After a great time hiking through Crawford Notch we stopped by Cannon Mountain on the way home.
Our main adventure for the day was to take the famous Cannon Mountain Gondola. Somehow, in all my years of visiting the white mountains I had never done this super popular activity! There's even a free museum in the building with some great history.
The ride itself doesn't take very long, and there's a wonderful guide on board who will fill you in on history and stories along the way. Once you arrive at the top you can grab a snack and relax in the dated ski lodge or head out to find the viewing platform like we did.
This very short cliff side stroll is full of incredible views... that were mostly obscured by the clouds when we arrived. We patiently took our time and were thankfully rewarded when the skies cleared up. This is probably the best view in Franconia notch that doesn't require hiking!
I would definitely say this was a nice change of pace after the previous day of serious hiking. The platform is very large and provides 360 degree views. This part of New Hampshire is just so beautiful that this view is worth the price of admission. Once things got crowded we began to head back.. this is when we realized there's a super short trail back, just in case anyone is in danger of missing their ride down.
The ride down seemed even faster and with the clouds gone I marveled at the view. Artists Bluff can be seen the entire time and it looks like such a tiny hill from this perspective! We finished our day with a bike ride, the video of which will hopefully never see the light of day. We both need some practice...
Bonus: Last year we visited this area and had some extra photos and footage I forgot about since they didn't make it into any of the other videos. Boise rock is near Cannon Mt. and Profile Plaza is attached to the same parking lot, so I thought I would share those memories here in case you'd like to add them to your itinerary as well.
You can see Boise rock in my video, I actually didn't bother to take a photo. If there's anything in Franconia worth skipping, it's this road side attraction. A rock with a large undercut.. and that's about it. There's a wild story attached to this site about a man having to kill and sleep in his horse to survive the cold weather but that's about it.
Profile plaza on the other hand is pretty awesome. As a child I was able to visit and see the Old Man on the Mountain. This iconic symbol of New Hampshire crumbled from the side of the mountain some years ago. In a memorial to it's existence this park was created. Not only is it a gorgeous spot at the foot of the mountain and a small lake, it has an ingenious feature.
As you can see in the photo, the face is gone. But the plaza is full of these strangely shaped metal rods. If you look at the ground there are foot prints to stand on. Each set has a list of heights written to indicate where you should stand. Being 6 feet tall I located my appropriate pair of foot prints and stood in place, looking up at the metal rod and then I saw it..
Ladies and Gentleman... whoever designed all of this is a genius. The history and beauty of the area really makes this a worthy addition to any stop in Franconia Notch. And with that my short trip was over, on to the next one!
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