks into multiple nice streams.
Holden Falls
Holden Falls
After finishing up my pictures, I headed back to the herd path and then the trail. I got back on trail just before a couple of hikers came into sight, so no one would even know where I ventured off and back on. From here, the hike out was pretty easy and went quickly. I had already been up the trail and it was easy anyways. As I got further, there started to be more and more hikers coming up the trail. Since I had another hike planned still, I was glad to get out early ahead of them.
Leaf confetti
The weather for today was quite sunny. The forecasts had been predicting mostly cloudy. With a daddy/daughter day yesterday, I figured today would be a good day to visit waterfalls instead of mountain tops. There had been some recent rain, so the water would be flowing well. Even though it was sunny today, I got lucky with the contours of the terrain and the locations of the waterfalls. I was able to spend enough time at the falls to get all the pictures I wanted without needing to deal with big differences in light between sunny spots and spots in the shard. All in all, it turned out well.
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
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