The White Mountains, August 7

Sunday was a drizzly,  overcast day, so plans to drive up to Mt. Washington were scratched.  No worries, though, because there are so many water falls and short hikes to do along some of the scenic by- ways that the day was packed full of beautiful scenes. We took many short hikes and explored the area.

The first stop of the morning was at The Wild Cat ski area.  A gondola runs in the summer for those that want a scenic view of Washington Valley, but that was not in the plans today due to the overcast. There is a nice nature trail that leaves from the lodge that goes to the  Thompson Waterfalls. It's just a short hike from the ski area.  It was misting most of the way but the trees gave quite a bit of shelter so we didn't get soaking wet.  The falls are pretty, and if you like to boulder hop, this is the place, although a little dangerous today with all of the mist.  Some of those boulders were pretty slippery.

I've notices that a lot of the trees have fungi growing on them.  I've never seen black fungi growing on a tree before.

Next we headed to Glen Ellis Falls.  Again, this was another short hike from a well marked trail head. The falls are spectacular.  There are 150 steps down so there is a bit of a pay back coming back up :)

Then we headed over to Cathedral Ledge View point.  Cathedral Ledge is a popular climbing rock, but there wasn't much rock climbing on this misty, foggy day.

Washington Valley below the ledge.

The day continued to rain gently off on and , but that didn't stop us from continuing on until we found:

This one is for our WIN friend Diana who is spending the summer out West. I bet she didn't know there were baths and cascades named after her. :)There are lots of cascades with lots of pools. It was a popular place for families, even on a rainy day like today.

These young adults were really enjoying playing in the water.

We drove part of Kancamagus Highway or "Kank" to the Rocky Gorge.  It's a pretty little gorge.  I sure wouldn't want to be Kayaking down the swift river and not have any warning about the rapids!

There is a nice viewing bridge across the river that serves as a great viewing point.

We  ended our day with a stop at Lower Falls.  It was pretty crowded, mostly because it is right off the highway and there is a nice beach and a fun place for families. Its like having a natural water park.  There were lots of water slides and pools to swim in.

These kids were having a blast.

And on a different water slide this  teenager was having a lot of fun.

It was a great day with lot of scenery.  My biggest challenge was picking out the best pictures to post.  I think I took over 200 photos. We only drove about 1/3 of the scenic loop.  One could spend a week driving the 100 mile loop because there are so many interesting pull offs and hikes.

Well, the weather doesn't look to good tomorrow for a Mt. Washington trip, but stay posted.  We may end up staying in the area a little longer than planned.