Champney Falls

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I went hiking up in New Hampshire along the Champney Falls Trail. I brought the camera and took a few pictures along the way.

For most of the start of the trail you walk along this babbling brook. As you can see, we were there at peak foliage time.

There were a lot of downed trees along the path.
Vermont might have gotten all the headlines, but Hurricane Irene did a lot of damage to this area as well. Apparently, if you had been in this spot during the storm this would all have been under water and a raging river.

The website I looked at described Champney Falls as a series of waterfalls that cascade over 700 feet down the side of the mountain. If it was going to be 700 feet of these little things, I was going to be pissed.

There is nothing noteworthy about this picture.
But, I had to climb down some steep rocks off the path to take it because I thought it was going to be awesome.

Clearly, it was not.

However, if I put in that much effort then I'm certainly going to show it to everyone. Hell, this one might be the background on my phone.

This is more like it. This is the bottom of Champney Falls.

Oh, black and white. Channeling my inner Ansel Adams.
Though, given that the Falls are named for Benjamin Champney, a local artist, perhaps this is channeling my inner Champney.


This would be Pitcher Falls, just to the left of Champney Falls.
At least I think it is. There is a real lack of signage on this trail.


Champney Falls, the middle.
Just out of frame to the right is a set of extremely steep rock steps, which were the hardest part of the trail. I had to pause a couple times on them because they were kicking my ass.

Though, clearly, I used the excuse I wanted to take another picture of the Falls.
Yeah, that's why I stopped...


The top of Champney Falls, looking down. Not exactly an auspicious start.
After this you do a short loop around and then backtrack on most of the trail, so there wasn't much new to see along the Champney Trail.

But, on the way out of the Kangamangus Highway we stopped at the Rocky George scenic area. This picture was taken on a shaky wooden suspension bridge. And you can't tell from this picture, but it is downpouring. Weirdest weather as we were leaving: it downpoured while the sun was out, then the clouds rolled in and it stopped raining. I took it as a sign Mother Nature had had enough of us.

Same bridge, opposite direction. See the couple on the rocks? They were having a full-on make-out session for about 5 minutes while I waited to take this picture in the rain and on a swaying bridge. After 4 minutes I contemplated throwing my camera at them.