Lost River Gorge & Boulder Caves

I took a day off so we could do the family thing before school starts.  Kevin suggested Lost River so that is where we headed.  It was a nice day for a drive. 
If you aren't able to go up and down lots of stairs Lost River may not be the place to explore. We had fun going into the maze of caves.  Some were very dark so   Kevin used a headlamp he uses for hunting.  We ate lunch at the picnic tables.  I saw a butterfly bush in a landscaped flower bed along the path.  I saw 4 or 5 hummingbirds flying around.  They seemed to be chasing each other.  I tried to get a picture of them but there were to many people walking by.
 

After lunch Kevin and Kate took off into the caves again.  We caught up with them about half way through.

Mid afternoon we headed to Franconia Notch.  Kate, Kevin and Pam hiked to the bottom of a bridge we went to.  Mt. Lafayette was in the background.  It is probably 100 feet to the bottom.

We headed back to Rt. 112 toward Loon Mountain and the Pemigewasset River so we could relax and play on the rocks.   The river rocks were all sizes with many being very round and smooth.  This is from the water rolling the rocks down stream during big storms. 

Three days after these pictures, hurricane Irene dumped 8 to 11 inches of rain in this part of NH.

With so much water from Irene the river has washed out several sections of Rt 112.  We crossed over the Loon Mountain International Bridge which you see in the background.  After Irene, the bridge was closed and a damaged section of the bridge has now collapsed.  One Loon report said the water crested at 23 feet.