I'd never seen Georgiana Falls like that. I can't even imagine what it looked like immediately after the rain, I know I wouldn't have wanted to be caught in it. There was still foam from the overflowing river on the trail. It was insane. I called Jaime as soon as I got down to tell her the good news and we made plans to go check out Noble Falls before it got too dark. They were flowing better than we'd ever seen them. Amazingly, I encountered practically no bugs on either hike and was super relieved.
We checked out of the hotel the next morning and I went in search of Jackman Falls. It was an easy bushwhack but a little longer than I'm used to, man does that GPS come in handy. I finally hit the brook and immediately noticed the water damage to the surrounding area, the flash flooding hit here hard, overflowing the stream by ten feet on each side. Insane. Once I hit the falls I knew we'd be calling out of work for the next couple days. The water was raging like it was early spring all over again. I tried to call from there but had no reception, which is when I realized our walkies were out of range and Jaime had tried calling me so I hurried back.
Jaime was more than on board with calling out, she had actually joked about it the night before after seeing how high the water was. We went to find a room first and ended up at the Days Inn where we booked two nights and were blown away by how beautiful it was, it was like an upscale hotel.
After unloading our stuff in the gorgeous room and calling out of work, we drove out to Crawford Notch, hoping the flash flooding had impacted that area as well. And boy did it ever. I followed a trail for a little ways until I found the brook I was looking for and bushwhacked upstream. I eventually put on my water shoes and went through the cold water which made travel a lot easier and got me some amazing pictures. The falls just kept coming, one after another. I kept planning on turning around but there kept being more, each one better than the last. Finally I stopped because we had to get to Walmart before they closed and being the fourth of July thought they might close early. By the time I left the brook I was completely drenched from getting so close to the falls.
Knowing we didn't pack enough clothes, or our bathing suits, we made our way into Lincoln to stop at TJ Maxx and Walmart. We got the clothes we needed, some food at Dunkin Donuts because we were starving by now, and headed back to Lincoln so we'd be there in time for the fireworks. It wasn't until a few days later that we realized we have a bag of clothes and swimsuits in the trunk for occasions just like this, oops. We had enough time to enjoy the pool for a little before going to see the fireworks downtown. They were incredible, no words. Seeing the fireworks display over our favorite place in the world, it was magical. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Then we went to GH Pizza for supper, the perfect way to end the perfect day. Best 4th Of July ever.
I got up early the next morning to explore a brook which turned out to be nothing but the excellent continental breakfast more than made up for it. Chris, the woman who runs the breakfast makes one hell of a waffle. There were also delicious home fries, muffins, bagels, cereal, all so good. I might have overstuffed myself just a little. The view of Franconia Notch in the morning sun, no clouds at all, was an absolutely perfect way to start the day.
We hiked out to an abandoned fall once known as Bells Cascade which I had done already but Jaime wanted to see it this time around. I had to follow an unmarked trail beside the brook to see where it went so we did that and wound up pretty far out of the way. It was a nice hike but we were thirsty not having brought enough water and the gps died while we were on the bushwhacking portion of our way back. Luckily I got us to the exact spot we left from and despite the drawbacks we had a great time out there, even though I didn't find an easier way to it.
After getting some Gatorade in our systems, I went out in search of Moose Falls but with no gps, I didn't really know where I was going. Basing my journey off memory, I followed a river but didn't find what I was looking for so I turned back and we went to White Mountain Bagel for lunch and ate it at the Fay picnic area. Then we headed out to Littleton once again, this time to get fudge, some for us, some for the manager we called out on. I then attempted a fairly long journey up to a prominent rockslide in Twin Mountain but couldn't find an old logging road I needed to turn onto. So after a long, sweaty hike, I came up short, even with my newly charged gps. There was an interesting view from a peculiar sand dune though. I'll definitely be attempting this one again.
On our way back through Franconia Notch, I decided to try an unnamed brook I've had my eye on for awhile. It involved crossing under the highway through the brook which was a bit cold. I ended up wearing my water shoes for the entire journey, they really make river crossing so much easier. The brook was everything I hoped it would be but I had to turn around when the sun started to set.
Jaime got some Black Mountain Burger for supper while I got some BBQ chicken from Price Chopper to have with my Dollar Tree food from yesterday in an attempt to save some money not eating out. My corndogs, White Castle burgers and chicken were good but Jaime's looked better.
After another delicious continental breakfast I went out alone to search again for Moose Falls, this time with my gps and some research beforehand. Early on I startled a cute little animal, either a weasel or muskrat but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture, even when he poked his head out and looked at me from his pile of logs. I found the rather unimpressive falls quite easily this time around. What I found more interesting was the view of the Franconia Ridgeline from a recent logging cut below the falls.
I went back to the hotel, loaded up the car and then we played in the indoor pool for about an hour, which we had completely to ourselves. We headed out on a trail afterwards in search of a tributary brook that I had a good feeling about. Jaime stopped a little over a mile in and read by the river while I continued on. My suspicions were correct, one incredible waterfall after another. One of them traveled down a shelf on a ledge like a waterslide, so unique I can't say I've ever seen anything like it.
I was too sore after all my hikes to do anymore so we drove out through Crawford Notch and then up through Pinkham Notch to Gorham where we ate at J's Corner, one of our favorites. We scoped out a few spots along the way and I did plan on doing a forgotten waterfall in Gorham but the single car parking spot was in use which didn't bother me any. We did drive up a dirt road in search of another lost waterfall but it got to be too rough so we turned around. We did stop at a cable car pulley over a river along the road though to get hikers across when the water is too high. It was buggy as hell but using the pulley system was quite the experience, can't say I've ever seen one of those before. Jaime read while I listened to music on the way home from our amazing and unplanned four day weekend.
