Saint Gaudens and Quechee

Driving through New Hampshire I passed by this really cute covered bridge. Inside was a Shoppe! It was so cute and it smelled amazing. I drove on to New Hampshire's sole National Park site, Saint Gaudens passing one more covered bridge along the way. I had the address plugged into Jack and saw a sign for the site so I figured I was on my way. Then Jack told me to turn. So I did and ended up on one lane gravel roads! I passed gorgeous farms that personified New England in the fall: stone fences, cows grazing, dappled sunshine through the brilliant foliage, etc. So I couldn't be too mad at him. I rumbled into the parking lot and it was after 5pm so it was closed. I grabbed a brochure and took a few pictures to prove I was there. Augustus Saint-Gaudens is one of America’s greatest sculptors-allegedly.The mansion was covered in scaffolding so there wasn’t much to see. When I left there I went .2 miles down a gravel road and hit the highway that I had originally been driving down. Thanks Jack!

I drove out of New Hampshire and into Vermont. I passed by another cute little bridge. I love the sign above.One of my coworkers lived in Quechee and blew glass at the Simon Pearce studio and suggested I stop by. I was still in my yellow slicker and flip flops with my mud covered jeans and crazy hair when I walked in and I quickly went into the basement because I thought management was going to throw me out for my heinous appearance. The studio had a restaurant in it and there was glass everywhere and I did not feel comfortable. In the basement there was a glass blowing studio and a hydro electric room. I walked outside to see the waterfall that powered the place and it was insane! The hurricane had raised this river as well and I was actually scared to stand next to the thing because it was so powerful. It was like Niagara! There was also a cute little covered bridge. I was exhausted and desperately wanted to be out of my wet clothes so I went searching for my campsite. I considered staying in a motel again but everything was booked because it was a fall foliage weekend. Jack got me lost on the way to the campground. Every time this trip he’s been a few miles off. He needs updating I think. I called the campground and they directed me in. on the way I saw a pizza joint and because the sun was setting and I was miserable and hungry I stopped to get something to eat. By the time I arrived it was almost dark so I threw up my tent in record time by the light of my headlights. I dove in and scarfed down my meal. Except for a lone olive that I thought was a crouton (damn eating in the dark), it was delicious. I got into dry clothes and set off to find the bathroom. They are always centrally located in campgrounds but because it was off season there was only one apparently. After bushwhacking behind my campsite I couldn’t find the damn thing so I figured I’d look for light since bathrooms are always well lit. I stumbled into a few motor homes before I realized that’s probably not a good indicator. I finally located it in another loop and then had quite the time figuring out how to get back. I finally found my tent and settled in-warm and dry.

Flume Gorge

Franconia Notch State Park was weird because you get on Interstate 95 and then the exits are the different scenic areas of the park. The first exit was the Flume Gorge. It costs $13 to get there but since I saw Grandma and Grandpa Burns had been there I figured I would go. I had on a yellow rain jacket, flip flops, and a t-shirt and jeans because it was muggy with the rain. I opted to take the bus up to the Flume since I didn’t want to hike 3 miles in my flippy floppies in the rain. Sitting on the bus I hear men shouting on the radio about the treacherous conditions in the Flume and they are advising someone to stop selling tickets so they can clear people out. With that playing loudly the bus driver pulls up to the trail, opens the door and says "have a good day". What!? The Flume is a natural granite gorge that has stairs built into it so you can walk up it. Photos and video show a trickling stream where families walk along and enjoy the bubbling brook. This is what I saw:

Because of the rain the water had risen 4 FEET and was lapping at the wooden supports. The wood was slippery as hell. I went along until I saw a guy blocking the trail. He didn’t stop me, just warned me to be careful up ahead. Further up someone stops me and tells me to put away my camera because of the waterfall (Avalanche Falls). I zipped up my pocket, grabbed both sides of the rail and carefully stepped up the ramp that passed the waterfall. The water was so powerful that the falls were coming over the walkway and I blindly dashed through what felt like a car wash. When I emerged breathlessly on the other side every single part of me was drenched. It was exhilarating. Instead of going back down (yeah right) I decided to hike the scenic mile through the forest back to the bus stop. I passed the Liberty Gorge and went on to the Sentinel Pine Bridge. The bridge is so called because a hurricane blew down a pine and settlers used it to construct a bridge. It was really pretty and a nice respite from the rain. I hiked back past glacial boulders and crossed another covered bridge that the bus had driven over earlier (the Flume bridge). I was pretty exhilarated at my insane trek so I drove another couple miles to the Basin- granite pothole 20 feet in diameter. This is what its supposed to look like

And this is what I saw:

WTF!? The entire viewing platform was washed out!! Water was gushing everywhere. I crossed one bridge with some water across it and stopped when I saw the sign almost submerged. If you leapt across the water and swung around a tree you could proceed further but even I’m not that crazy. I could just picture me being across the bridge when it got washed out and being stuck in soaking wet clothes. I quickly went back across the bridge and fled. Even the trail was a sopping mess. I made one more quick stop at Boise Rock. Here’s the story of it: “Thomas Boise, a noted teamster of this region was sledding through the Notch in mid-winter, soon after the first road was built. Overtaken by a fierce snowstorm, he was unable to continue on. Realizing he must take drastic action to survive, he killed and skinned his horse. Crawling under the overhang of this rock, he wrapped himself in the hide and spent the night.

