Franconia Notch State Park is located in the heart of the White Mountain National Forest and about 1 hour north of the state capital, Concord, NH. Franconia Notch is a spectacular mountain pass traversed by a unique parkway which extends from the Flume Gorge at the south to Echo Lake at the north. For eight miles, I-93 winds between the high peaks of the Kinsman and Franconia mountain ranges. The park offers a wide range of activities from swimming at Echo Lake to trout fishing at Profile Lake, to riding a bike on the Recreational Trail, to hiking the Appalachian Trail, to camping, and to riding the aerial tramway at Cannon Mountain.
A tale of two cities….
I decided to start my adventure visiting the famous Flume Gorge. Oh boy – where do I begin?! For starters there is a fee to visit this area – $18.00, plus a processing fee of $1.00! I understand the need to support parks, but I also have a disdain for high park fees, which limit park accessibility to those less fortunate and in my opinion these parks in essence become elitist. You also have to select a date and time for entry. This limits the number of people who are in the area at one time. Anyway, I paid my money and went in, your welcome State of New Hampshire. What I didn’t expect, were the amount of “city folk” in this section of the park, who honestly had a high disregard for the environment around them. More to come on this front.
The trail is a relatively easy 2-mile loop (one-way), with some inclines and stairs, but nothing too difficult. It is a well maintained trail (which I would expect for $19!). So, the first major site is the Great Boulder – it’s a big rock, but there is some history with it.
Pictures: History about the Glacial Boulders | The Great Boulder
Soon after the Great Boulder, the trail begins the one-way direction to the right. Shortly after this turn you’ll see one of the famous covered bridges that New Hampshire is known for, spanning the Pemigewasset River. (Say that 5-times fast!)
Pictures: Covered Bridge | Pemigewasset River
Next up, Table Rock. This is a super cool flat rock that would be awesome to ride down, only if you could!
Pictures: Table Rock
You’re not a model….
Next up the famous Flume Gorge – which I will admit was pretty cool. It was formed nearly 200 million years ago during the Jurassic Period and was discovered in 1808 by 93-year-old “Aunt” Jess Guernsey when she accidently came upon it while fishing. Pretty cool, but enter in the city folk – if I go to one more park and get behind girls who think they are one of the Jenners and decide it’s time for an Instagram photoshoot, I may go postal. And you know the pose they do – they look at the gorge and turn their head back to the camera as if they are a super model. News flash – nobody cares and you’re not!
Pictures: Flume Gorge (sans super models)
As you exit the narrow portion of the gorge, you come up Avalanche Falls. I did take an opportunity to take a selfie – but rest assured, no one waited as I took my picture. (And yes I do look like a super model – lol)
Pictures: Avalanche Falls | My quick selfie
Some cool parts of the “city” (Tale of Two Cities)…
As you continue on the loop, you’ll come across Bear Cave, then cross the Pemigewasset River again.
Pictures: Bear Cave | Pemigewasset River
It was around this point, where I came across the next group of “city folk” – it looked like a couple of families – who were loud, obnoxious and their kids were running everywhere. In reality, I can get past all of this, but there is more to come . . .
I took the short detour to Liberty Gorge – where you can see the gorge and the Pool. The pool is surrounded by 80-foot cliffs, is 150-feet in diameter and 40-feet deep. I bet it would be a great place to swim on a hot summers day!
Pictures: Liberty Gorge | The Pool
As the trail winds around the pool, you cross a covered foot bridge. I waited for the city folk to clear the bridge, which seemed like an eternity.
Pictures: Covered Foot Bridge
Please go back to the city…
The Wolf’s Den was next, which I don’t have pictures of, thanks in part to the city folk. One of the fathers – Mr. Macho in his white tank top and knee-length jean shorts, decided to crawl up through the crack in the rocks – ignoring signs about the fragile eco-system in the area. Way to set a good example for your kids, dude. His wife was half terrified and half amused. Me – I was just thinking – go back to the city.
As you finish the loop, there is view point where you can see Mount Liberty, Mount Flume and Mount Osseo. Then you’ll come across more glacial rocks. I loved the tree growing around one of the rocks.
Pictures: Mount Liberty, Mount Flume and Mount Osseo | Glacial Rocks
I finished up this hike in the visitor center, ate a little snack and headed to the Lonesome Lake Trail.
Lonesome Lake Trail
I drove to the trailhead, which is near the Lafayette Place Campground and has a parking lot. I enjoyed my hike along the Lonesome Lake Trail, but again, ran into some city folk. The trail is 3-miles up, around the lake and back. It has a pretty good elevation change of 1,030 feet, so be prepared for a good cardio workout at the beginning. As you start your hike, you cross the Pemigewasset River, yet again, but at this point it is a much smaller river. You then hike up through the campground, then being the ascent up the hill to Lonesome Lake (cardio workout portion). On your ascent, you will come across some streams that feed into the Pemigewasset River.
Pictures: Pemigewasset River | Stream feeding into the Pemigewasset River
As I hiked to the lake, I was a bit worried as I had read on the park website and there were also signs posted about a portion of the trail being closed around the lake due to flooding. But as I passed other hikers, I asked them where they had been and if any portion of the trail had been closed. I was happy to learn that there were no trail closures. Lonesome Lake is a beautiful lake and away from the noise of I-93, which was nice.
Pictures: Lonesome Lake | Another Selfie
Enter in the City Folk…
The area around the lake is swampy, and for the most part this is not an issue as there are raised “walkways” in the wetter areas. This is generally not an issue and easy to navigate, that is unless you have to pass someone. Hopefully they are polite and wait if you are already on the walkway, but with city folk, that wasn’t always the case. I had more than one standoff on the walkways, but found a way to allow them to pass.
Around the backside of the lake is a camp, and an area that is easy to access the lake and swim. There was a group of girls swimming and they looked like they were having fun. If I were better prepared, I probably would have gone swimming as well.
Pictures: Raised Walkway | Swimming Area
As I rounded the lake, near the area which I thought was closed, I ran into my next group of city folk. It was a group of younger adults with a dog – which I have no issue with – however their dog was a bit aggressive and not on a leash. Don’t get me wrong, I love taking my dog on a hike sans-leash, but when I would come upon other hikers, I would put her on a leash. It’s about being courteous to others – in my opinion. I was able to maneuver around the dog as they yelled at it to behave itself.
At this point, I headed back down the hill. On my way through the campground I did pass the bathroom and shower area. I decided to check it out and it was a pretty nice facility. Good to know if I am in the area again and want to camp.
Franconia Notch State Park, despite all the city folk, was a really nice park. Next time, I’d probably explore some of the less traveled trails – those with significant elevation changes and with more distance. (map below) And for those who haven’t visited yet, you need to determine if the steep fee for Flume Gorge is worth it.
Date of Visit: 14 July 2023
