Franconia Notch

The Basin

We finished our trip to New Hampshire up in Franconia Notch.  What I really wanted to do was to photograph the Flume, however, it was closed and the boardwalks had been taken down.  Oh well, we'll have to make a new trip up to the Notch to see the Flume.  However, had a great time at the Basin.  The Basin has a great waterfall with a large granite pothole at its base.  The pothole is 20 feet in diameter.  It is believed the pothole was eroded approximately 25,000 years ago when the North American ice sheet was melting.  Small stones and sand carried down by the Pemigewasset River has smoothed out the pothole.  There are other small waterfalls in the area around the basin.  Henry Thoreau on his first trip to the White Mountains in September 1839, after viewing the water cascading into the granite bowl and whirlpool wrote in his journal "this pothole is perhaps the most remarkable curiosity of its kind in New England."

The basin is easily accessible by a short walk through an underpass under I93 and is also handicapped accessible.

Follow the Signs

Through the Underpass

View of the Basin from the Handicap Area

View of the Basin from the Handicap Area

The Pemigewasset originates at Profile Lake in Franconia Notch State Park, in the town of Franconia. It flows south through the White Mountains and merges with the Winnipesaukee River to form the Merrimack River at Franklin. The Merrimack then flows through southern New Hampshire, northeastern Massachusetts and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Rapids on the Pemigewasset

A trip to Franconia Notch would not be complete without a stop to view where the "Old Man of the Mountain" used to be before it fell crashing to the earth in May 2003.  There is a Park that has been set up to commemorate the "Old Man".  It has a viewing area with "Steel Profilers" that when you a line the profilers with the cliff above it creates what the profile look like on the cliff overlooking Franconia Notch.  How you do this is to look for the Pink granite blocks and stand on the one with you height engraved in them and look up.

Viewing the Virtual "Old Man"

Virtual "Old Man"

Profile Lake at the base of the "Old Man"