On Saturday morning we headed out to make the most of a pretty, but frigid, day. After a relaxed start we headed up to the Flume Gorge visitor center to go for a short hike. Though I have hiked Mt. Flume in the past, I have never really checked out the gorge itself. After climbing up the hill to the entrance to the gorge we were treated to an impressive array of ice with a number of ice climbers scrambling up the walls. We were not equipped to traverse the gorge, so we stuck with the overlook trail that led to the top.
With the photos taken, it was down the trail to the north to complete our loop. The trail was wide and extremely well maintained, so it was quick going. At the bottom of the hill we slowly navigated the trail down to the Sentinel Pine Bridge. It was quite an impressive sight perched high over the river below. It was very slow going through this section given the steep grades and our lack of traction.
By the time we arrived back at the car we were pretty well frozen, so we decided to do the rest of our exploring by car. We decided to drive the length of the Kancamagus Highway and explore the overlooks and sights along the way. It is a very pretty section of road and definitely worth checking out. On the way back towards Lincoln for dinner we were treated to a nice sunset over the road.
