Quick hiking stats:
Distance: 0.5 miles roundtrip (to the falls and back)
Difficulty: Easy
Length of time: 20 minutes out and back (depending how many times you stop to take photos or break)
Elevation Gain: 157 Ft.
Cliff notes:
Parking is alongside both sides of the road by the trailhead. The trailhead is located right off the main road through Smugglers Notch. Once you park and start down the Bingham Falls trail, you’ll find it’s a flat trail through the trees all the way to the waterfall. You can go to the right and hike down to the base of the falls, and hike along the river there for more cascades.
Where is Bingham Falls?
Bingham falls is located in Smugglers Notch State Park, which is in Stowe, Vermont. Once you enter the state park, you can find the trailhead via Route 108/Mountain Road, 6.4 miles west of the Route 100/108 intersection in Stowe village.
You can find the Google Maps location to the head here!
How long does it take to hike?
The hike takes approx. 20 minutes out and back, if you’re not stopping for long periods of time. We take a lot of photos and videos, so it took us about an hour total. If you’re looking for something quick and easy on your Vermont road trip, I’d highly suggest this hike!
It’s located just off the main road in Smugglers Notch, and parking is so easy. The hike is quick with a great payoff at the end with the 5 cascading waterfalls that make up Bingham Falls.
What should I expect?
Smugglers Notch is a narrow pass through the Green Mountains with 1,000 ft. cliffs! When you’re driving into the park, you can see beautiful mountains surrounding the area! Be sure to have your camera out 🙂
Parking is just off of the trailhead, making it super easy and simple to find the trail.
Once you locate the trail, you’ll follow the flat path (most likely covered in leaves) all the way to the falls. This path is flat and easy to walk on. Once you get to the falls, you can make a left and hike down to the base. I’d highly suggest wearing hiking boots with good grip if you plan on hiking down.
Honestly, to really soak in the entire waterfall view, I would hike to the base. You can get a much better view from down there rather than trying to look over the edge of the gorge at the waterfalls.
You can also see visually what you can expect by checking out my YouTube video covering this hike 🙂
Is this a dangerous hike?
Overall, no it’s an easy hike. I saw kids hiking this one! However I see some possible areas for being dangerous…
As you can see in these photos, there are wires blocking entrance to the gorge where the waterfalls are. If you slip under them, you could very easily fall and yes that is dangerous! So, stay on the trail and yes, it is very safe!
Also, don’t swim in the falls. There is a very strong current where the water falls into each of the pools below.
What to wear?
I recommend wearing waterproof boots or shoes that are non-slick! I also had a sweater, a blanket scarf, black leggings, and a nice hat to go with it!
If you’d like to shop my fall outfits be sure to check out my fall collection I wore on our New England trip! You can shop directly from my Like To Know It.
Is it worth adding to our list of things to in Stowe, Vermont?
For things to do near Stowe or in Stowe, Vermont, YES I highly suggest thing beautiful, quick and easy waterfall! Especially in the fall of the year, the trees are changing yellow, red and orange. You won’t regret adding this to your bucket list in Smugglers Notch state park in Stowe!
Check out my blogs for my other top things to do in Stowe! I went to the BEST apple cider brewery, and another amazing waterfall is Moss Glen Falls just a little north of Stowe. You can also see visually what this hike looks like from the video I created 🙂
