On Sunday, I had the day to myself to hike whatever I wanted. I had been trying to hike Winter Clove for about a month. Everyone was wanted to hike something else. But today, I could hike what I wanted. So, I headed to the Winter Clove Inn in Roundtop. I had to get permission to hike on their property to get access to State land. From the outside, it is a very nice looking Inn. Once inside, you immediately feel at home. The inside is very warm and relaxing. You need to stay someplace, I would recommend it. You can check it out here: http://www.winterclove.com. They were very warm and friendly. Gave me a nice instruction sheet of how to get to the Falls.
I headed up the dirt road until I reach the red building, and then headed up a service access road. This led me to the Golf course. I crossed the 5th and 6th fairways to access the trail. I then followed the signs along the trail. As I approached State Land, there were nice conifer forest. Most the hike was on fairly level hiking terrain. Along the way I saw Red Pines and even very rare Pitch Pines. The trail is very enjoyable. It is two miles up to the falls.
Once at the falls there were two three routes of water. I started with the route on the left. I climbed up three waterfalls. the terrain was very steep and dangerous. I also hiked up to the bottom of the forth waterfalls, but turned around. I didn't have the necessary gear to go higher. It was icy and dangerous. I descended down and headed over to Winter Clove Falls. It is a very beautiful waterfall. No problem hiking to the top. Getting to the bottom is much more difficult the clove walls are steep and difficult. There was plenty of ice in the stream and falls. The waterfalls has two larger drops followed by a long cascade. In all it was 126' high.
Here are some pictures:
The beautiful Winter Clove Inn
Golf Course
Beginning of the trail
Typical trail view
Very rare Pitch Pine forest
Part of the Trail
Trail Junction. Left goes to North Point - Right goes to Winter Clove Falls
Old logging road through a conifer forest
Waterfall #1 - 30' high
Waterfall #2 - 23' high
Waterfall #3 - 74' high
Winter Clove Falls
Winter Clove Falls