The Gorge (Stowe area)

'The Gorge' in the Stowe area is an ambiguous local label rather than a single canonical destination. In practice, Stowe visitors who ask for the gorge usually mean one of three real places: Bingham Falls on the West Branch of the Little River off VT 108 between Stowe village and Smugglers' Notch (short steep trail into a narrow schist gorge and pool); Sterling Falls Gorge Natural Area on Sterling Brook off Sterling Gorge Road on the Stowe-Morristown line (moderate trail past stacked cascades through a narrow gorge); or Moss Glen Falls (Stowe) off Randolph Road / Moss Glen Falls Road (boardwalks and granite steps to a 125-foot tiered cascade). this guide is flagged for disambiguation in the taxonomy pass; all three Stowe gorges share the same cautions -- narrow walls, slick rock, cold water, and a long record of injuries around the drops. Stowe Mountain Rescue explicitly warns against jumping or swimming at Moss Glen Falls Stowe, and the Lamoille County Sheriff and local press have tracked multiple fatalities over the years across these gorges.