Sunday, 4 October 2015

2nd October 2015.....The Flume Gorge & Scenic Drive..The White Mountains, NH...

Brrrr....it was very cold overnight down to 36F and a very cold wind this morning but not complaining....
Our first stop today is at The Old Man Of The Mountain Historic Site..
This was a natural rock formation of 5 granite ledges 1,200 ft above Profile Lake that appeared to be a profile of a face but constant freezing & thawing opened fissures in the rock and despite attempts to 'shore it up" the formation collapsed in 2003....we learnt this after a very cold walk down to the Plaza !!! Can't win them all...
Next stop, Franconia Notch State Park and a good hike up through Flume Gorge...
Not far from the visitors centre is the first of the covered bridges, this is one of the oldest in the state, built in 1886 across the Pemigewasset River...
We like the description of why they built covered bridges....a farmer said that "the bridges are covered for much the same reason ladies wear petticoats... to protect their underpinning"....
Known as Table Rock this area of the river falls over granite 75 feet wide....
Yorkieman in his newly purchased beanie....:)
The width of the gorge varies from 12 to 20 ft with a boardwalk on the left and the Pemigeewasset River rushing down alongside....
Pemigeewasset means swift or rapid in the Abenaki Indian language...
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Legend has it that the gorge was discovered in 1808 by 93 year old Jess Guernsey when she accidentally came upon it while fishing....


Avalanche Falls at the top of the gorge....the 45 ft waterfall was formed during the "great storm of 1883" 
From the top of the Gorge we took the longer Ridge PathTrail back down via the viewing platform for The Pool a 40ft  basin in the Pemigewasset River.....
Unfortunately the photo doesn't show that this covered pedestrian bridge is built on the Sentinel Pine....it had a circumference of 16 feet and was uprooted in the hurricane of 1938...the trunk forms the base for the bridge !!!


The beautiful "fall" colours are starting to form....


We have been warned to be aware of moose when driving ....it is also mating season and the males are very aggressive ....we just caught the backside of this one as it headed into the forest...
Swiftwater Covered Bridge near Bath, built 1849....

Bath Covered Bridge, built 1832....
Spanning the Ammonoosuc River and renovated in recent years...

The small town of Bath and the Brick Store...they say America's oldest general store...
The Franconia Iron Furnace...the sole surviving blast furnace in New Hampshire...
And last for day but not least the Franconia Library...
A great day seeing the local area and the developing autumnal colours...
Until the next time...

4 comments:

  1. Hi Both, have been looking at your photos (stunning as ever) and realised how much I love to see the coastal ones - maybe its a feature of having been born by the sea but those photos of the coastal drive up through Maine were really good. Mind you the fall colours are pretty impressive too! Just had a good weather weekend but theis latest run of good weather is forecast to turn wet so here comes Winter in the UK! Enjoy - take care! Alan & Maxine

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  2. There is something about coastal photos especially with the blue sky...:)
    We hope your good weather lasts for a while yet....very cold here again overnight, below freezing but at least we are dry, not sure if it's made the news there but there are terrible floods and power outages in SC....xx

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  3. You should worry, there was a power cut in the middle of Downton Abbey last night - Maxine was not impressed!!!!

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  4. OH NO !!! there is always the BBC i-player or is it on ITV ? Love to Maxine...xx

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