Men sent out the next day to search for him found Tom still alive but encased in the frozen hide that had to be cut away with axes in order to release him.” I was pretty sure the park was going to kill me if I hung around too long so I left and headed back to Conway via the White Mountain Scenic Byway. This passed by Crawford Notch State Park. The mountains were gorgeous had exposed rock faces and I could see water cascading down them. There was one really cool waterfall-the Silver Cascades along the roadside. I drove through the rest of the park but it was raining too hard to do much.

Kancamagus Byway

I slept quite soundly in my double bed at the motel. I grabbed my continental breakfast of Sunny D and a donut stick and hit the road again. I had written poor directions to a few covered bridges in New Hampshire and finally stopped at a visitor center and asked where they were. The first bridge was the Swift River Bridge.The next stop was the Saco River Bridge. The foliage was gorgeous at both spots.

Then I diverted from my original route. I had planned to drive the White Mountain Scenic Byway and then the Kancamagus Byway. Due to the approaching hurricane, I decided to do Kancamagus first. Well at my first stop it started raining and proceeded to pour for the next 8 hours. The Albany covered bridge was neat. The next stop was Rocky Gorge. A huge tour bus had disgorged people there so it was quite busy. I walked over to a small pond on the other side of the bridge for some quiet. It’s amazing how people don’t explore further than the parking lot. The Gorge was pumping because of the rain. There was an amazing story on an trail side exhibit about a woman who people thought had drowned there. In order to recover the body they diverted the water from the river and a rescuer came across a foot. He got a rope around it and pulled it up and she was still alive!! She had tried to walk across the rocks and slipped and fell and somehow ended up underneath a waterfall where no one could hear her. Amazing! I stopped at an old farm and homestead and there wasn’t a soul in sight so I drove on. My next stop was Sabbaday Falls. This required a 15 minute hike into the woods. They were interesting though because there's an upper drop which spills over into another drop that makes a 90 degree angle turn into a flume and drops again into a pool.They were roaring too. The highway was gorgeous with mountains and foliage everywhere. I stopped at a few more overlooks and tried to soak it all in-literally. I arrived in Lincoln, NH and made a quick stop for postcards at the infamous Clark’s Trading Post (where apparently they have trained bears. I didn’t see any). Before we continue I have to tell an interesting story. I’ve been really into family history lately and have been poring over albums from when my dad was growing up. Well a few days before my trip my aunt found my grandparents wedding album with honeymoon pictures. Lo and behold my route was planned almost exactly the same!! Their final destination was the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec but they went to Acadia, Bar Harbor, and the Bay of Fundy in Maine, and Franconia Notch and Crawford Notch in New Hampshire. I was floored. When I got home I also found out that Kyle and Devin honeymooned in Lincoln, NH and spent most of their time at Franconia. Funny how that works.

Maine's Scenic Byways

I headed out early this morning because I had a long day of driving ahead. To my delight I was greeted by sunshine. I headed up Route 1 to its terminus in Fort Kent. U.S. Route 1 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs 2,377 miles (3,825 km) from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine. I was expecting fanfare but I only saw this sign. It caught my eye when I was doing a U-turn to avoid crossing the border into Canada. It’s in the parking lot of a dingy old apartment building. I headed south at that point and meandered through the State Route 11 and Grindstone Scenic byway. There were rest stops scattered throughout which gave me a nice opportunity to stretch and take in the beautiful foliage. Some overlooked rivers and lakes. My favorite overlook was outside Patten, ME. In the distance I could see Mt Katahdin which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The sun started fading and the rains came back. I passed by a random covered bridge on the drive. One of the rest stops was a picnic area next to Smalls Falls. It was pouring rain but I still enjoyed the falls. There was a fence running along the edge so I thought there was an other overlook towards the top. There wasn't. I climbed over slick roots and shimmied up the fence but the view wasn't any better. Despite the rain, I still got some good pictures at one pull out with a great reflection in the water.By the time I came to the Rangely Lakes scenic byway the rain had lightened up. It was still gorgeous. I stopped in Rangely at a gift shop to buy some postcards but they didn’t sell any so I ended up buying magnets. Once again I had planned to stay at a campground and once again it looked creepy. However, there was a little waterfall by the campground which I checked out before wheeling out of there. It was still rainy so I headed into Rumford, ME to look for a hotel. Jack gave me the name of the Hotel Rumford so I called on the way in and was told it was $50/night. Okay, that’s fine. Jack took me there and it was on a one way street with diagonal parking. I circled the block thinking there would be an actual hotel parking lot but no. I looked at the sign and it said Hotel Rumford-find food and drinks. Cool I thought-maybe I could get some food with my room. So I walk in the entrance and it is a dingy bar full of locals and it was one of those moments where you feel like the music stops and everyone is staring at you (which actually happened). I turned tail and ran back to my car and plugged another hotel into Jack. I got there and the lady said they had one room left because the local mill was on shut down and the motel was full of maintenance workers. I didn’t even care. I had been driving for 9 hours and was exhausted. The room was small with one light and a tiny, shower-only bathroom. I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and went to bed.