Bridal Veil Falls

The weather in the mountains can be unpredictable and the weather forecasters are very often wrong!  We knew it was predicted to rain today but we thought it would be this afternoon so we wanted to get in a hike before it got wet.  The campground host had given us several ideas and loaned us a big book full of trail descriptions.  Bridal Veil Falls was just on the other side of the mountain from the campground, was supposed to be only about 4.5 miles long with not much elevation change.  It would be perfect for the first day of hiking after being fairly inactive. 

And it was a pretty hike through forest and along a burbling brook, up a gradual hill on a trail of pine needles, leaves, moss, mud, large rocks, and roots!  Yes, it got steeper and then it rained!  We were prepared with rain jackets in the backpacks and it was a very warm day so the rain felt good for awhile. It poured down for a short time then tapered off just as we arrived at the falls so we could take pictures without worrying about the camera getting wet. Then in poured again.  There was a backpacker's shelter at the falls that we sat in for a while hoping the rain was almost over but it wasn’t.  Impatient, we started back down in the rain.  By the time we got to the Jeep it had quit again but we were drenched from head to toe!

Hot showers and a nap were needed!  We then drove down the Franconian Notch to Lincoln to have dinner. Along the way we stopped to see The Old Man on the Mountain, an iconic rock structure that used to be at the top of Profile Mountain.  It was a series of ledges and rocks that looked like a man’s face when viewed from a certain direction.  Unfortunately about 15 years ago it fell down!  So instead of trying to rebuild the rock face they have created a plaza with several tall poles with a rod at the top pointing to the mountain.  On the rod are a series of protrusions that recreate the face when you look along it towards the mountain with one eye closed. We had dinner at a very nice restaurant called “The Common Man” but before dinner we found a dive bar for a cocktail.  That’s always an interesting experience.