We Gorged Last Week

No, we didn't eat a lot. We went day tripping (again).

The state of NH has many natural attractions and last week's day trip took us to another one, the Flume Gorge in Franconia State Park. Despite being a natural wonder, there's an admission fee of $14 to $16 depending on age, free for those age 5 and under and NH seniors (like us). Sometimes being older is a good thing. Our only cost was a $1 online transaction fee.

Our goal was a visit to the Flume Gorge, a spectacular 800-foot natural chasm. The walls of Conway granite rise to a height of 70 to 90 feet, 12 to 20 feet apart. It's accessed by walking the Flume Gorge Trail, open this year from May 22 through October 20. The Flume as an attraction is closed in winter months, so it’s not possible to hike through the entire gorge then. Due to changes and damage caused by frost heaving, the paths are rebuilt by a team of experts each year. 

Currently, the trail is a one-way, 2-mile loop starting at check-in booths at the Flume Building as the Short Trail/Rim Path is closed. The self-guided walk is estimated to take 1.5 hours, ours took longer as we stopped often. The walk includes uphill walking and a number of many stairs. The trail is mainly packed gravel which includes moderate uphill and downhill walking.

In the wake of COVID-19, expected restrictions are in place. Reservations are online only for a specific date and time slot. The Visitor's Center doesn't offer the former 20-minute movie on Franconia Notch State Park. The cafeteria is closed with packaged food items available for purchase. The gift shop (of course) is open. A 6-foot distance is recommended between those not with your party. A bus that would take visitors to Boulder Cabin, a short walk from the Flume is not running. Other trails are off limits. Children and adults can no longer crawl through and explore trail caves. Visitors are advised to keep traffic moving through the Gorge by not congregating at photo spots.

The story goes that the Flume was discovered in 1808 by 93-year-old Jess Guernsey said to have been out on a warm June day exploring the area around the family’s new homestead. She followed the sound of running water hoping to find a fishing hole. Instead, she saw a chasm 800 feet long and up to 90 feet tall. According to accounts, she had trouble convincing her family of the sight, eventually persuading them to go and see it. We would have gone.

Discovery date aside, the Flume Gorge started some 200 million years ago (Jurassic Period) as molten rock cooked far below the earth's surface. Erosion gradually exposed the rock and as the pressure eased, horizontal cracks formed.

Water forced its way into the cracks and began laying the groundwork for what's visible now. Glaciers capped the formation in the last Ice Age. When the ice sheet receded, it carried away soil and weathered rocks, leaving behind glacial debris.

While the gorge was covered by glaciers in the Ice Age, the ice sheet didn't greatly change its surface. The Ice Age was responsible for other popular natural features like Table Rock and The Pool. Water erosion and frost-heaving continue to deepen the gorge and is ongoing.

The granite that makes up the 70 to 90-foot gorge walls is called Conway granite. In 1877, the granite was named after the nearby town of Conway, NH, by Edward Hitchcock, professor of geology and theology and third president of Amherst College. Hitchcock had spent several years as a minister in Conway before beginning his geological career. 

The picturesque Flume Covered Bridge ↑ is one of the oldest in NH, built in 1886 and restored several times. Such bridges were often called “kissing bridges” because of the darkness and privacy they provided. This bridge was built across the scenic Pemigewasset (“swift or rapid current” in the Abenaki Indian language) River. 

Table Rock ↑ is a formidable section of Conway granite, 500 feet long and 75 feet wide, created during the last Ice Age. Over time, the rushing waters of the Flume Brook exposed this large outcropping of rock. The rocks are slippery and visitors are cautioned to stay on the trail. Normally, there is more water on the rocks, less now because of drought conditions.

At the top of the Flume is a closer view of ↑ Avalanche Falls. This 45-foot waterfall creates a roaring sound as the Flume Brook enters the gorge. The falls were formed during a heavy rainstorm in June 1883 that washed away a huge egg-shaped boulder that hung suspended between the walls, estimated to be 10 feet high and 12 feet long. The rainstorm started a landslide that swept the boulder from its place and it has never been found. 

The Pool ↑ is a deep basin in the Pemigewasset River. It was formed at the end of the Ice Age, 14,000 years ago, by a silt-laden stream flowing from the glacier. The Pool is 40 feet deep and 150 feet in diameter, and is surrounded by 130 foot high cliffs. A cascade rushes into it over fragments of granite that have fallen from the cliffs above.

The Sentinel Pine stood for centuries on a high cliff above the pool and was one of the largest in NH. It was about 175 feet high with a circumference of 16 feet. The hurricane of September 1938 uprooted the giant pine. Its trunk bridges the river above the Pool and forms the base of the Sentinel Pine ↑ covered bridge which offers a great view of the Pool.

The Wolf Den and Bear Cave are narrow, one-way paths that involve crawling on hands and knees and squeezing through rocks. Currently, they are off limits for obvious reasons of non-social distancing. They would have been on our off-limits list even if open.

Walking along the gravel path from the Flume, we saw so many glacial boulders ↑. Befitting their name, these are very rocks, weighing over 300 tons. Over 25,000 years ago, during the glacial period, a great ice sheet more than a mile thick moved over this area. The mass of ice was powerful moving large and small boulders. As the ice sheet retreated, the boulders (glacial erratics) remained.

Many very large tree roots were just as interesting as they hugged some smaller boulders.

1874 Abbot-Downing Concord Coach

The visitors center has several popular exhibits including a 1874 Concord Coach made by the Abbot-Downing Company, a now defunct coach and carriage builder formerly based in Concord, NH. The exhibit shows what it would have been like to travel around Franconia Notch by wagon.

The coach, labeled Plymouth-Franconia Mountains, was obtained from a Vermont source in 1933 by the Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests and placed on display at the Flume in Franconia Notch SP where it has remained under state custody.

This friendly ranger moose is a Flume favorite and always very obliging for photo shoots.

Coincidentally, NH newcomer and fellow blogger Marcia and husband, Dan, also visited Flume Gorge the same day, but in a different time slot. As when we both recently visited America's Stonehenge, our paths did not cross (again). Perhaps they will on a future outing. You can read Marcia's blog post about their visit here.