Waterfalls and Waterfowl

Vermont Adventure
Day 4
Part 2

After coming down from the top of Mt. Washington and enjoying our lunch on the deck of the Glen View Café, we headed back up Rt. 16 to Gorham to go in a couple of shops we had seen. we didn’t find a single thing to buy and since we still had plenty of daylight and energy left, we decided to head back south on Rt. 16 to Rt. 302 which cuts almost through the middle of the White Mountain National Forest and would take us kind of around the western side of Mt. Washington.

What a gorgeous drive and we found plenty of places to stop along the way!

The first place that really caught our eye was this granite cliff face near Crawford Notch.

Granite cliffs

Unfortunately, the pull off was a bit too close to the cliff, and with the trees so tall, it was hard to get a really good photo of it. Mark made the suggestion that I get on top of the FJ to see if that gave me enough height for a clearer view. It was just a bit better.

From a few more feet off the ground. 🙂

He decided to grab my phone and take a picture of me taking a picture while standing on top of the FJ!

The things I’ll do for a picture.

We could hear the babbling of rushing water so went to investigate and found this brook and waterfall.

Babbling brook

I am a huge lover of waterfalls!!! If I could have a house next to a brook with a waterfall, I would be happy forever! I am finding taking good photos of waterfalls is a huge challenge and one I am a long way from mastering. Photos just can’t do rushing water justice, but trust me, it was very pretty.

Rushing merrily on.

I couldn’t resist taking off my hiking boots and sticking my toes in the cool water. It felt heavenly after all the hiking/climbing/walking we did.

Sticking my toes in.

Back in the car, we continued down the road and soon came to another lovely spot called Willey’s Pond. New Hampshire has breathtaking views every way you turn your head! It’s almost overwhelming to be surrounded by so much beauty and so many mountains.

Willey’s Pond

There were also very friendly ducks on Willey’s Pond and adorable babies. There was a footbridge and dam across the pond and it was outfitted with a little gumball type machine where you could buy a handful of duck food for a quarter, but Mark didn’t have any quarters in his pockets. 😦

Momma ducks and babies.

Juvenile…what?

Does anyone want to help identify these ducks? At first I assumed they were mallards, but this young cutie with the blue on his wings and white line near his eye, I have no idea what he might be and we didn’t bring our field guide with us. (My bad.)

Handsome paddler.

Ducks begging.

Adorable fuzzy babies – SQUEE!!

I took too many photos of this handsome fellow.

We spent a long time enjoying the scenery around the pond. This is all part of the Presidential Range and we were trying to figure out which peak was Mt. Jackson.

More beautiful mountains.

I zoomed in close on the granite outcropping.

Not too much farther down the road and we came upon the Silver Cascade, a very high and gorgeous waterfall. What a lovely sight! It was impossible to get the entire thing in the camera frame.

The Silver Cascade.

We decided to do a bit more climbing. Of course, we weren’t going to get all the way to the top, but we did go part way up, to where there was a lovely pool.

The middle part of the cascade.

A little better view as we climbed up higher.

Water falling into the pool.

A tiny bit better view.

Sorry if I got a bit carried away with the waterfall photos!  I was trying different settings and shutter speeds.  I have to admit on my computer I only see very minor differences between shots.

I did have Mark take a picture of me.  He doesn’t want photos of himself, but darn it, I want proof I was at all these lovely places – even if I do hate most photos of myself!  (And Mark can’t see very well through the camera and never thinks to zoom in. 🙂  )

Checking out the Silver Cascade. Beautiful!

I would have been happy to hang around the waterfall forever, but the day was quickly slipping away and we still had a ways to drive to get back to our motel in Lyndonville. We got off Rt. 302 at Twin Mountain and left the White Mountain National Forest behind as we drove north on Rt. 3 to Lancaster, right on the border with Vermont. We stopped at a little restaurant called Scorpio’s and enjoyed a relaxing dinner as we looked at the photos on my camera and discussed our day. I gave Mark a break from driving and drove the rest of the way back to our motel.

Words can never express what an amazing day we had — truly one of the best days of our lives and one that we will remember forever. Definitely the high point of our trip. Mark is already talking about going back. We left way too many trails unhiked!

Getting a bit tired from all these strenuous adventures?  Tomorrow we have a bit more relaxing day planned, but still something exciting!