Screw Auger Falls

Screw Auger Falls is a 18-foot tiered in Maine, on Bear River. The water falls in 6 distinct tiers.

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

Plungeworthy rates Screw Auger Falls 7.1/10 — worth the drive. The score weighs its scale, how confidently it's mapped, and its character.

This Screw Auger Falls — there are two in Maine, and they're constantly confused — is a compact but dramatic ~18-foot drop where the Bear River has carved a twisting pothole gorge into bedrock, right beside Route 26 inside Grafton Notch State Park. The 'screw auger' name comes from the corkscrewing channel the water has ground into the rock over millennia.

It's one of the most accessible real waterfalls in Maine — visible and reachable within a few minutes' walk of the parking area — which makes it a magnet for swimmers dropping into the deep, cold plunge pool at the base.

Distinct from its remote namesake in Gulf Hagas 60-plus miles away, this is the roadside, family-friendly version: paved-adjacent, well-signed, and inside a fee-collecting state park rather than gated timberland.

Open during the state park's operating season, typically spring through fall; busiest on summer weekends given its ease of access and swimming pool.