May 31 – Kancamagus Highway

We had a bit of a hardware meltdown last night. The display on my laptop started flickering and then it crashed. When I rebooted the display was garbage. It looks like the video process is bad. I looked on line and it is a common problem with this laptop. To fix it you have to replace the system board. It is a 6 year old machine running XP so I think it is finished.

Thankfully Jennie has exactly the same machine so I just took the hard drive from mine and booted it in hers. Since I have a lot of software installed on mine for which all the install discs are at home, it looks like we will get Jennie a new machine and I will keep using hers. My only worry is that Microsoft is going to complain that the drive is in a different machine that it was installed on, making it look like I copied the drive.

Meanwhile back on the ranch, it was another nice day not to be wasted. The Kancamagus Highway is a Scenic Byway that runs through the middle of the White Mountains National Forest.

It was supposed to have some good views and we stopped at all the view points but nothing made us say wow. The rest of the time we mostly just saw the trees beside the road.

One attraction of the highway is that there are lots of ups and downs and it is very twisty. The bikers, motorized and not, seems to really like it.

At one viewpoint there was a bunch taking a group shot. The camera was perched on a giant Harley so I offered to take the shot. We saw a lot of groups go by.

Our first real stop was Sabbaday Falls. Sorry for more waterfall shots but this should be the last for a while. It was a 0.3 mile walk up to the falls.

A nice hollowed out gorge.

We sat and had lunch just above the top of the falls.

The next stop was called Rocky Gorge. It was right beside the highway.

Our final waterfall was called Lower Falls. It was not much of a waterfall but it was a popular location because it is relatively safe to swim here.

We saw one guy go in and lots of kids in bathing suits but the water sure was frigid.

On the way back we stooped in the somewhat larger town of North Conway to get some groceries and checkout computers. On advantage of buying it now is that New Hampshire has no sales tax. I have to do some more investigation.

I was going to hit another scenic spot but it was very hot and humid so we just headed home. On the way back I spotted these interesting cliffs.

As we passed them I realized they were the ones that almost killed us on that long hike the other day.

May 30 – Franconia Notch State Park

Yesterday was the perfect day for Jennie to stay in bed with a heating pad around her neck. It was cloudy, cool and rained on and off. By last night she was better. Not 100% but she is able to move around without too much trouble.

Today we planned to take it easy and just do three short hikes in the state park. In hindsight even that was too much. We should have just done two.

LOTS of waterfall pictures today. I just can’t resist including them. Also a lot of HDR pictures because of the deep shadows and bright sunlight. I still haven’t gotten them the way I would like. They just don’t look natural.

First up was a short 1/2 mile hike up to Artist’s Bluff. The way up was mostly steep stone steps but it was quick climb.

 

Sure enough up at the top there were artists.

I gathered that they were a youth group on a trip. Some were biking, some drawing and some were learning to rock climb.

I took this picture on the way back down.

And this one while we were at the top.

For such a short hike the view was pretty good. Cannon Mountain Ski Resort and Echo Lake.

Interstate 93 going through the notch.

Back down we go, after a nice long look.

A bit father down the highway we stopped at The Basin, which was right beside the road. The Pemigewasset River cascades over some rocks and the swirls around in a big bowl before it continues.

First we looked at it from one side.

Then we crossed a bridge to get the other view. The rock in the middle foreground is called the “Old Man’s Foot”

We had our lunch here.

The river was split up into many section here. Beside us was a nice little waterfall.

We walked beside this narrow chute.

Which then did a roaring S curve.

From here, we took Cascade Trail which went up the hill a bit. It had been recommended by a person at the information center. Naturally it was a stream cascading down over these wide rock ledges.

 

After about 1/2 mile of gentle climbing we got to our destination of Kinsmen Falls.

