Monday - Thursday, July 18th - 21st, 2022 … Two Lane Adventures Continue!

Today, we left The Birches Lakeside Campground, where Peter & Becky call home for the summer. We headed west, toward New Hampshire. Our destination for today was Hanover Maine at the Stony Brook Recreation Area. We took Route 108 to Route 2. It was a short 60 mile trip.

The $7.7 million bridge, which spans the Androscoggin River between Peru and Mexico, is a tribute to the US Army cavalry scout from Mexico who died while serving in Afghanistan. A member of the 101st Airborne Division, McLain died of wounds suffered during Operation Enduring Freedom. He was 24 years old. US Army Private First Class Buddy Wendell McLain joined the Army in May 2009. He was on his first deployment to Afghanistan when he and five others were killed in an insider attack on November 29, 2010. He left behind his wife, Chelsea, and their son Owen. The Tunnel to Towers charity paid off the mortgage on the family’s Peru, Maine home on Memorial Day 2021. Staying in their hometown was very important to Chelsea.

We drove through Mexico Maine and stopped at Walmart to purchase a few items. We will talk about Mexico more later, as we will be back to visit it! I will tell you about the “Town of Mexico” sign that greeted people for decades has seen a patriotic makeover. Red, white and blue bricks are on the hillside of the Veterans Memorial Green on Main Street. The 48-by-25-foot American flag was constructed by White Yardworks out of Rumford.

We also passed through Rumford Falls Maine. The town is located in the foothills of the White Mountains, Rumford is the site of Pennacook (now called Rumford) Falls. It is where the Androscoggin River drops 177 feet over solid granite.

We will be back to check out the falls and everything that Rumford Falls has to offer!

We arrived at Stony Brook Recreation Area. It is a quiet, family campground nestled along the beautiful Androscoggin River and surrounded by the foothills of the White Mountains. You can certainly relax and enjoy nature at its fullest. It’s the closest full service campground to Grafton Notch State Park.

Over the next few days, we took in the sights of nearby towns and sights.

July 19th, we checked out Step Falls. It is a spectacular long chain of descending horsetails and cascades that lies a few miles outside of the eastern border of Grafton Notch State Park. 

It is situated on a 24-acre property managed by the Mahoosuc Land Trust, a local organization dedicated to protecting and conserving land and traditional land uses. Step Falls was acquired in 1962 by The Nature Conservancy and transferred to the Mahoosuc Land Trust in 2012. It has been a popular attraction for waterfall fanatics and swimming hole lovers for decades.

At Step Falls, Wight Brook, a wide mountain stream, meanders its way down several hundred feet of sunny granite slabs. During spring runoff, the water volume has been known to reach up to 500 cubic feet per second. In the summer months, however, horsetails and plunges transform into skinny, nearly powerless slides, and dozens of water-sculpted paths that existed in spring often dry up.

As if being one of the tallest falls in Maine is not enough, Step Falls also has numerous shallow pools, many of which offer fine places to wade and, in the slightly deeper of the pools, swim. The yellow-tinted water in the pools has a very clear and clean appearance. The largest pool at the site, approximately 40 feet long by 12 feet wide, is bounded by several moss-surrounded horsetails that empty into the pool. 

From Step Falls, we headed to Grafton Notch State Park. Grafton Notch State Park and the Mahoosuc Public Lands are a premier recreational destination lying amidst some of Maine's most spectacular mountains the Mahoosuc Range. These lands offer rugged terrain for backcountry hikers and include 12 of the most challenging miles along the entire Appalachian Trail. Hikers who negotiate the steep summit trails are rewarded with spectacular views, particularly on Old Speck (4,180 feet).

 

Those who seek tamer adventures can find short walks leading to impressive waterfalls and gorges. The small fall area that you first come to is deceiving. You arrive and see the falls with a great photo op. Only then do you realize that the main falls are further down the trail! Screw Auger Falls of Grafton Notch is a 25-foot plunge over the lip of a broad granite ledge into a gorge. 

A transparent curtain of whitewater is created by the plunge. Below the main plunge, the Bear River travels through a curvaceous gorge, dropping an additional thirty feet in a series of cascades past giant potholes, shallow pools and grottoes. There is also a small natural arch here, a rarity for New England. This waterfall is arguably Maine's most heavily visited. On a hot weekend day in July or August, you may share the falls and gorge with a hundred others. 

The breadth of sunny ledges and sunbathing spots, together with the ability to explore above and below the gorge, will allow you to enjoy this site immensely. Wooden fencing marks the gorge walls with stone steps to an upper wading area. As you walk along the gorge to the best view point of the waterfall, historical information boards add to the fun experience. Here you will learn about settlers in the 1800's who built a saw mill directly over the falls in the 1850's. The mill was run by the power of the current and produced lumber until it burned in the 1860's. You also have the opportunity to learn about how the falls were initially formed. As glaciers began to melt thousands of years ago, excessive amounts of water flowed into the Bear River carrying rocks and sand along with the current. The consistent abrasion of these sediments smoothed away the gorge walls to create potholes that are still visible today from the gorge above.

We headed Moose Cave, it is located within a 45-foot-deep canyon of bedrock where water skirts boulders and temporarily disappears into a cave beneath a granite slab. 

The trail follows a 600-foot long gorge carved through granite by glacial meltwater. 

Hikers are urged to show caution on the slippery rocks so that one will not fall in the gorge like the unlucky moose for whom Moose Cove was named. 

The trail also loops through a moss garden located on the ledges of the mixed growth forest. Several species of lichen inhabit this garden including "Reindeer Moss" which is native to the Arctic Tundra. 

We enjoyed beautiful sunset at the campground.

On July 20th, we went back to Mexico. It was laundry day and hopefully hair cut day! We found a barber for Charlie. He is going to get his hair cut, while I start the laundry. It has been several weeks since we have done laundry. So, it will be a good half of day affair!

The place we found on line for Charlie, was Lisa's Barber Shop. It was just down the road from the laundry. Charlie did not find it, but he did find TA-DAH Hairstyling. Tammy got Charlie in as a a walk-in. She told him to bring me back around noon and she would try and fit me in between appointments for me. She was very customer oriented and wanted to be sure that each customer was satisfied. Did I mention she was fun and full of life? I wished we lived closer, she would be our go to girl! 

I LOVE my cut! Thanks again Tammy! Good luck in your election, we know you must be a bit crazy to be going into politics! But, your heart is in the right place!

On July 21st, we went back into Rumford Falls. Originally referred to as Pennacook Falls or New Pennacook Falls, Rumford Falls is chain of massive drops of the Androscoggin River. Although the waterfall drops a total of 176 feet, dams have split the once continuous cascading waters into several distinct sections.

The beauty of the scenic upper falls ensured it a spot in this guide. Worthy of drawing the attention of any form of artist, Rumford Falls is quite spectacular in strength and setting when it is actually flowing. The problem is that the dam often diverts most of the water. The artificial lake below offers popular fishing for three species of trout and landlocked salmon. The best time to visit these falls is during the spring snowmelt as the water flow often reduces to a trickle during the summer months because of the dams.

The lower falls are natural and feature cascades that drop a total of about 20 feet. These wide cascades are visible both upstream and downstream from the Portland St bridge.

A 20-foot statue of Paul Bunyan stands tall at the parking area for the middle and upper falls. This is a fun sight to see for those who appreciate roadside attractions. The local lore says that Paul Bunyan and Babe settled here after touring the River Valley area. They loved the falls, the fishing, the paper mill and the town!

I did walk every day in the campground, Charlie even walked one morning!