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The Arethusa Falls Trail is the direct route to Arethusa Falls, which is more that 200ft. high, the highest in New Hampshire. It begins at the Arethusa Falls parking lot, located on a spur road off the west side of US 302, 3.4mi south of the Willey House site in Crawford Notch State Park. ... The trail crosses the railroad and leads left (south) for 50yd. then turns right into the woods. It soon passes a spur path left to some cascades, then follows old roads above the north bank of Bemis Brook. The Bemis Brook Trail... diverges left at 0.1mi.
The Bemis Brook Trail is a slightly longer and somewhat rougher alternative route to the lower part of the Arethusa Falls Trail, running closer to Bemis Brook. It departs to the left from the Arethusa Falls Trail 0.1mi from its start at the railroad, angles toward the brook, and then follows close to the brook, passing spur paths leading left to Fawn Pool, Bemis Brook Falls, and Coliseum Falls. It then climbs steeply up the bank to rejoin the Arethusa Falls Trail.
If your crew is into waterfalls and streams and the weather is nice, this is a more difficult but beautiful choice. Skip Bemis in inclement weather or if cliffs and overlooks are more exciting. Bemis is the middle one of the "Houses" of the East Parallel of the East Campus dorm south of Building 66. The others are Walcott and Goodale. These are named for alumni, but I wasn't able to ascertain whether the alum in question was Albert Farwell Bemis of southern Mill Town fame (civil engineering 1909ish) or Alan C. Bemis of the WWII era weather radar.
In theory, as of Fall 2003, an extensive relocation of the upper part of the Arethusa Falls Trail from where Bemis Brook rejoins, takes the trail higher up the slope on the right than the map would indicate. This new trail joins the Arethusa-Ripley Falls trail 0.2mi above the falls, and the falls themselves are accessible through a dead-end left turn onto Arethusa-Ripley.
After lunch at the falls, proceed on the Arethusa-Ripley trail as it winds south of a brook, crosses it, and comes back around, then continues north, later east to the Frankenstein Cliff Trail.
Frankenstein Cliff is a prominent bluff that juts out from the tableland south of Mt. Willey and affords excellent views of the lower part of Crawford Notch. The trail starts ascending, then levels off and offers more views of Arethusa Falls.
I have stolen heavily from the White
Mountain Guide for this summary.