Arethusa Falls is generally regarded as the highest single drop in New Hampshire. It's not, Dryad Fall is a 300' horsetail, but Arethusa Falls is by far the more spectacular. Bemis Brook drops over a broad orange granitic cliff, capping a 1.5 mile hike along (mostly far above) Bemis Brook. Arethusa's height figure is fairly suspect. Let me offer some clarification before I hear the inevitable hymns of protest. I eyeball the total height at about 140', which is consistent with estimates printed in early editions of the AMC White Mountain Guide. Professor Huntington and Moses Sweetser measured the falls at 176' in 1875. The vertical portion of the falls (that which is visible from the base) is likely about 120' in height. As you descend to the base of the falls from the recently rerouted trail, you cans see some upper slides through the trees. Taking those into account, I'll buy 140' total. At either height, this waterfall is a not-to-be-missed feature of the White Mountains.

Arethusa Falls was discovered by Edward Tuckerman and named by Professor Huntington and Moses Sweetser in 1875. The name comes from the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem describing the story of a nymph named Arethusa who was turned into a fountain to avoid being the love conquest of the river god Alpheus. Those lecherous Greek gods of old. This is one of the few waterfalls that might benefit from sun. If you wish to capture the entire waterfall, you'll need the blue sky as a background for the falls. On an overcast day, you may wish to compose your shot without including the brink of the falls as a large gray sky is a less than ideal background. The waters dance over the cliff face making an ideal slow shutter study. A polarizer is necessary, but a warming filter is optional. A fairly wide angle lens will help get the falls in the frame. I used 28mm for this shot. As you can see by my photo, it's decent on an overcast day, but you have a small and ugly chunk of gray sky visible above the brink of the falls.