FRANCONIA BROOK RAMBLE: 6/28/17

With intermittent showers in the forecast, it seemed like a good day for a long valley walk in the Western Pemi Wilderness. Carol accompanied me to Franconia Falls, where we relaxed for a while, then she headed home and I continued several miles up the Franconia Brook Trail and bushwhacked to various beaver ponds for views of the surrounding peaks.




This sled runner is on display alongside Lincoln Woods Trail at the site of J.E. Henry's Camp 8.

A bed frame at J.E. Henry's Camp 7, at the junction of Lincoln Woods and Black Pond Trails.

Relaxing at Franconia Falls, with North Hancock in the distance.

Franconia Falls.

A rain shower veils Mt. Flume from the bridge over Franconia Brook.

View of Owl's Head from a beaver meadow near Franconia Brook Trail and the site of Camp 9.

Zoom on the south peak and SE cliffs of Owl's Head.

A sled runner pokes up like a periscope from a beaver meadow.

Another artifact nearby.

More artifacts on display in the woods.

A stove door from Camp 9.

A rain shower dapples a beaver pond along the Franconia Brook Trail.

A little spruce sprouts from a big old pine trunk.

The west spur of Bondcliff seen across another beaver pond.

Hellgate Brook. The crossing was easy today.

A rusted old waterline at Camp 10, north of Hellgate Brook.

A lonely, abandoned beaver pond offers a view of the southwest ridge of South Twin.

Southwest Twin, the most remote Trailwrights 4000 peak, is on the left.

The view from my sitting rock along the shore.

 In the Pemi woods.

Franconia Brook, deep in the valley.

A gorgeous maple glade between the Franconia Brook Trail and Franconia Brook.

Franconia Brook Trail follows the old railroad grade.

Talus on the west spur of Bondcliff. Great Pemi views up there, but not easy to access.

Massive driftwood on Franconia Brook.

Someone fashioned quite a campsite on the bank of the brook.

A vivid green beaver meadow at the eastern base of Owl's Head.

The cliff-faced SE spur of Owl's Head looms above another beaver pond.

By moving around the corner I gained a wider perspective on the Owl's Head ridge.

The Owl's Head cliffs, backlit. I had spotted these beaver wetlands from up there on a snowshoe bushwhack a few years back with Chris Whiton and John Compton.

Beaver pond reflections.

Bondcliff and its southern spur from yet another beaver wetland, just above the trail.

Looking up the East Branch to Bondcliff.

 Looking downstream to Mt. Osceola.