So Ben had a great plan for his August vacation this year: use a motel in the Franconia Notch region of New England as a base of operations to visit more hiking and scenic opportunities than could be done on single day trips. He consented to allow me to join him on this expedition.

Our first morning, on Wednesday the 13th, started sluggish. Being night owls, changing to a day cycle doesn't come easy to either of us. I think we both got four hours of sleep that morning. After some minor errands we headed west around noonish.

The White Mountains aren't that far away from Portland, but as the interstate system tends towards north/south it means if you want to go west you have to use smaller highways. But by mid-afternoon we reached the Kancamagus Highway. It was drizzling, but we were undeterred.

We drove the Highway until one of the "Stop and see some scenic shit here" signs caught our attention: Rocky Gorge. It wasn't much of a hike, just a paved trail leading to the gorge and a bridge that crosses the river. I suspect they put the parking lot several yards away so you'd achieved something walking there. It is pretty nice, the river tumbling over the rocks and continuing on through the mountains. A sign warned against swimming, apparently a hundred years ago or so some lady fell in and vanished. Sheesh, people die of stuff all the damn time, it's no reason to deny fun to the rest of us.

We found our enthusiasm for hiking dampened by the rain, rain, rain so we continued onto the motel. The motel wasn't bad, a nice little place with the basic amenities. We didn't need much, just a place to rest and sleep and hold our stuff while we ventured out during the day on our excursions. The motel was right on the Pemigewasset River so we had a nice view of the river out the back window.

Thursday morning we visited The Basin and Baby Flume on the Pemigewasset. The Basin is a large bowl-like gouge in the rock through which the river flows, forming a pool. It looks like someone just dug into it with an ice cream scoop. The millennia of water smoothed over the edges so it looks like it would be fun to swim in, but again, the Park Service only wants "safe" fun. The Baby Flume is a small gorge downriver, likely named humorously as a mini-version of the nearby Flume attraction.

We continued north to Cannon Mountain, which a a mountain ridge. One side has ski slopes, the other was the former home of the Old Man of the Mountain. The ski side has a tramway lift which operates year-round cause, dammit, sometimes you don't feel like hiking 4000 feet for cool views. And well, riding the tram is also fun. This was my first trip with my new digital watch that has both a compass and altimeter. Watching the altitude numbers increase at a steady pace was pretty cool. There was some concern about visibility. When we started from the base there was a thick cloud layer but it mostly dispersed by the time we got to the observatory tower at the summit. I watched with fascination as several small cloud-banks drift across the sky and roll over the mountainsides.

Near Cannon is a small hill with an outcropping called Artist's Bluff. Not much of an altitude, we could see people on it from the highway but it was an enjoyable hike nonetheless. And the views of Cannon and the other mountains was worth it. The name was apt as it looked like the kind of place artists and poets would come to draw and write about the scenic views.

We ended the afternoon with an old favorite, The Flume. Not just any old flume. Accept no substitutes. Ask for The Flume by name. The Flume Brook comes down Flume Mountain and passes through a flume-like gorge. So of course they call the park The Flume. I'd say New Hampshirites have no imagination, but these are people that see faces in cliffs and presidents in mountain peaks. A boardwalk lets you pass through the gorge itself at river-level and up past the waterfall at the top. Trails lead back to the visitor's center passing by neat stuff like huge glacial boulders, cascades and something called The Wolf's Den. The Den is a tunnel through a rockfall large enough for a person to fit through. I'm sure in the past, many animals did call it home. I myself felt an urge to settle and put up some art on the walls.

Friday morning started with Clark's Trading Post. This is one of those attractions that started as one thing, then evolved over the years to bring in tourists. They have train rides, a Wildman, small museums of antiquities, and trained bears who do simple tricks for ice cream.

Next were the Polar Caves. I must admit I was kinda meh about going. I'd seen their flyer in the bins of pamphlets at every fast food place, gas station and motel in New Hampshire and Maine so I'd heard of them. After visiting, damn. I knew this (and the similar Lost River) would be places I'd visit again and again. They aren't caves in the usual sense of going deep underground, having stalagmites, hibernating bears or Batmobiles. After the last Ice Age, the nearby mountain cliff broke apart and deposited boulders at the base forming small tunnels you can walk or crawl through. It was a lot of fun going through and nearly all of the tunnels were large enough for most people to go through, at least one was chosen so that only anorexic teenagers can pass. They also had a great gift shop, and I splurged probably more than I should have, on wall hangings, ceramic wolves and other goodies. No regrets though.

Polar Caves was so much fun, Ben and I decided to do it again, only wetter! and more difficult! Lost River, another on my Must-Visit-Again list.

Now, I have this neat blue baseball cap with Rainbow Dash and the word BRONY on the front. It was a nice gift from Ben. This summer I attached some red fuzzy ears (that I got at Furfright) to the top with safety pins and it looked really neat. I never took them off afterwards and figured, why not wear it hiking? After all, I had fun wearing a tail during the Wachusetts hike. I was prepared for stares and snickers, but damn if people didn't like it! I got so many compliments (mostly along the lines of "nice hat") from staff, other hikers, random tourists. And one little girl at Lost River. Ben's in the visitor center bathroom and I'm waiting outside by the entrance to the gorge. I'm wearing my pony cap and an MLP tshirt. A little girl, maybe 6-8yrs old comes over and comments on my hat. She is also a fan of the show. We briefly discuss the show and I am fully aware that I am a possibly creepy-looking older man talking to an unaccompanied small child so I keep some distance lest I get attacked by a paranoid Mama Bear. I also had a fear this kid would take a liking to my cap and ask her mother to buy her one, so I take it off and show her how I attached the ears myself. But being a kid, who knows if she understood. For all I know her mother's going to go frantic this Christmas looking for a cap like the one her kid saw in New Hampshire.

