To start, Lisa and I want to wish everyone everywhere who reads this a wonderful Thanksgiving! Be safe in your travels and we hope as we close out this year, you are in good spirits…

Many of you know about and have traveled the six-mile length of Crawford Notch. It stretches from Bretton Woods and Fabyan’s Station to the north and down to Bartlett in the South. Depending on where you start and END your journey, that 6 miles could be as much as 6-12 miles traveled overall.

These 6 – 12 miles might only take you 15-30 minutes to drive but ONLY if you put on blinders to not see all the waterfalls, trailheads, and hills decked in fall colors… Well, you get the idea. This journey can take at least 4-5 hours.

I think they widened the notch to allow modern traffic and the train to come up through the Notch. In 1839 it was just becoming a tourist byway with people desiring to get out of the cities and come up to the mountains. Seen here is a painting by Thomas Cole from 1839. About this time, Abel Crawford and his family would have just moved up here and later, started an Inn and capitalized on the new tourism.

I would have loved to be able to travel back in time and photograph the raw freshness of the Notch, just as the area was first settled. The road and Saco Lake appear to be much as they are today.

Exploring the Notch in early October

During early October, Route 302 in the White Mountains is a favorite route to take by the majority of leaf peepers. Officially the Dept of Transportation says it starts a few miles further to the north at Bretton Woods. You’ll know Bretton Woods by the Mount Washington Omni Resort (hard to miss)

You probably have seen the Mount Omni Hotel as you drove down Route 302. There is a large pullout across from it where most people will snap a shot of it. I shot this from a higher vantage point. I was on the Conway Scenic Train heading for Fabyans depot. They stop here during the journey for this photo op.

Fabyan’s is just North of Bretton Woods and you can make a right at Fabyans on Base Station Rd and go check out the Cog Rail. (Read about that here).

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AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch & Crawford Notch Depot

From The Mount Washington Omni Hotel, you will proceed 3 miles south. The AMC Highland Center comes into sight first and this is a lodge run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. There are rangers there for information, and shuttle services to the nearby trailheads. Crawford Path, Mt Clinton Rd, Mount Willard Trail, Webster-Jackson trail, and Elephant Head path are all nearby.

The Crawford Notch Depot is just a bit down the road. And depending on the train ticket you buy in Conway you may stop here and enjoy your box lunch. (If you get the meal option)

What else is there to explore before we move on…

Well, there is Saco Lake, in the painting above from 1839, Thomas Cole painted a pond/lake in there so apparently, there was always a depression here for water to gather.

9 times out of 10 when I drive by, the lake is rippled by the wind but when I came through on October 7th the lake was a mirror. I pulled out my tripod and composed the shot to leave out the sky because the sky was an ugly flat grey.

Natures Audio File

As I looked at the scene before me with the evergreen trees rising and falling in between the orange/gold maple trees I felt this looked familiar.

I’ve worked with audio files before and to me, this looks like an audio waveform. (here is an example at right).

This is how audio or sound is depicted in software. I decided to title the above image, “God’s Voice Recorded in Nature”.

Passing into the Notch… and the Flume Cascade

Refer to the first and 2nd images and you will see the Beginning of the notch that I speak of. BUT… Don’t get too excited to step on the gas. In less than a half mile after entering the Notch, keep an eye on the right where there is a parking lot. From there you can walk across Route 302 to the Flume Cascade.

This parking lot also has a wonderful view of its own down the Notch. The parking lot and Flume Cascade are only a short distance above the Silver Cascade. In the 3rd picture, the parking lot is just before the bend in the road.

Silver Cascade on Route 302

This waterfall has a parking lot directly across from it so you should slow down and get your turn signal going as you leave the Scenic parking lot above for the Flume Cascade. You will be there in a few seconds. There are two hazards here, the tour buses, and the traffic coming up/down Route 302. Neither will stop for you in the crosswalk, be warned…

A lot of people will climb the rocks to get a different view so depending on when you get there, there could be photographers/tourists climbing the rocks. There is also no “real” path so be aware, you are on your own.

There are Pull-overs and then there are Parking Areas

The rest of the way to Bartlett on Route 302, you will find trailheads, paths, waterfalls, and the like. In fact, too many for me to enumerate. I’ve never been a big hiker and Lisa and I prefer short flat hikes with wide avenues (staying away from ticks) and really good views along the way. (Know one? Let me know in the comments)

Maybe some of the trails do provide this and that is for those of you who have more energy. 🙂 On this past autumn morning “7 Oct 2022” was to drive through the notch, trying to watch the sky because it was constantly moving. It was overcast yet provided brief breaks in the clouds to illuminate the hills and walls surrounding Crawford Notch.

Many of you may prefer a blue-sky day but give me the challenge of catching just the right light at the perfect moment. All along my slow drive south through the notch, I was blessed to have just a little traffic at 9:30 AM. I had just passed The Trailhead for Ripley Falls and was getting close to the Dry River campground when I saw a parking area ( a sign says Dry River campground 1/2 mile) click the link to view it on Google Maps).

I crossed the road to walk along the Saco River and while these hills aren’t named, off to the left is the end of the Jackson Webster trail. about 3,000 MSL and 1,800 feet above where I was standing. Further left out of the frame is Mount Jackson at 4,000 ft. My challenge was to catch the sun peaking through the breaking clouds and had some success. The river was low but too high to cross with my Bean boots (my favorites). I had left my knee-high waders which would have allowed me to ford the shallow sections…

All the way down the are opportunities to pull to the side of the road safely and snap a few shots. I left this spot and only got a bit further when I had to pull over at someone’s driveway (not blocking it).

The sky kept amazing me and forcing me to stop in awe… Yes, I was saying, Awwwww (and WOW). I was coming to the bottom of the notch and on the left, the Fourth (4th) Iron campground parking lot came into view. Now today I did not stop because a couple of years back I caught it while it was very colorful.

These are from 2019 on Oct 15th and the colors were really colorful. All these views can be found by pulling out at the Forth Iron Campground parking area.

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Finishing the trip down through Crawford Notch

As I pull into Bartlett New Hampshire, it’s about 10 AM and I have been on the road since 6:30 when I left my nice warm accommodations (Allegory Inn, report to follow). So by not doing the 4th Iron, this part of the trip took just about 3.5 hours. Your travel time will vary by how many pit stops you make.

Speaking of pit stops, all of this was done with no coffee or breakfast and I was thinking about Polly’s Pancake Parlor to “break this fast” but how to get there? There are a bunch of mountains between me and Sugar Hill. I decided that the scenic route up Bear Notch road to the Kanc, then west to Lincoln, and a drive up 93 to Route 18 to Route 117, finishing at Polly’s would do the trick.

It took almost three hours to get to Polly’s (had to get on a waitlist) so from when I got up at 5:30 AM, I didn’t get food till almost 1 PM. I can do this when we have two things… First magnificent scenery to photograph which means I ignore my stomach for much of the day. What’s the 2nd you may ask? Lisa was not with me. She does not travel until she has gotten her coffee and breakfast had better be following closely after that but she might go an hour or so but not 6 plus hours.

She was ill, so she stayed home and since we couldn’t get our money back on the Airbnb, I came up without her. I don’t do this that much anymore since these trips are more fun to share what we find with each other.

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

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