The White Mountains

We had a short 2 hour drive to get to New Hampshire where we were staying at the Lafayette Campground in Franconia Notch. The campground is nestled in the White Mountains. When checking in we were warned to keep food secure as there are 2 bears who have been seen in the area the past couple days. The campground had no power or water so we were using our freshwater tank, the power from our batteries and solar panels, and we had an empty gray and black tank. This made the setup very easy as we only had to push the slide out, X-Chocks on, and pull out only the necessary items as we were only here for 2 days. I had purchased tickets to hike Flume Gorge so we headed out around 3:30 for our 4pm start time. 

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Pulling into the parking lot we were a bit confused on where we needed to go but as usual we found our way. We check in with the attendant who gives us the details of the trail and off we go. This place was pretty interesting. The trail begins with large boulder and rocks that are all formed from glaciers that passed many many years ago.
​As we continue, the trail begins to get more green and moss covers all over the ground. You then approach a walking covered bridge that crosses over a beautiful waterfall. This was just the beginning. The next falls there was a viewing platform. The sun was shining from behind which created a shadow of Chris and I on the tree. We had fun taking this picture. 

Further along there is a grand waterfall that you cross over just up the walk. Once over the bridge there are stairs that lead you down the other side of the waterfall that are butted against a cliff than crosses over the river to the other side. The cliffs rocks have their own little falls trickling over it. You continue down the stairs between 2 rock cliffs with the river is running beside you. The sun shines so lightly through the trees creating wonderful rainbows on the light running falls from the cliffs. It was just amazing. We continue down the trails with a few more falls and we make it to the end. 
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We head back to the campground to make dinner, get comfy clothes on and relax. We set up the propane fireplace and sit to enjoy the sun set behind the mountain causing the sky to glow blue in the dusk. We turn in early as we know the next day is going to be a bit longer with the hike we have planned. ​

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We are up early as we want to get going before the crowds get too busy. That didn't work. The trailhead is a walk from our campsite through a tunnel under the main road. We are greeted by a ranger who is asking what trail we are taking and making sure we are prepared with water, snacks and wind breakers as the wind getting rough up on the ridge. We let him know we are all prepared and so we start up Falling Waters Trail.

The trail starts off as any typical hike but within the first mile you see an amazing waterfall. As I said we did not beat the crowd so we kept on to try to ditch all the people that were enjoying the beautiful view. Just up ahead I see this girl sitting and a guy standing in front of her but from the angle I was as it looked as she was doing something inappropriate to do in public. I laughed and showed Chris. We are about to pass the couple and I have to mention how it looked from where I was standing. They laughed and we chatted a bit while continue up the mountain. We ended continuing on until they stopped to enjoy another waterfall we had come across. 

About half way up we noticed that this trail was much different from Vermont trails that has many switchbacks, this trail just went straight up. The Alltrails showed the hike to be a 5.7 mile out & back so when we already past half the mileage and not at the top Chris was getting frustrated as he had expected we be at summit by now. We then see a man coming down so I ask how much further. He says, "probably a half hour"....oh man did Chris lose it. I calm him down and suggest he have a drink and a snack. He does which gives him some energy and we carry on. As I expected, the 30 minutes the man mentioned, we ended up at summit within 15 minutes.  Never the less, the climb was so worth the reward. 

There were mountains on mountains for miles and miles. The top of this trail ended up connecting to the Appalachian Trail (AT) so we saw a few people that were thru hiking. This means they started hiking in Springer Mountain in Georgia and were in New Hampshire to have a final destination at Mount Katahdin in Maine. They pass through 14 states and walk over 2200 miles. I can only image what that journey must be like. I have nothing full time RV living in comparison to what they are doing! We could have kept going and summited 2 more peaks which would have been over 11 miles that day but we had decided before we even started hiking that we are going to keep it to up and back. 

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The couple we had chatted with on the trail made summit just after us. I asked if they would like me to take their photos and exchanged they offered to take ours. We exchanged social media information and they carried on to complete the remaining summits. Chris and I enjoyed our sandwiches and cold beer just behind a rock to block the wind. After the break and needed energy we knew it was time to start our hike back down. Due to trying to get away from the crowd I didn't take any pictures on the way up so on the way down we stopped to capture pictures of all the wonderful falls that went parallel to the trail. After 7 miles were were finally at the base and ready to get back to our campsite, shower and have a nice cold cocktail. 

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That evening we were exhausted but it was too early to go to bed just yet so we walked around the campground to check it out. We stopped at the office to look around. In there, we found a great sticker in the shape of New Hampshire so we decided to get it so we could put it on our slide. In each state we are going to get a sticker to add to the slide. Once back it was time to go in and hit the hay, I was beat 🫠. I also knew the next morning was a travel day and we had the longest drive we had done so far ahead of us. ​

We wake early, and hang outside to enjoy our coffee (me) and mimosa (Chris) talking about our first stop along this journey. We wanted to be on the road by 9 a.m. so I made breakfast then it was time to shower and get the show on the road. We had an easy pickup since we didn't have anything to disconnect and minimal to put away. Once all was set we headed out to start our 6-hour drive to get to Maine. 

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