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Trip 2, Day 3. Franconia, NH. to Rumford, RI.
I love long johns, I was happy in mine. Clover, on the other hand, was still complaining, and wearing long johns was one more good reason to bitch. “They feel weird, my sock has a string in it, I’m cold, I’m hungry.” Wait, we just ate. Let’s go dude…
We headed out fairly early to check out Echo Lake at the base of Cannon Mountain. We arrived and they were blowing lots of snow on the few runs that were open (not much snow in New England thus far.) It was pretty magical to see the snow waft up into the sunlight, making little glints of light in the sky. We hiked down to the beach to check out the lake and ice. It was covered with about a foot of snow, which created a blanket of silence over the valley. All we could hear was the vibrating hum of the snow machines and the squish of the snow underfoot. We followed what looked like a set of mouse prints and a set of fox prints along the lake edge down to a stream. It was as good as it sounds. We collected lake water to use back in the studio.
We hopped back in the Element and drove south down the Franconia Notch Parkway to the trailhead at Lonesome Lake trail. Lonesome Lake is set at the top of a 1.6 mile trail. Not so bad unless there’s a foot of snow and your basically dragging your five year old up a steep, icy mountain. After stopping every 50 feet for a rest and lots, and lots, of contemplating turning around going back we made it to the top. Big thanks to all the hikers that passed us and cheered her on. It was actually pretty gnarly; I’m totally impressed she did it. It was beautiful and awesome. We played around for a bit and took some pictures on the frozen lake and of the mountains, then quickly headed down. Going down was cake, she was cruising. About 1/3 of the way down we saw some people and they asked if we had made it to the top, to which we responded with an emphatic YES. Then they asked if we saw the cabin and went over to get some free hot chocolate, to which responded with an emphatic NO! What the… Free hot chocolate after all that work would have been perfect. Damn you Lonesome Lake. Clover gave me the “should we go back and get some” look. Keep it moving, keep it moving. We dragged our sweaty, tired asses back to the Element and blasted the heat. We collected some white birch bark and a big Ziploc of snow to use back in the studio. After a quick refuel at Dunkin back in Lincoln we dipped out and headed home. But not before stopping off in Concord to hit the LL Bean outlet and Boloco. That night I awoke to Clover in bed crying because her calves were cramping and keeping her up. Oops.
Song of the day: Telephone, Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce.
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