I woke up before the alarm went off at 7:00 and started getting ready. I did good waking up so early, no stomach aches all day which I usually get when waking up that early. My parents met us at our hotel at 8:00 and we headed off to Grafton Notch.Our first stop of the day was Step Falls which my parents had never been to before. Jaime and I had been once during the spring of this year when the river was raging. It was extremely foggy this morning but began lifting by the time we started our hike around 9:00. The water was low but the falls were still impressive and we got to scale the ledges along the river rather than follow the upper part of the trail. Jaime did great climbing over boulders and hopping across the water. My parents loved the falls and we had fun, especially Jaime doing things I told her she probably wouldn’t be able to handle.
Next we went to Screw Auger Falls which were small as well but we went down to the bottom like I did last year and Jaime decided she had to go with me. We climbed the steep drop off using roots to get down while my parents explored above. Jaime hyper extended her knee on one of the drops but was still able to make it across the river and up into the gorge where we tight roped across logs and hopped across boulders.
Then we went up to Mother Walker Falls where we all rock hopped across the river to get down into the ravine beneath the trail. Jaime’s foot ended up in the water while crossing due to her injured knee. We all made it down to the waterfall in the cave that Jaime and I discovered last year but there was almost no water today. What little water there was fell behind the rock it usually flows over so you couldn’t even see the waterfall. It was fun exploring nonetheless.
We made our way up to Moose Cave where a butterfly crashed into Jaime’s forehead in the parking lot. Jaime has a fear of butterflies landing on her so this kind of validated her irrational fear. She recovered quickly from the assault and we did the short walk down to the rather unimpressive Moose Cave but we wanted my parents to see all the sites of Grafton Notch.
Hungry from the short hikes, we went back to the Screw Auger picnic area to eat lunch. Then we went up to the parking area for the Appalachian Trail. Jaime decided to sit this one out due to her injury so the three of us headed up but went the easier way this time using the Appalachian Trail rather than the Table Rock trail. It certainly wasn’t easy and was a little longer but not quite as steep. My parents hike a bit slower than my usual running of the trails which made it a little easier for me, still sweat like crazy though. Mom took a little spill near the top where the trail gets really steep. I used my hand to stop her knee from hitting the rock and scratched my middle finger up a bit in the process but she was alright and continued on.
The top was extremely windy and kind of scary. It’s called Table Rock because of its table like shape. From the road the rocky top is visible, it’s a giant slab of rock that overhangs off the edge of the cliff. Being slightly terrified of heights, I managed to get pretty close to the ledge but not too close considering the wind pushing us around the top of the mountain. But the strong winds did help in drying off our sweat rather quickly.
Mom stayed on top out of the wind in the tree line while Dad and I made our way down the steep trail to find the caves. It was pretty steep but I’ve done worse and found this trail to be rather fun. After just a few minutes we came to the caves which I remembered pretty accurately including the side of the trail they were on. What we forgot was how cool the rocks here were, being full of mica, quartz and black mica that all crumbled causing the caves to form.
The main cave we remembered had no easy way down into it twenty years ago and we were worried I wouldn’t be able to get out so I’ve been wanting to go back ever since to do what I couldn’t. This time I brought rope. But it wasn’t needed. A few large chunks of rock have since fallen into the cave, as well as a dead pine tree, the rocks made a sort of stairway that allowed us to walk right down into the cave. It truly was awesome and worth the twenty year wait. A hanging boulder at the entrance made for some cool pictures. The cave went in a little ways to a point where we needed to turn on our flashlights. I continued on, crawling over a crevice and squeezing into another chamber with light above it while Dad made his way out. I could have crawled up using roots and made it to the trail but didn’t want to scratch myself up on the pointy mica covered rock.On my way out I saw some other possible caves before noticing some spray paint on the rock wall that said ‘caves’ and had an arrow pointing under a wedged boulder. I crawled under it, then up through another cave with a rope tied to an above tree to hold onto for support and came to another crazy cave. This one looked like the cave I remembered seeing, much further down than the one I’d just crawled out of. There was a thick rope tied around a big rock to get down into it, a good fifteen feet down into the dark crevice. We didn’t want to keep the girls waiting so I didn’t climb down which I’m sure will haunt me again but hopefully not for the next twenty years. I’m not well versed in rope climbing and was worried it would take me awhile to get in and out of the cave. But we’re convinced we hadn’t seen that one last time because we didn’t remember going off trail, we both clearly remembered the cave being along the trail off to the left which is exactly what the cave we went into was. I’m pretty sure I would have remembered crawling under a hanging boulder and up rock ledges that require a rope to ascend. So that’s another life goal off my bucket list. We finally made it into the cave.
The three of us headed back down the way we came, the way we went down twenty years ago. Going down was much easier than going up. Beginning to end it took two and a half hours. Jaime was napping in the car when we got back.
We went back down the notch and pulled off shortly before Screw Auger Falls in order to find the lost Jail Falls. Jaime and I found the falls this past Spring and knew my parents would love it. The falls are directly off the road, you can even hear them from your open window but they’re no longer on the map and there is no trail down to them. Although just a couple hundred feet off the road, it is a very steep descent. Jaime waited at the car again as she was limping too much to make it down the ridiculously steep embankment. But Mom and Dad did good and we made it down to the falls. They weren’t raging like last time but this allowed me to rock hop across the brook to get a better view of the falls. Dad tried but had a little mishap and his foot ended up in the water. The rocks were extremely slippery in the dark mossy ravine but I made it without incident.
I also made it up into the ‘jail’, an old basin carved out by water with twenty foot walls. When we were here last time it was full of melting snow and ice which limited our ability to explore. It was wet in the jail but I made it around the whole thing, exploring all the little caves, dry waterfalls and old basins flowing in and out of the extraordinary natural feature mankind has forgotten about. The jail itself is so close to the road you could literally toss your trash out of the car window and it would fall into the ‘jail’. It really makes you wonder what else we are missing. Jail Falls and the Jail are like stepping into another world.We stopped at Mountain Fire Pizza and picked up some food for Mom, as well as a slice of cheesecake for Jaime, but Mom got jealous and got one for herself as well. Then me, Dad and Jaime ate at the Dynasty Chinese buffet. It was delicious. Not as much variety as I like in a buffet but its so good it doesn’t matter.
Tomorrow we’re going to Devil’s Hopyard, another failed attempt from years ago due to an incoming thunderstorm. From there we’re heading up to Dixville Notch and then back down to Gorham for our last night here before our longer stay in Lincoln.
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