It is a short hike (we did the loop trail, which is about 1.5 miles total), and the views are stunning, even on yet another drizzly day:īut, as for the easy part…it’s a very steep trail, with a lot of rocks to navigate. So we were looking for a shortish, easyish hike with great views, and everything I read online suggested that Artists Bluff was it! And, if you’re interested, you can squeeze through rock tunnels and whatnot: It’s a loop trail, so you go back a different way and see different things. You walk through the woods for awhile before getting to the gorge itself, but it’s a pleasant hike the whole way, with lots to see:Īfter awhile there’s a small building with exhibits and bathrooms where you can take a break:Īnd then it’s gorge time! Even on a rainy day, things got very crowded once we hit this part of the trail. Which I guess means there was more water flowing than usual. Recurring theme for the White Mountains (and, indeed, for much of our trip): we were there on a drizzly/rainy day. There are lots of steps and hills, but you’re stopping and looking at things all the time, so it’s not a particularly strenuous hike and should be a good one for most kids. And then you start on the 2 mile loop trail to the gorge and back. You start out at the visitor center, where you can buy tickets plus assorted food and souvenirs. So if you can only do ONE impressive gorge hike, that’s the one we recommend. I don’t want to say that it was worth it or not worth it, but I will say that a few weeks later we hiked in the similarly gorge-y Watkins Glen in New York, paid a $10 parking fee, and all of us liked it better than The Flume Gorge. Admission is $18 for adults and $16 for kids 6-12, so we paid $106 for the six of us to do the hike. We’re not used to paying a lot of money to do a hike, but I guess owing to New Hampshire’s lack of an income tax, the parks have to make money some other way. One thing to know about the Flume Gorge is that it’s pretty expensive. It’s a natural gorge with 90 foot high granite walls, and a hiking trail and boardwalk system take visitors through it, with lots of amazing views along the way. The Flume Gorge is, like the Grand Canyon, one of those places where erosion has made something really cool and impressive. Between that and the fact that it rained almost every day that we were there, we didn’t get as much hiking in the park accomplished as we’d intended.īut we did spend a morning at the Flume Gorge and another day hiking to Artist’s Bluff. We stayed very close to Franconia Notch State Park (at the Lincoln Woodstock KOA), but we spent a lot of our time there doing day trips to places farther out. I’ve got one more post about New Hampshire before we head over to Vermont. It’s that time of the year where I start to freak out about how much blogging is still left to do about last summer’s trip given how close this summer’s trip is getting! So time to pick up the pace! The good part of this is that…this summer’s trip is getting close! We’re excited! We found out a couple of weeks ago that the wonderful people who have been house sitting for us for the past few years aren’t able to come this year and had a bit of a panic…but now we have new house sitters lined up, so all is well again.ĪNYWAY.
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