Eagle Cliff

Eagle Cliff rises 1,500 feet above the valley floor as a shoulder of Mt. Lafayette and forms part of the eastern wall of Franconia Notch. It took its name from the Golden Eagles that once nested among its crags, and guests of the first Profile House, built in 1853 just north of this spot, wrote of watching the birds circle its summits and look down upon the crowds below. The last nesting eagles were reported in the 1890’s. By the turn of the century, peregrine falcons were reported nesting on the cliff, and sporadic nesting continued into the early 1950’s before a serious decline in peregrine populations. The cliff became a nesting site again in 1981, when a pair occupied an eyrie and fledged two young falcons. Since then, peregrines have been observed here each year, sometimes interacting with ravens that also nest on the cliff, and rock climbers are sometimes seen ascending the spire called the Eaglet.

Franconia, New Hampshire · United States