Kancamagus Highway

The Kancamagus Highway (apparently known as the "Kanc") is a 34 mile stretch of road through the White Mountains in New Hampshire. We duly paid our trifling fee to allow us to park at any of the scenic spots along the way and headed in. By now we were also noting a distinct decline in the temperature, and rise in chilling wind with a little precipitation to boot. So we didn't stop too much on our "first pass" along the highway. I say first pass, because we decided halfway along that the best bet might be to move swiftly through, grab some lunch at the best pizza place in Lincoln and then go to the Flume (more about which later) which was supposed to close for the season today. And then make our way back again if we had time, or return tomorrow morning,

I think our first stopping point was at the Lower Falls.

Now as a digression, observe Thibault posing for a photograph. For a man of so many talents, his total inability to do this in a way which shows him in a decent light is remarkable. I give you exhibit A

 So I had to make him smile. Better.

But back to the river. Very pretty. Autumnal.  But cold.

Cool car by the way don't you think. A Nissan Maxima. Would heartily recommend it as a hire car. Very comfortable.

 Anyway, next stopping point was Rocky Gorge. They didn't go in for imaginative nomenclature. But guess the landscape does the talking. And it was even colder, and the wind more biting.

 And back to Thibault posing for a photo. I give you exhibit B. Only explicable if he was suffering from a particularly obnoxious smell nearby. Which he wasn't.

So I needed to make a wisecrack. And suddenly human Thibault again. Voila.

 Unfortunately by this time the best of the Fall foliage was on the ground, but even there it offered an attractive mosaic, as I pointed out to my young companion. "Meh" he replied. Well that told me.

So onward. And upward. As the highway went up into the mountains we found ourselves in a bit of
snowfall. Nothing too severe - just scenic really. And a first for Thibault. He hadn't driven in snow before. An easy test though as there really wasn't much snow. Yet.

 Well in time we got through it and found our pizza shack in Lincoln. Lincoln is justly not known for its fine dining. This pace to be fair did reasonable-ish pizzas in two sizes, small and cartwheel. The average diner was even more enormous than the cartwheel. It was a not a very pleasant experience. And the cutlery was plastic. Moving on.

So from there we headed to the Flume. This an 800 foot gorge ending in a waterfall. Its got boardwalks alongside it and there is an entrance charge. But it was nice walk.

The Flume itself is a bit of a walk from the visitor centre. You could get a little bus, but much nicer to walk it.

 At this point the gorge is so narrow and the granite sides so steep that you can't get the bottom of it and the sky in the same picture.

View right down...

 ...and view up above.

From the Flume we headed back on the road and back to the Kanc, taking in some viewpoints along the way.

And then onto the Sabbaday Falls around the middle of the highway.

According to the Park leaflet, the Falls descend into an emerald pool. Well it may emerald at some point in the year, but not now. Rusty brown I would say.

 A big thing in New England are the covered bridges. Thibault not impressed. I think a suspension bridge with modern hi-tec engineering is more his thing.

Into the Wolf's Lair. Yes that is what this is called. Left the young man to it.

  And escaping the Wolf's Lair disappointingly unscathed.