A 66 foot plunge on the Ellis River draining Mount Washington's southeast flank, reached by a CCC-built stone stairway off Pinkham Notch.
Mid April through June
Big water window
in a typical year
Snowmelt
What drives it
Ellis River
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 010642505
USFS White Mountain
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Glen Ellis Falls, and when
The Ellis carries Presidential Range snowmelt, so mid April through June is the crash; by fall the river relaxes and the stone viewing steps become the star. The Forest Service maintains the site year round with a fee, and winter access means ice on those historic stairs.
Typical best flow: Mid April through June
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What the agency itself says
offers a short hike to a dramatic 66 foot waterfall
White Mountain National Forest (US Forest Service)What a snowmelt year looks like at full send: Palouse Falls in mid April, when the Palouse River is still carrying the melt. The same falls in late August is a ribbon. Timing is most of the visit. “04-15-14-palouse” — Dsdugan — CC0
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Right now
What Ellis River is doing today
Flow at the gauge now
Loading
USGS median for Oct 15
Not published
Gauge: USGS 010642505 Saco River at River Street at Bartlett NH, on the receiving Saco River downstream of the Ellis confluence, a basin-level proxy. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
The other half of the story: the same Palouse Falls in late August. Nothing is wrong; this is what a snowmelt river does every year once the melt is spent. “Palouse Falls 20100829” by Mark Wagner, CC BY-SA 2.5
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
A short walk under Route 16 and down stone steps reaches the falls, per the Forest Service's scenic area page; check the forest's current alerts, which have periodically closed the scenic area for work.
Snow-country plunge (Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, NPS photo). Glen Ellis runs Mount Washington's meltwater over its own 66 foot lip. “Afternoon fall light on Lower Falls from Lookout Point (54937071695)” — YellowstoneNPS — Public domain
Common questions
Glen Ellis Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is Mid April through June. The Ellis carries Presidential Range snowmelt, so mid April through June is the crash; by fall the river relaxes and the stone viewing steps become the star. The Forest Service maintains the site year round with a fee, and winter access means ice on those historic stairs.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Ellis River (Saco River at River Street at Bartlett NH, on the receiving Saco River downstream of the Ellis confluence, a basin-level proxy) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
It thins in dry late summer but keeps a real flow on a real river; the melt window delivers the full 66 foot thunder.
White Mountain National Forest (US Forest Service). A short walk under Route 16 and down stone steps reaches the falls, per the Forest Service's scenic area page; check the forest's current alerts, which have periodically closed the scenic area for work. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Keep planning
More falls, and the rest of the New Hampshire year
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to White Mountain National Forest (US Forest Service). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Afternoon fall light on Lower Falls from Lookout Point (54937071695)” — YellowstoneNPS — Public domain
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