One of Vermont's highest waterfalls at over 100 feet of total drop, coursing through a gorge outside Stowe, at full song during the Green Mountain melt.
April through June
Big water window
in a typical year
Snowmelt
What drives it
Moss Glen Brook
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 04288295
Vermont FPR
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 Moss Glen Falls, and when
Moss Glen Brook runs classic Green Mountain snowmelt: the April to June melt is the thunder, summer is graceful, and fall foliage frames it best in early October. Vermont Forests, Parks and Recreation manages the natural area and supplies the sentence that matters below about the rocks.
Typical best flow: April through June
JFMAMJJASOND
What the agency itself says
This is one of the highest waterfalls in the state, with a total drop of over 100 feet.
Gauge: USGS 04288295 Little River near Stowe VT, on the receiving Little River downstream, 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 trail from Moss Glen Falls Road reaches the gorge; the state's natural areas page warns plainly that the steep slippery rocks are hazardous and not to climb them. Distinguish this falls from the roadside Moss Glen Falls in Granville Gulf, an hour south.
Green-country gorge water (Blackwater Falls, West Virginia). Stowe's Moss Glen keeps the same melt-first calendar under Green Mountain hardwoods. “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Common questions
Moss Glen Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is April through June. Moss Glen Brook runs classic Green Mountain snowmelt: the April to June melt is the thunder, summer is graceful, and fall foliage frames it best in early October. Vermont Forests, Parks and Recreation manages the natural area and supplies the sentence that matters below about the rocks.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Moss Glen Brook (Little River near Stowe VT, on the receiving Little River downstream, 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 after the melt but holds a respectable flow most summers, and the mossy gorge earns the name in any month.
Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (Moss Glen Falls Natural Area). A short trail from Moss Glen Falls Road reaches the gorge; the state's natural areas page warns plainly that the steep slippery rocks are hazardous and not to climb them. Distinguish this falls from the roadside Moss Glen Falls in Granville Gulf, an hour south. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "The steep slippery rocks here are hazardous. Do not climb them." That sentence is Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (Moss Glen Falls Natural Area)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
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
A glacially carved chute-and-pothole falls on the Hancock Branch in the Green Mountain National Forest, framed by bridges and open to snowshoers in winter.
Places to stay