Thursday, August 21, 2014

Travelogue – circling Franconia

Thursday, August 21

I have no idea why I thought leaving my jacket behind today was a good idea. The sky was cloudy and the temp a bit lower than yesterday. Yet, I specifically excluded the jacket when packing for the day.

That exclusion was felt when I took the aerial tram to the top of Mt. Cannon. At the top the temp was in the low 60s F and the breeze was definitely there. Even though it was a bit chilly the views were pretty good.


I had a bit of lunch at the top (inside, where it was warm) and more lunch in my car, which I had brought.

The next stop was the Flume Gorge. The trail is two miles, part of it through a narrow gorge with a cascading small river. I took lots of pictures so my hike took two hours rather than the suggested 1:15. The gorge was formed first from a bubble of magma that formed hard granite. That cracked and was filled with a magma of a softer basalt. Once the whole thing was exposed in one of the ice ages the basalt eroded much faster than the granite.


I did not need my jacket while hiking the gorge, though I did carry my umbrella (which I didn't have to open).

It was about 4:00 when I left the gorge. I headed back to the B&B on the Kancamagus (Kan-ca-ma-gus) Highway (a 2-lane road) through the White Mountain National Forest. I stopped at a few scenic overlooks.


Today I made a big loop encircling the Franconia Range. I drove over 100 miles.

Though I finished writing yesterday's adventures while in the laundromat, I didn't have time to sort through photos to be able to post. I've taken about 125 photos in 2 days.

No comments:

Post a Comment