SOMETHING
TOURISTY
Christy
and I had debated doing the short hike to The Flume and The Pool for a couple
of days. It’s a popular tourist hike to
slot canyons and waterfalls on Flume Brook and Liberty Brook on the southwest
side of Mount Liberty. Those features
and trails are in Franconia Notch State Park, but there is a $20 admission fee
to that corner of the park. Initially I
questioned if it would be worth it. I
also feared that it would be horribly crowded.
However, with a rainy forecast for Thursday, I reconsidered. During my hike on Franconia Ridge, I actually texted Christy and asked her to buy us two tickets
for the next morning. I was hopeful that
the wet weather would keep the crowds away.
That
evening, I managed to get a text message to my friend Rich. Rich and his wife, Cindy, were also in the
area. They were van camping at a private
campground north of Franconia Notch State Park.
We had talked about getting together for a hike since we were both in
the area, and I told him that we had bought tickets for 9am on Thursday. He responded, and
said that he would see us there. I was
excited to hike with him, as it had been many years since I’d seen him, despite the fact that we both live outside of Asheville,
NC. I was also excited to meet Cindy for
the first time.
We
got an early start and drove into Lincoln so that Christy could do a little
work. While we were there, I checked my
email and got my Covid-19 test results.
Negative! That was a relief, on
many levels. The trip goes on!
I
was glad that we had planned an easy hike for Thursday,
because my legs were fried that morning from my hike over Franconia
Ridge the previous day. We met Rich and
Cindy in the parking lot around 9am that morning. Our reservations were for 9am, and we were
supposed to finish the hike in 2 hours.
We ended taking closer to 3 hours – fortunately that rule doesn’t seem
to be enforced. It was a damp, cloudy
morning, but aside from a little drizzle, the rain held off.
When
we purchased our tickets, less than 50 of the 400 that were available for the
9am time slot had been reserved.
However, there was way more than 50 people there. I’m guessing there must’ve been a lot of
last-minute customers. Despite that, it
was certainly not as crowded as it might have been. We started shortly after 9, which was a
mistake. In hindsight, we should have
waited 20 minutes or so to let the herd get ahead of us. That would have put us after the 9am rush,
but before the 10am crowd arrived. We
eventually figured this out, and enjoyed the walk more
once most of the other people cleared out.
It also made photography more manageable.
Early
on we passed a giant boulder and Table Rock, a sliding cascade on Flume
Brook. Then we headed upstream into a
slot canyon formed by Flume Brook. The
path is mostly on boardwalks built above the stream through the narrow
canyon. Photography was difficult along
here, as the walkway is narrow and there aren’t many places where you can
stop. Luckily, I caught a break in the
crowd when we reached a vantage point of Avalanche Falls at the head of the
gorge. However, the best vantage for
photos was from an overlook adjacent to the top of the waterfall. Incredibly, I managed to get photos of the
falls without any people in the background from that point. That spot also features some gorgeous orange
and black rock in the streambed near the brink of the falls. That added a lot to the beauty of the scene.
From
there, we continued on the trail and crossed a bridge
above Liberty Brook. We passed high
above the creek, before descending to an overlook with a great view of Liberty
Cascade.
We
continued the hike by crossing a covered bridge high above cascades on the Pemigewasset River.
Just downstream the river and Liberty Brook join at The Pool – a wide,
deep basin that would be a fantastic swimming hole, if swimming were allowed
there. We continued around to more views
of The Pool from above, and then descended to a viewing deck with a great view
of the cascades tumbling into the basin.
We
headed out from there. We finished up
our hike a bit before noon, which was perfect timing for a trip to town for
lunch. We bid Rich and Cindy farewell, and wished them well over the remainder of their
trip. It was great spending the morning
with them!
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