The east side of the Kancamagus Highway is anchored by Lincoln. There are also great locations north of Lincoln in the Franconia State Park.

See our last blog post about driving the “Kanc” which I recommend doing twice, once west to east and once, east to west, preferably at sunrise-ish and sunset-ish.

We spent a delightful morning in Franconia Notch State Park. First, we did a sunrise shoot at The Basin. The Basin, itself is a granite pothole 25 feet in diameter and 15 feet deep with an eight foot waterfall that cascades into it via the Pemigwasset River. It has a beautiful green tint to the transparent water. The Basin area also has numerous other small waterfalls and cascades. This area is prefect for pre sunrise shooting. As soon as the sun comes up and hits the water, it’s too bright. Great place for hiking too.

The most popular feature of this state park is The Flume Gorge. The Gorge is 800 feet long with 90-foot tall walls. You walk the length of the gorge on a wooden boardwalk that is only a few feet wide.

You must buy “timed” tickets in advance. The hike is two miles on a one way loop, that has a 500 foot elevation gain on the outward mile and the same loss on the inward mile. There are hundreds of stairs.

There is a very nice visitors center with food, a store, and nice bathrooms. Parking is free, but the gorge costs $18-21 to enter. There are a limited number of tickets per hour so best to buy in advance.