Flume Gorge, Franconia Notch, & Cannon Mountain-- Loon Mountain Trip Part 3

On our second day at Loon Mountain, New Hampshire, after a delicious, large and filling pancake breakfast, we headed over to Franconia Notch State park to tour the Flume Gorge.



It was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day and we were one of the first people there.  We purchased our tickets to walk the whole 2 miles and made sure to cover all the trails and even a few of the side little hikes too.



We walked straight back to the great boulder and decided to take a right; following the signs for the flume.


We passed over the covered bridge and stopped to look at the river below.  Again we noticed how high the water table was and knew we had picked the perfect time to visit!



We continued on the path and saw lots of neat rock and tree formations as well as keeping the swiftly moving river in our sights.





This area was so green and dark and all the layers reminded us of something out of a movie
The only part I was not that big of a fan of was when we got closer to the flume and our walkway and stairs were over the running water... seeing the water underneath me through the stairs was a bit disconcerting.


The rocks were quite interesting and you could feel little droplets of water falling from just about everywhere.



The sound of the water rushing by was incredible.




We continued hiking up, around past the flume gorge and enjoyed some pretty amazing views of the beautiful countryside.


There is a second smaller gorge called Liberty gorge and it too was pretty.



We spotted the Sentinel Pine Covered bridge in the distance and stopped to look at "the pool" at the base of the river.



This sign tacked to the beam of the bridge explained what river we were crossing over and how it eventually becomes the Merrimack river and flows into the Atlantic ocean in Massachusetts.




Once over the river we walked a few more trails and then came back to the great boulder we started at.  We headed back to the visitor center and watched a quick movie about Franconia Notch state park before getting the car to head through the Notch and over to Cannon Mountain.


Driving through the Notch we saw some pretty rock formations.  While Cannon mountain lies just 9 minutes away from the Flume Gorge, by the time we arrived at Cannon the sky had filled with clouds.




If you look closely at the below photo you can see the path the gondola takes up the mountain-- our intention was to take the gondola to the top, hike to the lookout/observation tower using the rim trail and then ride the gondola back down.  Sadly, the trails were all closed at the top of the mountain since they still had ice and snow on them.

We already had our tickets so we rode up the gondola, looked around and less than 5 minutes later rode the same one right back down.  On a clear day you can see all the way to Canada from the top of the mountain.



The views were still pretty impressive!

After riding the gondola we noticed that everywhere was getting quite crowded.  Not sure what we wanted to do we decided to head back to the hotel and regroup.

My husband watched some TV while I read a bit of my book and then we decided to find a hiking trail to try out.  We settled on the Serendipity Trail near Loon mountain and enjoyed a leisurely looped trail that followed right along the water for a good 1/2 the hike. It was a nice wide trail that we later learned are used for snowmobiling in winter.



We finished our day with a late lunch/early dinner at Black Mountain Burger and then explored the little shops in town, played a round of mini golf, and ended our night with an ice cream treat on the walk back "home."



Even with all the walking and hiking we did we had the most relaxing time on our weekend trip.

You can read about where we stayed, the places we ate, and what we did on our three day trip here
You can read about our first day. 

Comments

  1. WOW! WOW! WOW! Absolutely gorgeous. I would love to go here some day.

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    Replies
    1. I think it was my favorite place of all that we visited on this trip.

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  2. JUST GORGEOUS! WOW!
    Blessings, Dawn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was so pretty and with the water running so high the gorges were pretty loud too.

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  3. The Flume is one of our yearly visits here in NH. Looks like you went at a good time...water flowing well!! Glad you could visit our humble but beautiful state!

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    1. We visited at a great time! I love that the water was so nice and high and flowing real well. Plus it wasn't too hot to hike and still be comfortable.

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  4. So beautiful! We are going to the North Georgia mountains this weekend and hope to go hiking! Maybe it will be cooler than in Atlanta!
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

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    1. Oh I hope so! I really do not like hiking when it's hot out. I am definitely a fair weather hiker and we completely lucked out to have such a beautiful weekend.

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  5. Absolutely stunning landscape

    Mollyx

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    Replies
    1. It really was such a beautiful area; my husband kept talking about moving there all weekend.

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  6. So gorgeous---wonderful pictures and I pinned to my "I Want to Go Here"! Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I have so many places pinned on my Dream Vacation board!

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  7. Beautiful views. That water looks fast! Thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays.

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    Replies
    1. The water was running real fast! They had a pretty heavy snow season mixed with lots of spring rain.

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