We then headed back to the car and drove a little farther south to the park visitors center and paid $15 a person to walk up to the Flume Gorge. The trail is a 2 mile loop. You walk up a steep gravel path until you get to the gorge and then you are on a walkway bolted to the side. Some of the spots were not a happy place for Jennie.

It was actually pretty cool. The picture don’t do it justice because it was so narrow and the sides we so tall.

 

 

Then we started the long walk back. At least it sure seemed long because by now we were quite tired.

We walked alongside this other gorge with a feature called The Pool.

Over the gorge.

We rewarded ourselves with some ice cream and then headed home.

May 28 – Mount Washington

Yesterday I had thought about doing the drive up Mount Washington but I had looked at the current conditions, which were visibility of 1/6 of a mile, fog and 65 mph winds. During the night they had had winds of 124 mph. Not looking good. As well it was Memorial Day and there would be more people.

It is said that Mount Washington has the worst weather in the world, although I think some of the guys in the Antarctic stations might argue. Certainly it is the worst in the USA. More than 100 days of the year they have greater than hurricane force winds. The highest wind speed ever measured on Earth was here as 231 mph. Even on the hottest summer days at the bottom you will need at least a jacket if not more at the top. The weather can also change very quickly for the worst. There is a display at the top of a long list of hikers that ignored the weather and died.

This morning, however, the current conditions were visibility of 100 miles, no wind and a temperature of 0C, rising during the day. Perfect, off we went.

There are 4 ways to the top. Taking the Cog Railway, hiking, taking a shuttle bus up the road or driving yourself. The 8 mile long road is privately owned and it costs about $33 for a car and 2 people to drive to the top. Since the road is narrow they don’t allow any large vehicles. Even some of the larger pickup trucks are not allowed. Also your vehicle must have a low gear that it will stay in because due to the steepness of the road (average 12% grade) you must drive up and down in first gear.

You couldn’t see much on lower sections.

Once you got up high enough that most of the trees were dwarf sized we got better distance views. There are plenty of turnouts on the road, mainly a a place for people (that don’t know what they are doing or are nervous) to let their brakes cool down on the way down. We stopped at most of the ones that had a view.

Lots of very low lying plants due to the high winds.

Another stop.

I am not sure what causes this tree like pattern on this rock.

A view back down the road in the lower right in the picture below. Also getting more snow on the ground.

Into the real arctic zone now.

Getting closer.

Lots of weird snow formations because of the wind and constant heating and cooling.

Finally at the top. We were comfortable in light jackets. The wind stayed very calm.

This is the original weather observatory. Notice the chains over the roof to keep it in place in the wind.

The mountain peak is part of the Appalachian trail (and many others). The stone building below used to be an overnight hut for the hikers.

Lots of snow/ice encrusted antennas. Due to the sunny weather, the ice kept crashing down all day.

This is the new weather observatory. It looks like a little fortress. It is manned 365 days a year by two teams, in week long shifts. Notice the tiny and I guess shatterproof windows.

A view back down to the resort that we took the picture of yesterday.

The very top.

It must get very crowded here because the observation deck was huge.

I saw a guy much more afraid of heights than Jennie. His girlfriend was at the railing and he was literally on hand and knees, in the middle of the huge deck, trying to crawl over to the edge. He couldn’t do it and they had to leave. I so wanted to take a picture but I felt bad for him.

We had lunch here.

Then we wandered around and looked at the museum until the railway trains came up.

Here is the track with the center section for the train to grip.

Each wheel on the engine and passenger car had a gear.

We noticed some guys with skis. We couldn’t see any big enough patches of snow but I guess there must have been some.

A last look around before we headed down.

Here is the GPS log of the trip. You can see that it a pretty smooth constant grade. The road was built long ago, mostly by hand and before dynamite. The Army Corp of Engineers at one time had tried to find a better way up the mountain but concluded that the current road was best.

We may take tomorrow off as Jennie is not feeling well. She has a very stiff neck and is just generally uncomfortable all over. I will probably extend our stay here as there is lots more to see.