Franconia Notch State Park

First noticed in 1805 by road workers in the notch, the Old Man of the Mountain was a stack of five granite ledges on the cliff of Cannon Mountain that, seen from just the right angle, formed the unmistakable profile of a human face looking out over the valley. It became the most famous symbol in New Hampshire. Nathaniel Hawthorne built a short story around it, Daniel Webster praised it, and in 1945 the state made it its official emblem. It appears on the license plates, the road signs, and the state quarter.

For much of the 20th century the loosening ledges were held in place by cables, turnbuckles, and epoxy, tended by devoted caretakers who climbed up to check on him. It was not enough. Sometime in the small hours of May 3, 2003, after countless cycles of winter freeze and thaw, the ledges finally let go and the face slid off the mountain. New Hampshire mourned openly, and people left flowers at the site.

What stands there now is quietly brilliant. At Profile Plaza, beside the lake where the Old Man once looked down, a set of steel rods called profilers rises from the ground. Step to the marked spot, line up your eye through the steel, and the vanished profile reassembles itself against the real cliff, exactly where he used to be. It is a way to see the face again, and it is the most moving thing in the park.

The other great draw is the Flume Gorge, a natural chasm at the foot of Mount Liberty where the rock walls rise seventy to ninety feet apart, barely wider than the wooden walkway that threads between them. A boardwalk and stairway loop carries you up through the cool, mossy slot alongside a rushing stream to Avalanche Falls at the top. Local lore says it was discovered in 1808 by a 93-year-old woman out fishing, and it has drawn visitors ever since.

Not far away sits the Basin, a smooth granite pothole about twenty to thirty feet across that the swirling Pemigewasset has been grinding into the bedrock for something like fifteen thousand years, a small, perfect example of what water and time can carve. Together the gorge and the Basin show off the raw geology of the notch at close range.

The notch holds two lovely lakes. Echo Lake, at the north end, has a swimming beach with Cannon Mountain reflected in the water behind it. Profile Lake, below where the Old Man once stood, is a quiet fly-fishing water once nicknamed the Old Man's Washbowl. Above them rise the cliffs of Cannon Mountain on one side and the great wall of Franconia Ridge on the other, some of the most spectacular high country in the East, crossed here by the Appalachian Trail.

For all its drama, the notch is easy to explore. A paved recreation path runs about eight miles along its length, parallel to the highway, so on foot or by bike you can travel between the gorge, the lakes, the Basin, and the memorial without a car. Hikers can climb to Lonesome Lake, a high alpine tarn with a mountain hut, or take on the famous loop over Franconia Ridge for those with the legs for it.

The park runs along Interstate 93, here called the Franconia Notch Parkway, between the town of Franconia at the north and Lincoln at the south. Each major attraction has its own exit, so it helps to decide which stops you want before you drive in. The Flume Gorge uses timed, reserved entry, so book a slot ahead and come early, since the narrow gorge fills quickly.

This is White Mountain country, where the weather shifts fast and runs cool up high, so pack layers and good shoes even in summer, and expect stairs and slick footing in the gorge. Give yourself a full day to do the notch justice: walk the Flume, stand at Profile Plaza and find the Old Man again, dip your feet at Echo Lake, and simply take in some of the finest mountain scenery in the eastern United States.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.