Pemigewasset River, Cascade Brook and the Lost Gorge

We have been so fortunate.  Hurricane Irene was a non-event for us.  One of my readers asked me to define the 'hill' I talk about where our house is located.  We live in the shadow of Cannon Mountain which is about 3,500 feet in elevation and on the border of Franconia Notch State Park.  Cannon is Bode Miller's 'home ski mountain', and one of New England's premier ski areas.  Our 'hill' is 1900 feet in elevation, and Franconia Village which is 3 miles down the road is 900 feet in elevation.  When we go to Franconia, you can 'coast' all the way.  Some of the 'grades' on the way to the village are 12%. 

The Pemigewasset River headwaters are a few miles from our house originating at Profile Lake inside the state park.  Cascade Brook joins the Pemi which flows into the Gale River (the river with the iron furnace on it in the center of Franconia).  The reason I'm detailing all this water is to give you the understanding of what is happening with the flooding in Vermont as a result of the water dumped in the area by Hurricane Irene. 

If the path of Hurricane Irene had been 50 miles to the east, we would be having major flooding because of these small streams, medium rivers and large rivers that all flow downhill joining the Connecticut River (which runs the length of the entire border between Vermont and New Hampshire and beyond into Massachusetts and Connecticut ) and then out into the Atlantic.  Our area got 3 - 6 inches of rain over a 24 hour period - steady, but not terribly hard.  Meanwhile, 50 miles to our west (Vermont) got 6 - 12 inches of rain over the same period.  All these rivers and streams started roaring and overflowed their banks, destroyed bridges, cut power lines, and washed out roads leaving islands of people stranded inside their houses inside their towns.  Remember, lots of towns in New England are like Franconia - hydro power was the engine of their factories and industrial processes and pretty large streams flow right through them.

Today, we decided to venture out and do a hike that follows the path of one of the streams inside Franconia Notch State Park.  Drake had done this hike prior to the hurricane, but this was my first time on the hike.  Drake estimates that the amount of water in the brook and the river tripled from his last visit as a result of the hurricane.

I also have thrown in the pictures of the trip to Lost River Gorge.  We did this last week prior to Irene.   This is an area where an unknown River (why it's called 'Lost' )runs through a huge granite gorge.  In the 18th century one the of "Kinsman" boys, an early pioneer family in the area, fell through a hole and discovered this natural attraction.  It wasn't long before the Kinsman sons were attracting tourists and  charging admission to view the gorge The pictures tell the story, as always. 

 Today's hike is the first link and last week's Lost River Gorge trip is the second link.  You will see 'high water' in the Lost River Gorge pictures which helps understand why Irene was so devastating in terms of flooding - we've had record rain for August prior to the hurricane.

https://picasaweb.google.com/jalyss1/2011NewHampshireTour9TheBasinCascadeBrookHike?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-aj7C4o6_erAE#

https://picasaweb.google.com/jalyss1/2011NewHampshireTour8LostRiverGorge?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3w-fCJ1rOgfQ#