Today’s Mission… Find some waterfalls

Today was all about hiking and finding some waterfalls to photograph. I decided to take the easy route and drove a short distance from North Conway to Diana’s Baths, a series of waterfalls that at one time powered a mill. What a great way to spend a morning! I trekked up a number of levels, taking pictures as I climbed. Beautiful and just what I needed after a long semester at school!

After Diana’s Baths, I decided to test my stamina and hike to Arethusa Falls via a side trip to photograph Bemis Falls and Coliseum Falls. About 2 miles uphill (talk about your natural stairmaster!) and some amazing falls with a few small woodland creatures thrown in for good measure. When I finally arrived at Arethusa Falls, I unfortunately found this massive falls brightly lit at the top with the middle deeply shaded. Needless to say I decided a full shot of the falls would not do. However, You’ll have to let me know if my other photographic efforts worked. Here’s a sample: 

Tomorrow, I am taking the Conway Scenic Railroad through the Mt. Washington Valley. Looking forward to it. In the meantime, checkout the gallery!

Cog Trains, Mountain Vistas and Waterfalls

Thursday began bright and early with a trip to the Mt. Washington Cog Train for a journey up to the peak – well sort of! When I arrived at the base of Mt. Washington, the 2nd highest peak east of the Mississippi and the highest in the Northeast at 6288 Ft., I found out the Cog train would only be going up 3/4 of the way. They were doing some maintenance work at the top and wanted to avoid tourists. Oh well, not a problem. I would get to ride on the first cog train designed to climb a mountain. It was really a great experience and very interesting. Check it out at 

https://www.thecog.com/.

On the way, we passed the Appalachian Trail and saw the stone cairns marking the trail since at that altitude, there are no trees. Unlike the West where I usually roam, the treeline here is at around 5000 feet. This is due to the extreme weather that hits Mt. Washington. A wind gust of 231 mph was recorded at the summit in 1934 and was the world record until a typhoon hit Australia in 1996 with a gust of 253 mph. And it can get really could here. Earlier this year they recorded a temperature of minus 35 degrees with the windchill at 90 below zero! Needless to say, it was a balmy 40 degrees or so with very little wind as we reached just below the summit. Great views, an interesting trip and a piece of history experienced.

After departing Mt. Washington, I set out in search of waterfalls. After a short drive and fairly short yet definitely not flat trek, I arrived at Ripley Falls. This beautiful falls was well worth the hike. A wonderful relaxing place to spend the afternoon!