On Friday afternoon, we decided we needed to get out of the house. The rain had finally stopped (for pretty much the first time since we got into town) so we bought tickets to hike Flume Gorge at 2:00pm. Flume Gorge is part of Franconia Notch State Park and was created by a beautiful waterfall, rapids and stream that flow through the area. Over time, the gorge was created by the water flowing over the rocks. It isn’t very wide but is very long and pretty deep.
We arrived at the Visitor’s Center and checked in then began our hike by heading through the forest towards the gorge. The first part of the trail is gravel and has lots of ups and downs- including a very steep descent to the bottom of the gorge. We got to pass through some beautiful forest, though, and saw some huge glacial boulders and a covered bridge.
Soon, we approached the base of the Flume trail at Table Rock. this is a HUGE piece of rock with water flowing gently over it. The trail lets you get right down beside the water (John couldn’t resist the urge to play in it) and it feels like you are looking at a deliberately designed fountain feature in a large garden. The water flows so peacefully and makes some small little pools along the edges – it really is very serene. I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.
From there, we began a slow ascent up through the Flume on a series of wooden boardwalks and bridges as the water picked up speed beside us. The streambed was very rocky here. The further we went, the more the walls started to narrow and the currents became more aggressive. The sound of the rapids became a dull roar. The path would often cross the water via wooden bridges. We were surrounded by walls of living green and it started to feel like we had been transported to another world. John said that it felt like a fairy land and I thought it felt like we had stepped into a prehistoric world like on the old television shows and movies like the “Land of the Lost”. I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.
Eventually, the walls began to narrow even more and the green, lush ferns thinned out. We were soon surrounded by high rock walls covered in moss with giant boulders overhead. The boardwalk we were on was built right over the flow of water instead of beside it. Instead of a slowly meandering path, we were now faced with a series of ramps and staircases. The current was definitely picking up speed and the roar of the falls kept getting louder and louder. I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.
With the path getting steeper and the roar of the water getting louder, we finally reached Avalanche Falls. The water rushed off the top of the rock wall on the left side of the gorge. We crossed one final bridge to the opposite side of the gorge and walked up a steep ramp right in front of the cascade. The spray coming off of the falls felt AMAZING on our skin and there was a rainbow in the mist below us. We had to shout at each other to be heard over the water but, after 20 years together, we aren’t shy about raising our voices. We just stood on the soaking wet walkway taking in the view for the longest time. This was around the time that I twisted my ankle, but I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.
Once we were past the falls, the trail led up a staircase and a bridge crossed back over the stream that fed the falls. There were some large rocks perfectly situated on top of the falls for a nice break and a great observation spot that had been cleared as a nice photo op. There was also a shallow cave that John couldn’t resist exploring, known as the Bear Cave. We rested for a few minutes, caught our breath, said goodbye to the falls, and prepared for the 1.2 mile hike back to the car. As I limped off down the trail and into the woods, I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.
The hike back was difficult, both due to the uneven terrain of the trail and due to my twisted ankle but, even in pain and out of breath, the scenery was beautiful. We passed some truly amazing trees and boulders that had grown into incredible sculptures. Various streams crossed our paths a few times and we also got to see Liberty Falls as well. A different covered bridge brought us across an area known as The Pool and between the water below us and the mountains looming above us, it was quite the sight to see. Even in pain I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.
Although the woods that we were travelling through were stunning, the highlight of our trip back came when we discovered an area known as the Wolf’s Den. This is a “shortcut” from the standard trail that went into a very narrow crevice in a pile of rocks and provided the opportunity to climb up the rocks instead of taking the longer trail around. Of course, John had to try it out. (He really is going to end up dead in a cave one day and you will all be my witnesses that he has a habit of doing things like this and it is in no way my fault!). I watched him disappear into the darkness and waited (very anxiously) for him to emerge from the top. Another group of people wandered along at that point and waited with me until John poked his head out and waved from the top. Then he convinced the men in the group to give it a try as well while myself and the ladies in the other group took the trail up the long way. When we got to the top and saw the guys squeezing through a tiny hole in the rocks, all wet from having to army crawl through the mud, we thought to ourselves, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike instead of rolling around in the mud and squeezing through rocks”.
