Framedlight

  October was a good time to visit New Hampshire. The autumn colour was going strong. The weather was mild and the streams were full. Our final stops of the day were to some watery locations, not far from Pinkham Notch Visitor Centre. The first, the Crystal Cascades were well named and also quite peaceful with few people about. We followed the good path a short distance down from the car park to have a look at them. The water from the Ellis River falls a total of 100 ft in two stages. There is a bridge crossing the falls where you can look down on them. Further down stream on the Ellis River is Ellis Falls with a vertical drop of 64ft. This is only a short drive from the Crystal Cascades. It was then time to drive back to spend our last night in Huttopia. This time we spent even longer looking for our hut, as it was darker than the night before. We had bought sausages, and so we lit the camp fire and cooked them on the barbecue. By this time I had started to cough, but I tried to put a

 A notch in New Hampshire means a narrow mountain valley, and we followed the road through the White Mountains to Pinkham Notch where Mike had planned a walk.  This valley was first recorded in 1784 but little used until the road was created in the 1920's. Mike said there was not much vertical ascent but I was starting to feel a little tired. Nevertheless with some puffing and panting and a little scrambling and complaining I managed to get up to the overlook called Square Ledge. The view over the wooded hills was worth it and it was not such a long walk. The western edge of Pinkham Notch is bounded by Mount Washington which was our next objective.