Scenes From a Soupy Day: 6/26/23

Given the week's humid, unsettled and rather gloomy weather, with showers and thunderstorms popping up randomly, I decided to keep this day's hiking short and low. It seemed from the radar map as if Waterville Valley had been dumped on the previous evening, so the hike to Fletcher Cascades on the flank of Flat Mountain seemed like a good choice. As soon as the lower Drakes Brook Trail came close to its namesake stream, I could see - and hear - that the water was rockin'.

One of the lesser-used trails in Waterville.

In we go.

Cascade on Drakes Brook (off-trail).

Along Fletcher Cascades Trail.

A fairly high-water crossing of Bowlder Brook, on which Fletcher Cascades are located. An impressive rock staircase lifts you up the far bank.

A serious blowdown.

Large hemlocks populate this ravine.

The lower cascade is a lovely granite staircase. In times of low water there's just a dribble here. Not today.

The brook surges down over ledge slabs below.

The steeper, rougher upper 0.1 mile of Fletcher Cascades Trail climbs past more fine water scenery.

A good-sized drop ahead.

Side view.

Steep and slippery - use caution, especially on the descent.

A misty secondary cascade at the top of the climb.

A WVAIA arrow points the way across to the main event.

Holy cow!

Impressive drop.

Frontal View. Above here there is a long slide swath that is visible from across the main valley of Waterville. It is accessible only by a steep and difficult bushwhack. The cascades were named for Arthur Fletcher of Concord, NH, a frequent guest at Waterville in the 1870s, at which time the original trail to them was opened. In the words of late 1800s/early 1900s Waterville guidebook author Arthur L. Goodrich: “The Cascades are ordinarily a mere trickle, but after a hard storm they are visible from the Hotel, a silver thread on the flank of Flat Mt. At such times there are no finer cascades in New Hampshire.”

On the way back I bushwhacked down to the base of the long cascade below the staircase falls. Bowlder Brook was certainly putting on quite a show this day.

After finishing the 3 1/2 mile hike, I made a stop off Rt. 49 at Flat Rocks, a scenic spot on the Mad River.

Since the rain was still holding off, I drove up to the Welch-Dickey trailhead and made the easy one-mile hike into Dickey Notch, the gap between Dickey Mountain and Cone Mountain, long a favorite spot of mine. This trail used to be part of the Brown Ash Swamp Mountain Bike Trail, which led north all the way to Tripoli Road. That trail seems to have been abandoned, so now the Dickey Notch section has its own name and trail sign. Looks like a full description will be warranted in the next edition of the AMC White Mountain Guide.

The highlight of this trail is the lushly green section that leads past a chain of small beaver ponds in the notch.

One of the beaver ponds.

Neat section of trail.

An overgrown old beaver lodge in the middle of another pond.

A gorgeous hardwood forest in the section of the notch north of the ponds.

An inviting footpath for a sticky gray day.