[3/4 time]

It was 65 degrees Saturday when we started up the Champney Fall Trail off the Kancamagus. My son and I couldn’t resist the warm sunny weather so headed for New Hampshire to check out some of the waterfalls. Pitcher Falls and Champney Falls were well worth the struggle to hike in. Champney, especially was thundering.
The snow and ice on the trail were rotting. There wasn’t enough for snowshoes and we had forgotten our micro spikes. It was slippery in spots and on the Champney Falls loop the snow was sometime 3 feet deep with every sixth step a post hole. A lot of water was running off Chocorua with new streams undermining the snow and ice crust. Sometimes when you broke through there were several inches of ice water awaiting your boot. Still, it was shorts and no shirt hiking as it reached 75 by the time we finished the loop.
Next we went to Ripley Falls over in Crawford Notch. Another tough go in spots with rotting snow and ice and some of the streams coming off the mountains were roaring with a heavy water flow making their crossing sometimes more of a challenge than we wanted. Ripley Falls was absolutely spectacular. It was 79 degrees at the trail head but at the falls it must have been in the 40’s.
We spent the night at the Highland Center.
The next morning we drove over to Silver Cascade - incredible. From there we went over to Pinkham Notch to Glen Ellis Falls which was dramatic. The water was thundering over the falls kicking up a cold spray and creating rainbows. It was 70 degrees at the trail head, but the water made it cool by the falls.
From here we drove over to Jackson Falls. The volume and power of the water was impressive. On the way back along the Kanc we stopped at Lower Falls and Rocky Gorge as the Swift River was high and racing right along. All the rivers, Saco, Ellis, Wildcat, Rocky Branch, Pemi were running strong.
We attempted to end the trip with a hike up Rattlesnake over by Squam, but parking is an issue as all the parking lots are closed. The signs indicated until May 1. There is parking along the road, but because of the number of people there, we decided to head home.
The water is high with runoff this time of year anyway in the White’s, but add in all the rain and it is really spectacular right now.