We're going on a bear hunt - Day 14

[Princess Alison]

Today was an early start for us and after another lovely breakfast, we got our trainers on ready for some more exploring.

We set off up the Crawford Notch Road, including a quick detour up the lesser used of the Mt Washington roads just to see what was up there – turns out to be a very rough road verging on track in parts! On we went, back into Franconia country and decided to check out The Basin which was signposted off to the side. We parked up and set out into the forest – which is rather more exciting with the knowledge that there are actually bears in these forests!

The walk took us into thick woodland pretty quickly and alongside the Pemigewasset River which afforded us some stunning views including giant roots and oddly shaped trees. The basin itself is essentially a giant pothole dating back to the Ice Age. There were lots of waterfalls here and natural slides too, which a group of students were having fun sliding down – we considered paddling, but the water really was a lot colder than you’d imagine.











We were getting a little hungry after our hike, so headed on to the Flume Gorge, stopping at the visitor centre for some ice-cream and brownies, to get us ready for the gorge walk itself.







The path started with a covered bridge, the passing of which was made slightly more awkward by the fact that a rather large (make that extremely large!) spider had spun its web near to the entrance and was sitting rather expectantly in the middle. We made it through though unharmed!



It took us about 1.5-2 hours to complete and involved literally climbing up the gorge itself using a series of steps.



The granite gorge again dates back to the ice age and comprised plenty of slippery rock and waterfalls, including the aptly named ‘Avalanche Falls’. The path took us past plenty of interesting fauna including giant toadstools, a hemlock tree, an array of mountain flowers and of course plenty of maple trees.





At the top, we made a brief stop at the Bear Cave..



...before continuing on to The Pool, another deep basin in the river bed surrounded by 8 foot cliffs. The water was so clear that it was hard to believe that it was 40 feet deep. It reminded us of the pool in the Lord of the Rings where Gollum is captured by Faramir and his men!



By this point, DD and DS were getting rather tired – they had done well considering they are only 5 and 6 – and we took the opportunity to have a rest on the bench and take in the views.





We also played a game of ‘spot the boulder’ which DS turned out to be very good at!

[Princess Alison]

Further on, and beyond another covered bridge, we reached the rather ominously named ‘Wolf’s Den’. This narrowing passage in the rock leads back to the path higher on. We didn’t quite fancy the squeeze through, especially given our experience of the creepy crawlies out here, so made do with a quick look inside!



Higher up now, the path opened up slightly giving way to a view across the valley and to the mount range beyond. This was the southern end of the Franconia mountain range and we got a clear view of Liberty, Flume and Ossea Mountains.



Finally we reached the visitor centre again and DS and DD had a brief rest while DH and I read up on some moose facts.



By now it was mid to late afternoon and so we headed back to Old Conway for a final game of pirate golf, which included a rather unusual obstacle on the 18th hole, and back to the Inn for a warm meal and well-earned rest.











To Day 15...

[disney owl]

Brill photo, thanks for sharing

[Fieryannie]

Fab pics, stunning views... Such a beautiful place...

xxx

[orlandosgr8]

What a stunning place to visit.