Grafton Notch State Park

Screw Auger Falls at Grafton Notch State Park.

At left is Old Speck, Maine's third-highest mountain, seen from the southeast.

Viewed from the northwest is 4,180-foot Old Speck.

Straddling Route 26 at one end of the Mahoosuc Range, Grafton Notch State Park offers striking natural features, well-known and challenging hikes and Maine's third-highest mountain, Old Speck.

Heading west, the first outstanding encounter in this day-use park is Screw Auger Falls. Here, the Bear River has carved bizarre twists and pools through the solid granite. Back upstream, picnic tables under the trees provide delightful tranquillity. Anglers cast flies for brook trout elsewhere along the Bear.

The Appalachian Trail winds through the park, ascending Old Speck, which affords a 360-degree view from its peak, 4,180 feet high and a four-mile distance from the base. A side loop goes to the Eyebrow Sheer Cliff, forming part of a wall of Grafton Notch.

Other park sights include Table Rock, Moose Cave Gorge and Mother Walker Falls, where natural bridges and easy trails follow a 900-foot gorge.

Just east of the park on Route 26 is another spot worth investigating. Step Falls, on Wight Brook, is a Nature Conservancy tract with great views and hiking trails.