Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.
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The Basin in Franconia, NH is a delightful outdoor destination with paved walkways alongside the Pemigewasset River. It was not always so. Others who visited in years past describe steep, eroded paths that made for treacherous footing. A tremendous amount of effort and financial investment has transformed this into a beautiful place for people of many abilities to enjoy.
The Basin takes its name from the large, (thirty feet in diameter, fifteen feet deep) rounded pool at the bottom of a waterfall that pours into the smooth stone bowl. From there the water heads downstream, slipping through a funnel carved into the bedrock. Over thousands of years the torrent has polished the rock to a glistening sheen.
Benches are available along the way at the Basin. Expect to find amazing views of a series of cascades that might fall into the category of “waterfall,” depending on your standards. Our bar is set pretty low—if water is moving and singing as it crashes into rocks and roots along the way, that’s a waterfall in my book.
A family wedding took us to the White Mountains in New Hampshire in the midst of foliage season. (Thanks so much and best wishes, Andrew and Tori!) Rather than rush up and back in one day, we chose to take our camper with us and spent the weekend at the Lafayette Place Campground, in the midst of Franconia Notch State Park. It was not far from the Horse and Hound Inn, where the wedding was to take place.
We spent the morning before the wedding wandering the streamside walkways of the Basin. It can get crowded, and a few spots are relatively steep. Even though the paths are paved, wheelchair users would be best served by heading to the accessible route that leads to an overview of the Basin. Regardless of your vantage point, it’s a show-stopper.
Bridges take visitors over the Pemigewasset river that wends its way through the woods. A rougher path leads up to several much larger waterfalls. I managed to navigate the roots on the trail to the first large waterfall, which is another place where cascading water has worn the rock smooth over time. More spectacular falls await upstream of this rooty path, but common sense prevailed. Steep climbs that feature lots and lots of roots do not make for an Easy Walk. I turned back, content with the smoother paths that offered more than enough to fill my heart.
The wedding (and the bride) was beautiful, of course! The next day offered a brilliant blue sky. We went in search of another Easy Walk, hoping to find a place where I could enjoy my surroundings rather than have to constantly watch my footing.
Did I mention that the mountains were resplendent with autumn colors? At the highest elevations, yellows (beeches and birches mostly) were the dominant hue. Lower elevations displayed shades of orange and red. The lowest areas, those at the edge of wetlands, featured crimson swamp maples. They did their best to put on a show before the bright red foliage blew off or simply released its hold on the branches that had nourished them through the summer.
We stopped at a trailhead that looked and sounded promising. It offered great views of the colorful foliage on the flanks of the mountainside across the way. We learned that it was only a short walk to a waterfall, but once on the trail it became apparent that the roots on the trail were quite eroded. After going about fifty feet we agreed that this was not going to be an Easy Walk. Turning back, we continued our quest.
Public (although unpaved) Jefferson Notch Road in Campton, NH, turned out to be the perfect Easy Walk for me. A seasonal, well-maintained dirt state road, it leads to the Caps Ridge Trailhead, the highest elevation trailhead on a public road in New Hampshire. We saw little traffic as we walked, which allowed us to amble alongside the brooklet that tumbled downstream next to the road. A number of pull-offs have been constructed along the way. Regardless of whether we could see it or not, we enjoyed an enchanting watery accompaniment to our every step.
The stream was in a hurry to leave the mountains, tossed hither and yon against the rocks, tree trunks, and branches it encountered as it found its way to a downstream destination. A moss-covered stump next to the streamlet offered the perfect perch to enjoy lunch.
Afterwards we wandered some more and finally decided to ascend the flanks of Mount Washington. The auto road is not for the faint of heart. Being somewhat (the truth? very) faint of heart, I squeezed my eyes shut on the narrowest portions of the road. Lacking guard rails, the road offers travelers no illusion of protection from the steep slopes. Some curves give passengers the best views, while other times the driver is closest to the edge. Once at the summit the vistas were stunning. We then found ourselves enveloped by passing clouds. It was time to head back down before darkness overtook us.
On our drive home to Massachusetts the brilliant colors slowly faded back to the greens of summer/early fall. Elevation and northern latitudes influence when New England’s annual leaf-peeping season begins and ends. The window of time is short and easy to miss if you do not prioritize getting out to look around. You do not have to head to the mountains to see great fall color. In fact, autumn colors reach far south on the east coast of the U.S., through the Midwest, and Colorado too. If you ARE in the mountains, look quick. Winter is coming. The trees tell the tale. Happy trails.
Marjorie
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors, and is the author of Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, Easy Walks and Paddles in the Ten Mile River Watershed, Easy Walks South of Boston and Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are. Her memoir, the backstory of Easy Walks, is My Liturgy of Easy Walks: Reclaiming hope in a world turned upside down.
Marjorie Turner Hollman 