Vacation (Day Ten) Follow The River

    We started the day by getting sandwiches at the bagel place for brunch. At first I was worried because Jaime’s favorite, The Lumberjack, was no longer on the menu but luckily they still have it, its just no longer listed. Even at the end of September this town is still packed, especially on the weekends, the bagel place was mobbed and some of the breakfast restaurants actually had lines out the door waiting for a table.

    Our regular eating spot at the base of Loon Mountain looking over the river was under construction, something to do with the bridge they’ve been working on, so we went to Fay Wayside picnic area just down the road and had breakfast at a picnic table overlooking the river.

    From there we went through the notch to the old memorial bridge over Lafayette Brook, where I’d be starting my bushwhack from. I’d been beneath the bridge a couple times and explored the area directly underneath it but never went upstream before so I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d read it was thick woods with steep embankments and hard to travel but that there was a waterfall up quite a ways. Jaime brought her tablet and magazines to keep her occupied while I explored.

    I made my way down the steep embankment to the river and climbed over the giant granite blocks left over from building the bridge. There was a log in between the blocks that I had to watch out for because it was still wet from last nights frost. But my foot slipped anyway and down between two of the granite blocks it went, banging off the edge, leaving a bunch of my skin on the corner of the stone while bruising my shin. I knew it was bad right away but didn’t want to have to quit before today’s adventure even began, especially since I knew it was slippery before my foot hit the log. It would have been much worse if I weren’t expecting it. Luckily I was using my arms to hold myself up rather than my legs.



    So I washed off the blood in the river and started rock hopping up stream. Lafayette Brook was low enough to travel up the streambed rather than bushwhack beside it. I broke myself off a walking stick early on to help me with stream crossings since my right leg was all banged up and burning like hell. I splashed water on it a few times to cool it off, knowing I’d have to clean it and put medicine on it as soon as I got back.

    The brook was proving to be rather boring, nothing more than small rapids, waterfalls suitable for my action figures but nothing for me. Still I continued on, knowing there was something up ahead, sure of it. Finally in the distance I spotted sunlight through the trees that I could tell was a rock ledge. After already climbing to the top of giant fractured boulder and not getting a view I was iffy about going up another rather dangerous climb.

    As I approached the cliff, I noticed something else up ahead, white. Waterfall. I could hear it faintly and quickened my pace, knowing this is what I was searching for. It didn’t disappoint. The waterfall was amazing, probably a total of thirty feet or so with three different drops, two of them being shoots that the water poured down like a waterslide before dropping off a fifteen foot cliff at the end. There was a tall semicircle cut out of the rock beside the cascade, clearly carved out by water long ago.

    I climbed up beside the falls to get views from above. There were big bowls on the two upper levels of the cascade, probably eight feet deep that the water swirled around in. There was also a slab cave on the opposite side of the falls that I would love to get into but the mouth of it would be too wet to safely get inside. I could have crossed the brook to get a better look but was running out of time so I decided not to, figuring it wouldn’t be worth it anyway. Next time I’ll see if I can check out the little waterfall cave and maybe scale those ledges as well to see if there’s a view from the top.



    After taking plenty of pictures I began my return journey. Along my journey, not far from the falls I found what I believe to be the jawbone of a moose with some of its teeth still intact. Its clearly a little old because there is moss growing on parts of it but still an awesome find. I also came across an old foundation along the brook. I remember reading somewhere that there was some sort of water treatment plant along Lafayette Brook long ago and parts of it still remained. There were also rusted metal pipes along the entire brook, right up to the falls, some of them broken and dangling or piled up with sticks in dams of logs. The rest of my trip back was uneventful but my shin did start bothering me more, I was looking forward to getting back to the car to put some antibiotic ointment on it. Plus my sweat was really beginning to pour.

    There was a busload of seniors at the bridge when I finally emerged from the trees, bloody, sweaty and scratched to hell. A couple of them asked where I had been and what was out there. I wrongfully informed them there was a waterfall a mile to a mile and a half out there. Well it turns out its only 0.7 miles out, it just felt a lot longer. I sure did look like I’d done a few miles though. It wouldn’t have been nearly as bad had I not gotten injured right at the start.

    Jaime still wanted to see the pretty cascade on Whitehouse Brook just past the Basin so we stopped there and made the half mile journey to it. My leg held up fine but every branch we passed seemed to want to rub against it. Before long we hit Whitehouse Brook and rock hopped up it a short ways to the falls. Jaime was glad she made it and wanted to go farther but found the rock hopping rather difficult so we stopped there and made our way back.


    On our way through Franconia Notch we stopped along the road to watch a female moose eating beside the highway. People were honking at her, trying to get her away from the road but she wasn’t fazed the least bit by their horns and continued munching on grass. We got some great pictures of her and luckily other drivers noticed her and stopped to block traffic so she wouldn’t get hit. Eventually she got tired of cars gawking at her and headed off into the woods.

    Back at the hotel I washed my bruised and cut leg thoroughly in the shower before applying more ointment which brought me pretty close to tears but after a little while it started to feel better. We drove to the Whale’s Tale parking lot just a little ways down the street in order to watch the lunar eclipse. I attempted to photograph it using my tripod but the camera I adopted from Jaime had stopped working after my Lafayette Falls hike so I had to use my old one. Its limited settings didn’t offer varying shutter speeds so the pictures came out kind of cool but not as good as they would have with the blue camera. Oh well, it was still cool to see. I’m not anticipating a good nights sleep tonight, the blankets rubbing against my shin aren’t feeling the best but I don’t care, it was well worth it.