The goal of the journey was to visit the giant waterfall that can be seen from Crawford Notch. I assumed this was the forgotten waterfall once known as New Cascade but it turns out that one is a little higher up. The unnamed waterfall you see from Route 302 actually consists of a few tiers and is surrounded by towering cliffs and unstable rockslides. I completely understand why no one visits it.
Upstream just a short ways was the waterfall known once as New Cascade. Today it is forgotten with no signs of a trail leading to it, though apparently there was one long ago.
The falls continued upstream where I encountered an impressive cascade in a steep ravine. The walls were way too steep to safely climb down, or more importantly climb out of, but I managed to find a 'safe' route downstream and work my way up the stream bed.
We stayed at Parker's Motel in Lincoln which is quickly becoming our favorite hotel after first staying there last year. The room was enormous, it even had a couch. Aside from celebrating Jaime's birthday, we were also celebrating the release of our first novels. We've been writing for years and finally decided to self publish. After Failure by Matthew Marchon. Falling Faster by Jaime Marchon.
The next morning I went in search of an abandoned mine lost somewhere in the woods of North Woodstock. Just in case I came up short, again, I also had a nearby ledge on a shoulder of Mt Cilley to look for. Still no luck with the mine but I did make it up to the prominent ledge, I just went up the wrong side and found myself clawing my way up a rocky dome. There were enough mosquitoes to join together and fly me to the top but alas they did not, they seemed more content munching on the idiotic hiker. The view made the rough trip all worth it.
After a trip to bustling downtown Littleton for some Chutters fudge, we spent some time working on Jaime's next book along the river at the start of the Zealand Road, which is still closed for the season to anyone wondering.
With only an hour or so left of daylight, I hit Mt Willard in search of some abandoned trails and the old auto road as well as the trail-side Centennial Pool. All three were located with ease, and only one has a sign so I did pretty good. Luckily, no bugs here whatsoever, it made for one pleasant little hike.
I even found an off trail cascade not far below the Centennial Pool. Even when I'm not looking for waterfalls I manage to find them.
There was a gorgeous sunset on our way back through Franconia Notch so we stopped at the old bridge to get some photos.
On Sunday I set out to conquer Parkers Ledge, something I attempted a couple years ago from a different starting point but never made it to the top. What can I say, I was new to bushwhacking straight up mountainsides back then. Today, using streets and utility roads, followed by a bushwhack before reaching an easy to follow trail, I made it to the summit ledges where there was a spectacular view of the mountains that tower over Lincoln.
After picking up some roast beef sandwiches from Stacks in North Woodstock and having a picnic at the base of Loon Mountain, we set out to find the forgotten Loon Pond Mountain Cascades. Last year we made it most of the way with my parents but turned around at the brook which was running close to dry. We made the 2.5 mile trek along the powerlines to the brook and bushwhacked upstream, which had a lot less water in it then we'd hoped for, where we reached the cascades.
I finally used the underwater feature on my camera and took some cool shots from the pools below the chutes and slides that make up the former trail-side attraction. We followed a possible abandoned trail that may have been nothing more than an old logging road back down.
The next morning I searched for the mine again as well as an ice cave but came up short, then headed out to Glen for a cotton candy Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I started the ski trail up to the Gulf Of Slides on Mt Washington but forgot to put on my hikers and hit way too much mud to continue so I turned around early on. Instead, we made our way towards Crawford Notch and parked at Sawyer Rock where I followed the nearby brook uphill to some neat cascades. These will be amazing in high water.
From there I left a possible abandoned trail, perhaps a logging road, and bushwhacked up to a shoulder of the prominent yet trail-less Bartlett Haystack. It was steep, buggy and miserable but the view from the cliff was absolutely breathtaking. The steep descent through the open woods actually hurt my toes on the way down where I startled a family of owls.
Before leaving on Tuesday I made a long buggy loop up to the summit ledge of Little Mt Deception. What I thought was the abandoned trail turned out to be an old logging road that led me in the wrong direction. So I bushwhacked across the ridgeline with a million hungry insects harassing me. I paralleled the easy to follow trail for the last tenth of a mile through the steepest, thickest portion of the final approach, not realizing it was right there. The last twenty feet of trail were quite lovely, bringing me out to the cleared view of the Presidential Range with a backdrop of bright blue sky.
On our way home we stopped at Wicked Fresh to get some burgers. If you haven't been, drop what you're doing and go, best burgers ever. It was one buggy, hot (mostly because one day was cold) trip, but we had a blast and I found a bunch of cool new destinations for upcoming hiking guides.
