Hiking in Maine

Smalls Falls is a part waterfall hike, part scenic rest area, located along Route 4 in Franklin County, Maine. Plenty of parking, charcoal grills, toilet facilities, and picnic tables along the river make this an ideal place to stop for a picnic lunch, walk around, and even get in the falls and pools to cool off in the Rangeley area.

The rest area, clearly marked with a sign on Route 4, is on the south side of the road, along the Sandy River, about 12 miles south of Rangeley. Smalls Falls are possibly named for Jesse Small, a miller who lived in the area around the time of the Civil War.¹

From the northwest corner of the parking lot, trails (about 1/2 mile total) crisscross the Sandy River waterfall area and Chandler Mill Stream, climbing to other sets of falls above, and ending at a gravel road north of the rest area. This area can be crowded in the summer, with ample cigarette smoke in the picnic area and a very different pollution inside the pit toilets, but can be very quiet at times, particularly weekday mornings.

The water flow and temperature vary with the season and weather conditions, and in April, there is even an annual Smalls to the Wall Steep Creek Race (unfortunately canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19), in which kayakers brave the steep, narrow chutes.

¹Van Baalen, M.R., Reusch, D.N., and Slack, J.F., 2017, Smalls Falls Revisted: A Journey Through a Paleozoic Sedimentary Basin in Johnson, B. and Eusden, J.D., ed., Guidebook for Field Trips in Western Maine and Northern New Hampshire: New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, Bates College, p. 35-60. https://doi.org/10.26780/2017.001.0003