We continued on to New Hampshire, the live free or die state. More specifically Lincoln, NH located in the White Mountains. We were staying at Loon Mountain one of the bigger ski areas in NH. Woke up to a gorgeous, sunny day and decided to check out the Flume Gorge in Franconia State Park. A Flume is created when the basalt rock gets worn away by the water and creates a narrow gorge between granite rocks. It’s $16/each if you just want to see the Flume or for $30 you can include the Tram ride. We opted for just the Flume and it was a nice 2 mile hike. There are a couple of covered bridges and a couple of over looks. One section is called the Wolf’s Den. It’s a narrow gap in the rocks that you have to climb through. It was a little challenging, but we both made it. There is also an interesting film at the visitors center about the area.
Have you ever looked at the back of the New Hampshire quarter and wondered what that represented? It’s the Old Man. The Old Man was a granite outcropping that formed a likeness to the profile of a man’s face. I say was, because in spite of their efforts to shore up the rocks and stabilize them, the rocks came crashing down back in 2003. But not to worry, there is a profile monument and if you follow the instructions you can once again visualize the Old Man on the cliff.
We went to the bigger town of Littleton and had lunch at the Little Grille.This is a restaurant converted out of a former train depot. The restaurant was quirky and the food tasty. It’s worth a stop if you’re ever in Littleton.
The next day was another beautiful sunny day. We went biking starting at the Flume Gorge. They have a nice bike path that we had gotten information from the ranger on the day before. It’s pretty much uphill for 6 miles until you get to the Cannon Ski Area. I was dying, not sure why I keep suggesting these activities. At Cannon we stopped for a break at the New England Ski Museum. They provide a nice history of skiing in NH and we were shocked to see some Olympic ski metals on display. Apparently, Bode Miller grew up skiing at Cannon and lent the museum his metals and World Cup trophies for display. Pretty cool. Continued our return trip and I did much better as it was mostly downhill. Glad we talked to the ranger and did the trail that way.
The next day was a little cloudy and rainy, but we still decided to get out and drive the scenic route. Our scenic route also included the drive up Mt Washington. Mt Washington is the highest peak east of the Mississippi at 6,228ft. It is also the place where the highest wind speed was recorded at 231 miles/hr in 1934. This still remains the record for wind speed recorded at a manned observatory. There are a few ways to summit Mt Washington; the cog train, hiking, or the auto road. The road has a 12% grade and Laney’s brakes were smoking on the descent. But Laney’s got her bumper sticker now to prove she made it. Will got a certificate as well for being the driver. Mt Washington is covered by fog about 300 days of the year. And that’s the way it was for us, so the views were not to be that day, but I still think it was worth the trip.
Next up was Acadia National Park. We were camping at Blackwoods Campground in Acadia. Got there early evening and set up our site. Just decided to walk down to the Ocean and admire the view. We were both tired from the longer drive we had from Lincoln. The drive through Maine was really quite pretty.
In Acadia we hiked Cadillac Mountain. From our campground you can hike the South Ridge trail straight to the summit. It’s a little over 8.25 miles round trip. It was a really nice hike that takes you through the forest and also provides some great overlooks as you gain elevation. Near the top you do have to do a bit of boulder scrambling and even a ladder rung. Yes, just one rung, but Will was very proud of himself. There’s a few other trails in the park that require climbing a series of rungs and have quite a reputation. Felt good during the hike until the last 2 miles or so. After the hike, it was nap time. Didn’t realize how much that hike had worn us out. But the views from the top of Cadillac Mt were gorgeous that day. Really a clear, sunny day. Sadly, that’s all the time we had to explore Acadia, we had to get an early start as we were headed all the way to Prince Edward Island in North Eastern Canada.
