Today was another day of exploration. With a couple of stops in mind and the big map we set off up Bear Notch Road. Bear Notch Road is a very steep, winding mountain pass that is closed in winter but offers terrific views from the top of the Mount Washington Valley. It's also a handy shortcut across from Bartlett to The Kanc. 

Once on The Kanc we headed north to North Woodstock, where we had a terrific lunch at the wonderful Woodstock Inn. We stocked up on maple syrup supplies at Fadden's, purveyors of the best maple syrup around and perused the array of Glocks, rifles and crossbows at the gun store, which is up for sale in case anyone wants to buy a gun store in North Woodstock and took a walk down to the Pemigewasset River, which is just beautiful. 

We headed north again up to Franconia Notch, past the Old Man in the Mountain, or at least his mountain, up to Mount Lafayette and the grinning Govenor Gannon memorial, then across to Franconia. Last year we had stumbled across a delightful bar in Franconia called The Dutch Treat, where the welcome is warm, the drinks are cold and the locals are fascinating. Today's visit we learnt that the only Spanish one old man in dungarees knows is "How much for a kilo?"  

We also found a new store promising gifts, antiques and collectibles which most certainly delivered. I found some amazing salt and pepper pots and an old tobacco tin. The lady who owned it and her friend were AMC guides and volunteered on Mt. Washington. They were wicked impressed with our knowledge of the area and pointed us in the direction of some more places that were a little off the beaten track and definitely off the tourist maps. 

Following their directions, we headed back east through Bethlehem, which is full of Christmas tree farms and wild turkeys, go figure. At Bretton Woods we took the Base Station Road and came to Upper Falls, which wasn't quite as clearly signed as  we'd been told, but you can normally tell by the wear on the side of the road where places worth stopping are. Crazy locals jump off that rock in the foreground on the left into the pool below. 

We headed back through Crawford Notch, another very steep, winding mountain road, passing by Silver Cascades, the Mountain Division of the railroad now only used by the Conway Scenic Railroad Company and Sawyer's Rock. The scenery around here is just awesome. There is no other word for it. 

Today was forecast as a hot one, and it was, with it reading 36 degrees after lunch, so we decided to explore the local area a bit more. In the air conditioned car. There were a few things we wanted to try and find and a few places we'd meant to go and hadn't. 

The road turned into an unpaved one car track as it hit the Jackson town line and as soon as we saw the White Mountains National Forest sign the road ended abruptly. There is a beautiful lake further up there, Mountain Pond, but it's hard to tell how far it is or if it is accessible as the road was so badly damaged by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 that it's been closed since and not estimated to reopen until at least next year. 

I love old stuff. Specifically old American stuff. If I lived here my house would be full of old stuff. Old chairs, old dressers, old tables, but unfortunately I don't think I'd get them home to England, so I have to make do with stuff that will fit in my suitcase. Today was distinctly cloudy, so a great day for antiquing. 

Last year we made a decision that this year we would explore a bit more. Some of our best experiences and stories came from stumbling across places only the locals know about and stopping off in small towns off the beaten track, so today we headed out with the map and a rough idea of a direction. 

After climbing back up from the base of the falls, we continued north on Route 16 and stopped at Wildcat to get a drink and take some shots of the magnificent views of Mt. Washington to the east and Wildcat to the west. It was so lovely we decided to take the short hike loop at the base of the mountain and head up to Thompson Falls. The Way of the Wildcat loop is a delightful hike through the woods with markers telling the history and stories of the area including stories of the Abenaki people and the establishment of the reservation area of the White Mountains National Forest. 

The hike off the trail to the falls certainly seemed much further than the half mile it was stated to be, but it was worth it when we arrived. Thompson Falls were a hidden gem up until 2011 - when the Thompson Falls Trail became an official trail of the White Mountain National Forest - the falls had largely remained a mystery. Apart from an appearance on the 1942 USGS North Conway quadrangle and a brief mention in an AMC White Mountain Guide dating to the 1950's. It is still a very secluded, very pretty, picturesque cascade of water over a clam shaped ledge without the heavy foot traffic associated with other falls in the area, in fact we were entirely alone. 

After a somewhat strenuous morning of hiking, we headed north again in search of sustenance. We stopped in Gorham as there appeared to be a plethora of eateries, however as we walked down Main St it looked more and more deserted. Everywhere was closed. I'm not sure if Gorham comes alive in the evening, but it definitely sleeps during the day. After grabbing a Burger King (teenage boys turn into monsters if left hungry for too long), we headed west and back down the other side of Mt. Washington through Crawford Notch, where the scenery is just as impressive.