Franconia

2026-08-06
Franconia, NH

We are back at the Franconia Inn. We stayed here a few years ago when I had some health issues and we couldn't do the whole Nova Scotia vacation. Since I dusted out the same itinerary, it still ended with three nights here in New Hampshire. It's actually kind of nice knowing something about the area where we are staying.

Flume Gorge is a pretty well-known hike in the area, and they charge $21 per person to hike it. I have to admit, for that price I was expecting Wedway People Movers and escalators rather than paths and stairs.

The gorge itself is narrow but deep, at about 15 or so feet wide but maybe 90 feet deep in places. The geology is a combination of earlier granite and later basalt, plus a lot of erosion as usual. The path goes right through the gorge so you can see the ferns and trees continuing the erosion today.

They talk a lot about a large boulder that was wedged in gorge but was dislodged in a big storm that triggered a landslide and dislodged the boulder. Said boulder has never been found. How do you lose a 10 foot diameter boulder? The same landslide gave us Avalanche Falls.

A bit further up the trail is Liberty Falls, named because it comes down Liberty Mountain.

The soil here is thin, and seeds will try to root wherever they land. Trees on rocks are surprisingly common here. I think in most places they have to struggle so much that the competition beats them most of the time, but here everyone struggles a bit more.

Between the two hikes of the day, we got to drive up and down the highway. Interstate 93 is a bit odd as it goes through Franconia Notch; first, it's only one lane in either direction, and second, most of the exits are parking lots. In the Notch there are two exits - about 6.5 miles apart - that you can use to make u-turns if the parking lot / trail head you want is on the other side of the road. Due to the vagaries of the GPS given coordinates by Alltrails and some dubious suggestions of "overflow lots" (I don't think that means what they think it means) we got to circle the exits a couple of times. We got to the right place though.

The next hike of the day was Lonesome Lake. We did 3.8 miles and 1039 feet of climb to get to the lake from the parking area (which was an exit on I-93). It was pretty much uphill to the lake, but the loop around the lake was flat. In fact, lakes are notoriously flat.

There is also a hut at the top where you can buy some food or beverages. Next to the hut are a couple bunkhouses for people traveling the Appalachian Trail. I have to say that not every trail comes with a snack bar. Also, this was pretty much the only picture worth taking as we looped around the lake.

That pretty much finished us for the day. Home may have rocky trails so they feel familiar, but we don't have the long climbs so we aren't used to it. Also, a big difference between Canada and New England is the temperature. It is 10 or so degrees F hotter here, and it makes a big difference going from 70 to 83 F. To be fair, the Canadians complained about it being a cold summer for them, but I loved it.

Driving Distance: 27 miles
Hiking Distance: 6.4 miles