eor | Where in the blue blazes are we?

In the Eastern US, trails that make up the Appalachian Trail are marked with white trail marks (or blazes). Those trails that intersect with the AT are marked with blue blazes, while those that don't are marked with yellow blazes.

For some unknown reason,

derien and I decided to go hiking on Sunday. Well, actually, we had decided to go on Saturday, but the weather didn't cooperate, so I worked and she did the essential household type things. Truth be told, I was the one who decided to go hiking and

derien was just a very good sport about it.

Saturday night we packed what we felt was the minimum responsible things to take along: extra clothing, spare socks, three bottles of water, dry food stuffs, some gluten free sandwiches, a water filter, one rain poncho (it's what we had), the guidebook, the map, the compass, and the camera. We dutifully went to bed at 10pm because we'd have to be up early.

Five AM came way too early and despite a pre-prepared breakfast we still didn't make it out the door until 6am. The trip out was uneventful. No one is on the road at that time of the morning. Well, no one with two brain cells and sanity. Two hours later we climbed out at the parking lot in Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. There were actually a fair number of people there getting ready to go up the trails by that point.

We started our hike up the blue blazed Falling Waters Trail. It's a class three trail which climbs 2700 feet over the course of 3 1/4 miles. In short, you have no business being on this trail if you haven't hiked in years. So it's naturally the first thing I decided to do.

The trail starts in a forest which is a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. It crosses a brook on a very nice little wooden bridge then climbs up along the stream past three sets of waterfalls. The trail crosses and recrosses the stream (no bridges for these crossing), running along it first on one side then the other. Through this whole section you have the rushing of the brook but no other noise. Even the chipmunks are very shy and disappear before you can see them.

After the third waterfall, the trail leaves the stream and begins ascending through a forest of pine. Here we found an incredible silence, broken only by the occasional birdcall.

derien commented that it smelled like "The Christmas Tree" store wished it could smell. It was just thick with lush wet pine and a dash of moss here and there. The trail got steadily rockier as we ascended this piece. It is definitely the kind of neighborhood where you get attacked by trolls after dark.

The trail continues to switchback up the mountain until turning straight uphill to make its final ascent... (to be continued)

The first waterfall: