He seemed to enjoy the forest, but the sound of rushing water freaked him out a little. I don’t think he knew what to make of it. It’s fun when people notice him in his backpack as they are surprised to see a cat on a hiking trail.
Anyway, here are pictures of some of the sights along the highway.
When we arrived in Lincoln, we had a fairly good burger at a place called Black Mountain Burger. Be forewarned, if you’re traveling here in the not too distant future, this is another town that has few options that are open every day.
The next day, we traveled into Franconia Notch State Park. This park has scenery on par with some national parks. The White Mountains are beautiful and filled with lakes, gorges, rivers, and waterfalls.
We started with a hike through Flume Gorge. This hike is one you have to pay a fee to access, and it is a good idea to reserve it online as it is a very popular place to explore. After visiting it, I can see why. While the hike isn’t very long, the walk through the forest and the gorge itself are both amazing. This place is definitely worth a visit if you’re going to be in this area.
Pictures from the walk to the gorge…
Pictures from Flume Gorge…
After you leave the gorge, the path back takes you past a different part of the river with a feature appropriately called The Pool. While you can’t swim in it, it does look like an inviting swimming hole. The walk there is cool because you pass by a beautiful view of mountains and cross the river on a covered bridge.
As you leave this area, you may choose to pass through the Wolf’s Den, a narrow alternate path through some rocks. I normally would jump at the chance to do something like this, but it was a little crowded in an already cramped space.
On the path out, you pass be some additional scenic areas including a view of a mountain that has been nicknamed “Washington in Repose”. If you use your imagination, the mountain on the left side of these pictures looks like the stereotypical image of George Washington lying down.
A few other pictures on the way out…
From here, we went to explore the area that used to have a viewing area of the Old Man of the Mountain.
If you’re not familiar with the Old Man in the Mountain story, it’s kind of an interesting one. The landmark was and remains a symbol of pride for the state of New Hampshire. In fact, it was printed on the quarter that represented the state. The profile is also on their state highway signs, and it remains an icon that can found throughout the state.
I keep writing about the Old Man in the past tense because despite the efforts of many locals to keep erosion and time from taking its toll on the landmark, in 2003, the face collapsed into unrecognizable rubble. There have been numerous plans to memorialize the Old Man, and there is a partially completed site near Profile Lake, the best place to have viewed the profile while it was still part of the mountain. It was interesting to see and learn more about the history of the landmark and the debate over what, if anything, should be done in the future.
Here are some pictures of the site…
This one contains an interesting view point that allows you to see what the face used to look like…
We then completed a loop trail around Profile Lake along part of the Pemi Trail, which was a little overgrown in places. Despite the sketchy trail, the scenery in this area is definitely beautiful.
From there, we briefly explored Echo Lake to take a few pictures before returning to Lincoln to eat some lunch at White Mountain Bagel Co. This was a fabulous bagel place that was popular with both tourists and locals. It was a nice treat after a busy morning of hiking.
After lunch, we decided to take it easy by finding a place in the park to sit, relax, and read a little. Jenny found a place called The Basin, which not only contains a natural pool but several scenic waterfalls. We found a place on the rocks to enjoy the sounds of rushing water and read a combination of light reading as well as some of our Academic Decathlon materials to prepare for the upcoming school year. We did a little exploring of the area as well, but it was a nice spot to catch a little down time.
While hanging out on the rocks, we were also visited by this little guy who clearly was used to getting handouts from visitors. We restrained ourselves from feeding him despite his cuteness and best efforts to convince us otherwise.
We ended our day in Lincoln by a having a nice dinner at the La Vista Italian restaurant in the Riverwalk Lodge. While it was not our first choice as many of the restaurants in this area have limited their hours due to the pandemic, it was still a nice dinner. After dinner, we decided to drive back up the Kancamagus Highway to try to catch sight of the elusive moose. By the way, there is a Pemi Valley Moose Tour company that specializes in getting views of the animals, but they were booked up, so we tried to create our own moose tour. We didn’t have any luck, but we did catch some views of an amazing sunset. It was a nice way to end our visit to an amazing place.
