A fun hike amidst geological marvels – a must-see when you visit New Hampshire.

The hike will take you through dramatic volcanic and glacial wonders in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with interesting stops and unusual views. It can be a little difficult in places because it involves uphill walking, slopes and a lot of stairs.

You will start the hike at the Flume Gorge Visitor Centre located north of Lincoln in the Franconia Notch State Park of New Hampshire in USA. The visitor centre itself is quite nice with a small movie theatre (playing the history of Flume Gorge), a good cafeteria, washrooms, some historical displays and a gift shop. There is plenty of parking and well-marked signposts throughout this hike.

Follow the flume path that takes you through many points of interest such as giant boulders, two covered bridges, a pool, the Flume gorge and Avalanche waterfalls, Liberty gorge, bear cave and a Wolf den. There are a couple of rain shelters en route with benches which are ideal for taking breaks.

The walk is about 2 miles and would take about an hour and half for fast hikers. We took our time, pausing here and there and taking photographs, and stretched it almost to three hours.

The highlights from the trail as we walked along the Flume path are:

The Glacial Boulder

As you start downhill on the path, you will come across an enormous Glacial Boulder. There are many such boulders in the hiking path – the biggest probably weighing as much as 300 tons.

Some 25,000 years ago during the last Ice age, a huge Ice sheet, a mile or more in thickness, had built up in this area. When it eventually began to move, it ground the underlying rock to create many boulders, big and small. When the weather warmed up and all the ice was finally gone these boulders, called Glacial erratics, were left behind.

Glacial Boulder
Boulder with tree roots around it

We found some unique boulders with roots of huge trees wrapped around them!  How that could have happened is beyond our understanding, but it sure looks quite unusual.

The Flume Covered Bridge

Flume covered bridge

 

 A bit further came the colorful and picturesque bridge across the Pemigewasset River. It is said to have been restored many times after it was built in 1886. ‘Pemigewasset’ means ‘rapid current’ in Abenaki Indian language.

A word about covered bridges.  No, they were not built with roofs to protect the travellers, but the bridges. In the past bridges were made entirely of wood, and they would rot away in a few years if left exposed to rain and snow. Hence a roof was essential to make the bridge last for up to 20 years.

We stopped here and walked around and through the bridge admiring the views and taking photos.

Boulder Cabin

This cabin has some exhibits and some informative pamphlets and a rest room.

Boulder Cabin

There is a very curious photograph of a huge boulder suspended in the air between two vertical cliff walls. Later in the hike you will see the spot where the photo had been taken, but alas – there is no boulder.  It had been washed away in a heavy rainstorm way back in 1883.

Inside the Boulder cabin

Table Rock

Table rock - vertical view

As your walk further along the path there is the Table Rock.

Here, the Conway granite is 500 ft long and 75 ft wide. Over many years, the rushing waters of the Flume brook has exposed this large rocky place. Caution: It is slippery to climb on the rocks.

It is a very peaceful place to just stand and admire the water rushing over the rocks.

Flume brook flowing over Table Rock

Flume Gorge

Now comes the uphill path, stairs and a boardwalk to the giant gorge, about 800 ft in length. The Conway granite wall rises to a towering height of 70 feet. The steep stairs and boardwalk make it easier for visitors to look closer at the falls, flora and fauna around.

Flume gorge and stairs view

Some 200 million years ago the area was covered by molten granite which cooled over time, and during this process vertical cracks developed at various places.  Later on, molten basalt was forced up into these cracks by the tremendous pressure of molten rock deep below the earth’s crust. These intrusions were called dikes.

After everything had cooled and settled down, water from rain and snow began the slow but inexorable process of entering the myriad cracks and wearing out the rocks. The basalt in the dikes wore out faster than the surrounding granite, and gorges began to be formed, growing steadily over time.

Flume Gorge stairs and path

More detailed history can be found at the Flume Gorge website. 

Avalanche Falls

The boardwalk to the gorge goes further and takes you to a thundering 45 feet waterfall as the Flume brook enters the gorge.

We found it a spectacular sight – you can look down and see the rushing water below your feet. It is actually very close as if you can reach out and touch the falls at the end of the boardwalk. The views and atmosphere are incredible. It is the perfect place to just stand and watch apart from taking photos but there is usually a queue of people waiting to take your spot and you have to move on.

Avalanche falls
At Flume gorge path

The great storm of 1883, which washed away the hanging boulder mentioned earlier, also forced aside the surrounding boulders to create the avalanche falls.

.

Avalanche falls - side view
Bear Cave

Bear Cave

There is an interesting Bear cave signposted just after the falls en route to the Liberty Gorge.

 

Liberty Gorge

Now, you go downhill quite a bit until you reach the Liberty Gorge – a cascading stream flowing through the narrow valley.

Liberty Gorge

Sentinel Pine Bridge and Pool

You will come to a deep basin in the Pemigewasset River – 40 ft deep and 150 ft in diameter – surrounded by giant cliffs. The water in this pool cascades over the granite that fell from the cliffs.  You can cross the river on – what else? – a covered bridge!

A gigantic pine tree, named the Sentinel Pine, said to be 16 ft in circumference and about 175 ft high, had stood on the cliffs for many years. This giant pine was uprooted during a hurricane in 1938 and today, the tree trunk bridges the river and forms the base of the Sentinel covered bridge.

The Pool
Sentinel bridge front view
Sentinel Pine bridge - side view

We walked through the bridge and took in some lovely views of the pool.

Wolf Den

This is a tunnel of sorts which, quite possibly, was the abode of wolves at some point of time. You can enter from below and exit at the top, crawling all the way.  Definitely not for us, though!

Beyond this point, it is a long wildwood path finally leading to the Visitor centre. There are many boulders in this path, one with tree roots all around it.

After this great hike and views, we had some coffee at the visitor centre cafeteria. I must mention here that the cafeteria – called Lafayette Food Court – offers a number of ‘healthy’ options including bananas and vegan snacks in addition to burgers, sandwiches and soups.

If you happen to be driving around in New Hampshire, do take time out to take in the Flume Gorge hike. You will love it!

A Fun Hike to Flume Gorge Pin
Flume gorge images

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