We let the other people go on ahead of us while we stopped for a break. With my ankle starting to swell and becoming more painful to walk on, we took a lot of breaks and didn’t make the best time getting back to the parking lot. We stumbled to the car absolutely exhausted and starving and quickly decided that neither of us felt like cooking so we stopped off in Littleton to try a restuarant that had been recommended by a friend, The Littleton Freehouse Taproom and Eatery. We devoured an order of cheese curds while waiting for our entrees to arrive then made quick work of the Chicken Ranch Sandwich and the North Country Scallops. With full bellies and exhausted bodies, we drove back home and practically fell into the house and into our beds. It had been a long day with about 2 and a half miles of walking (about half of that on a twisted ankle) and we were beyond dead tired- but it was 100% worth the hike.
On Saturday, because we hadn’t punished our bodies enough on Friday, we decided to completely renovate the living room of the tiny house – which involved tearing out the built in couch and replacing it with a new couch we found at a furniture store that afternoon. Because the prior couch had been built in, that also involved replacing the flooring and adding shiplap to the walls where the couch had once been. Stay tuned for a separate post entirely devoted to that.
We spent Sunday working on the living room and running a few errands. We got to check out the town of Littleton a bit more – they have the cutest little downtown shopping area! We had lunch/dinner at a Thai restaurant (appetizer sampler, stir fry garlic chicken, and Korean beef) and shopped at Chutter’s, a local candy store that holds the record for the longest candy counter (112 feet)! We purchased 200 pieces of penny candy, some assorted chocolates, and several other things.
On Monday evening we decided to take Harley for a ride to reward her for being so good all weekend and for putting up with all the noise and chaos we had been creating at the house while redoing the living room. When we leave the park, we typically always exit and turn right which takes us to Bethlehem, Franconia and Littleton. We decided to turn left out of the park this time and just drive around exploring. We ended up following Route 302 for about an hour before turning around and coming back. We drove through White Mountains National Forest, Crawford Notch State Park and all kinds of adorable little towns. We enjoyed views of forests, mountains, waterfalls, giant boulders, tranquil ponds and luxurious resorts. We did stop briefly at Willey House pond and dam to stretch our legs and give Harley a bathroom break. It was just starting to get dark and there was a fog settling over the water. The pine trees looked like ghosts coming out of the mist. It was just about the prettiest thing we could have seen.
On Thursday night we returned to the 99 Restaurant in Littleton for Trivia Night and to have dinner. The food was pretty good (John had the Backyard BBQ Plate and I had the New England Fried Shrimp) but the trivia was super hard! Last week we had only been there for one and a half rounds and had still scored well enough to not come in last. This time, out of 30 questions, we only got 12 right! It was so much fun though. We also found out from the manager that the entire chain of restaurants holds trivia on Thursdays- not just this location. This is a popular chain throughout New England so we are hoping to find another location to visit during the rest of our time in the area.
The rest of the week was mainly spent trying to put the house back into some semblance of order and getting ready for the move to Maine on July 8th. We had a very quiet 4th of July at the campsite. We couldn’t find any scheduled fireworks nearby (but being right on the edge of a National Forest we weren’t really surprised that no one was shooting flaming rockets into the sky) so we just continued to work on the house, watched a few television shows and movies, and enjoyed some hotdogs on the grill. Toward the end of the week we also got to meet the folks that had the spot next to ours in the campground and it turns out that they were from our home town! What a super crazy coincidence!
It has been amazing to have the gorgeous White Mountains towering over us every day and I am definitely going to miss the views as we leave New Hampshire on Saturday and head to Maine but I guess trading the mountains and pine forests for the Atlantic coast seems like a fair deal – especially because the Maine Lobster Festival is now less than one month away! We will be spending the next month in Maine (split between two different campgrounds) and we have a lot of fun adventures planned.
