The Flume Brings New Hampshire Fall Attractions to New Heights

Editor's note: Welcome to the debut of our series on the best New England fall season attractions, destinations and places to shop, dine and stay. Today we feature a famous New England attraction, the Flume in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire...


Article and photo by Eric H.
The Flume, in Franconia Notch State Park, N.H., offers a natural greatest hits package of everything that's good about New Hampshire scenery.

The natural chasm with its wide gravel paths and boardwalks takes you through covered bridges, beautiful waterfalls and an 800-ft long gorge with a slightly scary 90-ft drop, affording amazing scenes of scenic pools glacial boulders and mountain views. Visitors can enjoy the Flume in two different ways -- walking through the gorge or taking on the moderate challenge of walking the two-mile loop (with inclines and what seems like a lot of stairs).

The visitor center is impressive, also, with an information center, gift shop, cafeteria and auditorium featuring videos of the notch.

Fall time clearly allows for the best Flume experience when peak fall foliage (usually early to mid-October) lends a wonderland of often spectacular colors virtually everywhere you look. Because the Franconia State Park region traditionally lends some of the most striking foliage in New England, the Flume always ranks a "notch" above the pack for leaf peeping fans.

For a visual of the Flume, check out this video from flumegorge.com:



The Flume
Exit 34A Off Route 93
Franconia Notch State Park, N.H.
Tel. (603) 823-5661

Additional editor's note: Please call the New Hampshire fall foliage hot line at 1-800-258-3608 for forecasts and updates on regional colors. To make reservations at local hotels, we recommend browsing the VisitingNewengland.com Franconia lodging page