We instead drove highway 112 from Conway to Lincoln, also known as the Kancamagus Highway, known for its beautiful scenery and waterfalls along the way. It’s about about 1 hour and 15 minutes from there if you take the most direct route (which we didn’t). We had spent the previous day at Mount Washington in New Hampshire which you can read about here. It’s near a few different skiing resorts including Loon Mountain Resort and Canon Mountain Ski Resort and towns that are not far include Woodstock and Lincoln. The Gorge is located in the north central part of New Hampshire. After seeing pictures of it, I couldn’t wait to visit. I had not heard of this spot before doing research while planning our route for our New England Road Trip in the summer of 2021. The same storm deepened the gorge and formed Avalanche Falls.The Flume Gorge is an 800 foot natural gorge located in Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. A heavy rainstorm in June 1883 started a landslide that swept the boulder from its place. She had trouble convincing her family of the marvelous discovery, but eventually persuaded others to come and see for themselves.Īt that time, a huge, egg-shaped boulder hung suspended between the walls. The Flume was discovered in 1808 by 93-year-old "Aunt" Jess Guernsey when she accidentally came upon it while fishing. Erosion is still occurring.ĭiscovery The Flume's hanging boulder before its 1883 fall (colorized) As one walks through the Flume Gorge, at the floor one may notice remnants of the main basalt dike, and that small trees are growing on the walls of the gorge. The highly fractured granite and basalt have been eroded by frost action and by the brook's water. After the Ice Age, Flume Brook began to flow through the valley again. It partially filled the valley with glacial debris and removed soil and weathered rock from the vicinity. The gorge was covered by glaciers during the Ice Age, but the ice sheet did not greatly change the surface. The basalt dikes eroded faster than the surrounding Conway granite, creating a deepening valley where the gorge is now. As the overlying rock was worn away, pressure was relieved and horizontal cracks developed, allowing water to get into the rock layers. Had this material ever reached the surface, it would have become lava flows.Įrosion gradually lowered the earth's surface and exposed the dikes. Because of this quick cooling, the basalt is a fine-grained rock. The basalt crystallized quickly against the relatively cold granite. The basalt came from deep within the earth as a fluid material, and because of pressure, was able to force the Conway granite aside. Sometime after the fractures were formed, small dikes of basalt were forced up along the fractures. As it cooled, the granite was broken by closely spaced vertical fractures that lay nearly parallel in a northeasterly direction. Nearly 200 million years ago in the Jurassic period, the Conway granite that forms the walls of the Flume was deeply buried molten rock. Discovered in 1808 by 93-year-old "Aunt" Jess Guernsey, the Flume is now a paid attraction that allows visitors to walk through it from May 10 to October 20. Cut by Flume Brook, the gorge features walls of Conway granite that rise to a height of 70 to 90 ft (21 to 27 m) and are 12 to 20 ft (3.7 to 6.1 m) apart. The Flume Gorge (locally, just The Flume) is a natural gorge extending 800 ft (240 m) horizontally at the base of Mount Liberty in Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire, United States. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations.
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