Unlike the Polar Caves, which just fell off a cliff, the rocks that form Lost River's tunnels are on the river itself. In some ways it has more in common with The Flume than the Polar Caves. Both are river gorges with boardwalks that let you walk through the chasms. I think there were more challenging tunnels here. Not simply in terms of being narrow, but at least one requires you to get on your belly and crawl to get between the rock and the boardwalk (which is just barely above the river). Not the kind of activity you do if you want to stay clean. I can claim to completing all but three of the tunnels. One was called the Lemon Squeeze, and oddly enough, Polar Caves had a tunnel with the sane name. Again, New Hampshirites and their imagination... Anyway, the Lemon Squeeze had a You Must Be This Thin guage which I knew I couldn't get through. The other two tunnels were closed due to recent rains causing the river to rise. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed watching other groups attempt tunnels, or stay on the boardwalk and watch. I'd come out of a tunnel exit, see some college kids peering down the entrance and tell them encouragingly, "If I can make it, you guys can" gesturing to my girth.

By this point it was evening so we went for dinner at a place called Dad's, attached to a resort. Worst. Dinner. Ever. We were sat in a section with the most pathetic waitress I'd ever had. We didn't get our rolls till right before the meal, she never refilled our drinks or water. Meanwhile I'm seeing the waitress in the other side zipping along hitting all her tables. I don't know if it's cause we were two, compared to the other tables with families, or she was just damn useless. The steak wasn't cooked right, and only Applebees has fucked up steak worse. the idiot took forever to get our checks ready and couldn't even get that right. We're there for hours and hoping to get the fuck on our way to see a movie. You'd likely say "write a letter of complaint, let them know", but I got the feeling they wouldn't give a fuck. They mostly seemed to care about resort guests, and I have no intention of eating there ever again. Fuck 'em, better restaurants nearby, Like Gordis (mmmm great swordfish and bacon-wrapped scallops). The movie we saw was TMNT. Yeah, I know the nerdy fanbase had their panties in a twist, but fuck em, I liked it. It was fun, diverting, and much better than some adaptations of the franchise.

Saturday was our last day. We'd pack up, check out of the motel, and get hiking in as we made our way back to Maine. First stop, the Chairman of the Board, Mt Washington. If one isn't inclined to hiking, it is possible to ascend to the top using either the Auto Road or the Cog Railway. I've been on the Auto Road before many times, never as the driver though, but this time Ben wanted to ride the rail. It's a fun ride, though not cheap. Going slowly up three miles of track, great views of the surrounding mountains and hitting the steep part where you do kinda hope the brakes are good. It is actually a safe ride, the carriage car is always higher than the engine and isn't even connected to it. So if the engine falls off the rails, it wont pull the coach with it like in fiction. And the conductor has control of the brakes and can stop the car manually. They stagger the schedule with at least three trains at a time, with a little side track to let another train pass. Part of the appeal I think, besides the old-fashionedness, is the angle. You feel like you're rightside up and the world is tilted. There's even a small shack part way up. On the wall facing the track is a board nailed at a funny angle. Nope. The board is level, we're the ones leaning.

At the summit we had a short time before the return trip. There was some fog obscuring visibility, but we'd been there many times before so we just wandered around the rocky top and summit building. And it was in the summit building I saw the most interestingly dressed people of the entire trip. Most people on vacation tend to shed the skin of their everyday life. Here they're tourists, campers and hikers. The lady wearing shorts, muddy boots and a 10lb pack? When she isn't hiking the Appalachian Trail she might be a waitress or an investment banker. But some people, usually for religious reasons, wear something that identifies a part of who they are. I saw several men wearing kippahs and tzitzits (Jewish skullcaps and tassels) and our fellow passengers up the Cannon Mt tram were some Amish men and women (though they could have been Mennonite). It was a bit surprising to me. Not that they can't enjoy the wonders of nature, I don't normally think of Amish as the sort to take vacations. And then there's me. A man often wearing a shirt for a cartoon show, usually wearing a studded band on one wrist and a leather wolf band on the other. Also, as mentioned earlier, wearing a cap from that same show with two large red ears stuck to it. Not just proclaiming I'm a Brony, but probably also that I'm a geeky dork. I didn't take any photos of the Amish vacationers, I try to maintain a live and let live approach, respect their privacy, and if I mention them, it's not too implausible. But these next guys, I knew I'd have to get a photo or no one would believe me. Three gentlemen wearing dresses, beaded necklaces, and one with a boa. They consented to having their picture taken, with a fourth member of their party, a normally dressed woman. As for why they dressed that way, it became apparent when one of them handed me a business card to get a copy of the photo. They're part of HIKE for Mental Health, a group that raises awareness, and money, for mental illness causes using sponsored hiking. These men wore silly dressed specifically to be noticed for their cause, and damn if it didn't work cause it caught the attention of a guy wearing ears on his hat.

We needed one more hike to round out the trip and picked Kedron Flume on Mt Willey, a decently strenuous hike up to a beautiful waterfall. We were a bit exhausted after this, having put in so much hiking and walking in a couple of days. We called it good and headed east back home. It was a great couple of days and I definitely want to return. I think it would be great to have a furmeet at Polar Caves or Lost River, bunch of suiters crawling around some caves, having fun. I, of course, took several photos and video during the trip and they can be seen on my galleries, links on the profile page.

[x-posted to LiveJournal & FA & DA]