Katahdin Falls

Katahdin Falls is a 260-foot tiered in Maine, on tributary of Katahdin Stream.

It's fullest after rain, and flow can drop off during dry spells — plan around recent weather.

Plungeworthy rates Katahdin Falls 9.3/10 — drop everything. The score weighs its scale, how confidently it's mapped, and its character.

Know what this listing is before you plan a hike: two waterfalls share confusingly similar names on Katahdin, and only one is a real hiking destination. 'Katahdin Stream Falls' — the modest, scenic falls that sees heavy Appalachian Trail and day-hiker traffic — sits 1.2 to 2 miles up the Hunt Trail from Katahdin Stream Campground. This listing's coordinates match a different feature entirely: a remote tributary waterfall opposite Witherle Ravine, high on the mountain, with no maintained trail of any kind.

That second falls is genuinely obscure. The handful of people who've described reaching it did so via off-trail travel that Baxter State Park rangers explicitly ask hikers to coordinate with them on in advance. Even its height keeps shrinking as better data arrives — early topo-based guesses ran as high as 800 feet total; the current lidar estimate is roughly 85 feet.

If you came here wanting the waterfall you've seen in Katahdin photos, that's Katahdin Stream Falls on the Hunt Trail — a different feature. We don't publish hike directions to this one, because no trail exists and Baxter's backcountry is not the place to improvise one.

Baxter State Park's day-use season runs roughly May through October; Katahdin Trailhead Passes are required June through October and capped at two reservations per month. The park is not maintained for winter day-use of this kind.