From there I continued on to the upper falls, a far cry from the last time I was here after a few inches of rain back on the 4th of July. I came across an unofficial trail I hadn't noticed before but didn't have time to follow it across the river. Instead I carried on past all the falls I'd remembered seeing on previous visits and then cutting into the woods to pick up the snowmobile trail. The trail quickly brought me to the edge of Bog Eddy where I got some magnificent views of the Kinsmans and Franconia Ridge. I was blown away but unfortunately my battery died while taking pictures. I continued on but ran out of time, knowing I had to get back to the hotel before checkout time.
I had to go back to Stark Falls to get some measurements and explore the area a little more for the book. The brook was running pretty low today which made measuring easier, as well as rock hopping upstream. Last time I stopped pretty early on but today I went a bit further and am glad I did, there are some amazing waterfalls up there.
Just as I got to a really nice cascade falling into an emerald green pool, the battery on my backup camera died as well so it was time to turn around. I did manage to capture a couple pictures with my phone and gps though. I even stumbled upon an old trail or logging road which made my return trip a little easier. But just a little, it was quite overgrown.
I was starving by this point, as was Jaime, so we headed into town for lunch where we got some McDonalds and GH Pizza and ate it at Boise Rock overlooking the Cannon Cliffs. I had a Big Mac and fries and gyro, that was one hell of a lunch. From there I went up the Lafayette Brook a short ways to check out the old road there for my waterfall book but decided not to go all the way out to the falls again. I probably should have for exact measurements but I was running short on time. So we headed on over to Crawford Notch while my cameras charged. While writing my chapter on the Avalon Falls I realized I needed measurements and wanted to explore up a little higher. Jaime accompanied me for part of this one. She stopped at the brook and read while I continued on.
Let me tell you, standing at the top of a waterfall, trying to get my tape measure to go all the way down through the rushing water is not easy. Neither is getting it to come back up for that matter. And wouldn't you know they all turned out to be the same height. I never mind seeing the Fall Of Avalon though.
I carried on upstream this time where there were a number of smaller falls, some of which were absolutely gorgeous. The pools were so clear I could see the rocks at the bottom, some even had a greenish hue to them which was truly stunning. At the trail crossing I decided to call it quits and made my way back down, actually using the trail for once.
To be quite honest, I was ready to be done, running up and down mountains the past three days has my body feeling a bit sore. It's been a month since I've done any hiking. We stopped in Gorham on our way home but weren't hungry yet so we just picked up a gyro for a friend and headed on back. We picked up some Pizza Hut in Bangor and ate it all, starving by the tie we got home a little after 10:00, which is rather early for us. Boy am I glad I have tomorrow to recuperate because I am limping like crazy and my legs are shredded to hell from all this bushwhacking. Worth every second of it.
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