Orris Falls and Balancing Rock

SCENIC WALKS

The great people at Great Works Land Trust have given us another public trail among 150 acres of forest and wetlands in the corner of South Berwick, Maine. The steep banks above the falls are not for hikers with children and the geologic wonder at the end is well worth the trip.

Orris Falls
Sourth Berwick, Maine
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Official web site: Great Works Regional Land Trust

Directions to trailhead from center of South Berwick: From Rte 4, bear right onto Agamenticus Road. Stay left, this turns into Knights Pond Road. Travel 4 miles. Bear right onto Hooper Sands Road for 1/4 mile. Left onto Great Hill Road to end, then left onto Thurrell Road. 9/10 mile on the right is an old gated woods road with parking for two cars.

Finding this trail head is half the fun as you wind through lovely countryside and past Yankee farms in the Agamenticus or "Tatnic" region. The small sign is easy to miss with room for just three cars along the ruraly road. The Great Works conservation group recently purchased additional acres linking this trail to "Balancing Rock", a geological curiosity that makes an already enjoyable hike twice as much fun.

Orris Falls, one mile in, is a gently cascading rush of water at the bottom of a very steep embankment. You really have to hike down to see the water, since from the top, it is a distant trickle. We took the walk twice in a single week, on two warm August days, and will return in spring to see the falls at their peak. We did not take yet take the short additional hike up to "the knob" by the old homestead to see a view of Mount Agamenticus, and will do that when we return.

What begins as a flat sandy roadway grows increasingly wilder, steeper, narrower and more rocky. None of the trail is very difficult, but there are lots of small slippery rocks hidden under leaves and all-but-invisible roots poking up, so hiking shoes are better here than sneakers. Most of the trail is deep within the woods, shaded, often very buggy in season. The walk to the falls is just under a mile, but it is another mile to "balancing rock" itself with a couple of alternative loops available. If there are copies of the map in the box at the trailhead, take one.

A small fading family cemetery can be seen off to the left early in the walk, just before the dramatic, deep, stone foundations of the old farmhouse. The trail rises to a large standing bolder (not the amazing one, but still impressive), then descends downwards again. We saw no signs pointing to Balancing Rock, which is down a steep hill to the right just before the path reaches a clearing at a modern day farm. We missed it twice and had to poke around and consult the map. So hikers may enjoy a little treasure hunt searching for the large rock left balancing deep in the forest by a passing glacier. It is a wonderfully rare natural feature for this region that we know all visitors will enjoy and treat with respect.

We’re not flora and fauna savvy, but the Orris Falls trail is noticeably rich with wildlife. Mushrooms abound along the entire walk. We saw frogs, toads, and salamanders, and found trees freshly gnawed by beaver along the primeval pond that marks the halfway point in the walk. Turtles, wood duck, even heron are reportedly common. According to historian Nancy Wetzel, Orris Farm is the setting for the short story "The White Rose Road" by 19^th century South Berwick author Sarah Orne Jewett. Jewett’s house is a museum in the center of town. – JDR

Trail head at Orrin Falls / SeacoastNH.com