Flume Gorge

This is a place to add to the amazing places short list. Flume Gorge is a natural waterfall in New Hampshire that flows in between a narrow rock wall and continues downstream as a river as it flows over and around rocks on the way.

They’ve built out a two mile hiking trail along the river to make it accessible to everyone who wants to see the beauty of the area for themselves. 

The family and I hiked this path of the 4th of July and it was packed with hiker after hiker. I tried to wait for breaks in the stream of people on the trail, but there was never one long enough to get a photo with no one in it, so instead I decided to come back early the next morning before the crowds and that’s when I was able to finally able to get some good pictures of it.

By morning, the light had changed and it became even more amazing. That early morning light streamed in from the trees and made rainbows in the waterfalls.

This is where the walls of the gorge begin to tighten with just enough room to allow for a narrow wooden walkway and river to flow below.

As I took the walkway up and turned the corner, this beautiful, dreamy scene came into view before me. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. Look at the way the light is streaming in from up above and hitting the mist on the waterfall.

Just amazing! “You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.” Psalm 65:9

And it was so loud standing there hearing the water rush by at such speeds and I was enjoying it so immensely that it was hard to hear the people who were just coming up behind me at that moment. No! I had been taking so long admiring everything before, that I hadn’t yet taken the photos I had come to take and now people had caught up with me. Now, I had to wait to catch a break between the crowds. Fortunately, this time, it wasn’t as busy.

Natural little streams of water surround the gorge, like this one, just off to the side of the path.

We hadn’t seen a rainbow the day before, but on this particular morning, with the sun coming though at just the right angle, a beam appeared for just a few minutes before vanishing.

I’m not sure what kind of mushroom this was, maybe someone can identify it, but it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.

Mount Washington Cog Railway

Mount Washington is not only the tallest mountain in New Hampshire, but it also is a record holder for most severe weather in the state.

The summers can be pleasant to slightly chilly at the summit which rises to over 6,000 feet in elevation. But in the winter, the mountain can be a very hostile place. The coldest temperature measured here was -47 degrees Fahrenheit. It was also recorded to be incredibly windy at a startling 237 mph.

Naturally, we had to summit the mount. 

Although it is able to be hiked both up and down, we decided the three mile journey would be much more enjoyable aboard the cog railway. 

Normal trains wouldn’t be able to climb at the elevations of these trains. In fact, these trains wouldn’t be able to do it either if it wasn’t for the cogs in the middle of the track that the engines used to push against in order to make the ascent.

At one point in our journey, they switched tracks to allow the trains coming down to pass.

In some places the tracks rise on a 25 degree slope, but near the top, the slope changes to a maximum grade of 37 degrees. They call this location Jacob’s Ladder because it looks as though you are climbing to heaven.

We were aboard a train car pushed up hill by a diesel engine which climbed at a speedy 3 mph. A steam train followed shortly after, making multiple stops on the way to refill with water.

At some point along the journey, we had crossed the tree line. The tall trees that had surrounded us on the bottom of the mountain, had become smaller and eventually disappeared near the top.

The brake man told us how lucky we were on this particular day. Just 2 weeks prior, Mount Washington had received nearly 10″ of snow and the day before it was cloudy, rainy, and had 30 mph winds. We arrived on a mostly sunny day, a few clouds, a slow breeze, and a mild 50 degree temperature. How rare he said it was to hit a day like this!

In parts of the landscape, it almost looked like England.

You could see for miles!

It was almost like a watercolor painting.

The steam train eventually made it to the top. Do you know why the train car is sitting upwards like that? None of the train cars are actually attached to the engine… and that’s why there’s a brake man.

Clark’s Bears

Clark’s Bears was a really unique attraction. They have black bears that they train from cubs to perform certain stunts. Mr. Clark learned the trade from his parents and he and his sister take their turns feeding the bears their special berry ice cream treats. He said that the bears under his care live around 30 years, while those in the wild may live to around 5 years due to hunting, trapping, collisions, etc. He treats them well and they respect him in return.

Yes, they still hibernate in the winter, but during the summer months he continues to train the bears. Some tricks are better than others as the bears just like to eat their ice cream treats rather than show off. It was a blast to see.

They have a sidewalk size chess board at Clark’s which the kids played. Another guest was watching our game and challenged Jaden to a game. He took her on an though she had an impressive lead, he eventually checkmated her when she least expected it.

Now here’s something you don’t usually see. They had Segways that we could ride around a track. They’re actually fairly easy to control so we were given a few instructions and took off.

They had a train there too. Just having been on the train, Jaden wasn’t too excited to go on another, but he was in for a surprise, because this train was different. 

This train had Wolfman! He would follow the train, firing his gun, and yelling at the passengers who had invaded his lair. The kids on the train were told to scream, “Scram you old goat!” to get rid of him. It was really fun!

They also had a water slide that the kids went on at least 10 times, bumper boats where we got soaked, a spinning mansion, and an acrobatics show. Definitely a surprisingly fun attraction and one to hit if you’re ever in New Hampshire.