Leaf Peepin'

I was up in the White Mountains this weekend and was able to visit Franconia Notch State Park. This used to be the home of The Old Man of the Mountain, the New Hampshire state symbol found on their license plates, road signs, state quarter, etc., until the rock formation collapsed in 2003. Nowadays the Flume Gorge is the main attraction there. It's a narrow opening in the mountain with a waterfall at the top. Though Native Americans undoubtedly knew the place, it was unknown to settlers until it was discovered in 1808 by 93-year-old "Aunt Jess" Guernsey, who was looking for a fishing spot. They didn't believe her story at first, but eventually the natural wonder became famous.

Here's a series of snapshots I took along the trail up to the flume and down via a loop going through Liberty Gorge back towards the visitor center, crossing the Pemigewasset River, Flume Brook, and Cascade Brook. It got a bit dicey climbing the slippery, uneven steps (with water rushing by underneath) up to the top, but we made it, and the trip was well worth it.























































Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.













Evan has more pics on his blog.