Cooks Crossing

After a day of travelling, it's time to do some hiking again. However, with the torrential rain yesterday everywhere is pretty soggy and slippery.
Hence we opted for some easier trails with not much climbing and scrambling over rocks and roots.

In the morning, we went to Diana's Baths which lie along Lucy Brook which is fed from Big Attitash Mountain.
It's an area with many rocks, ledges and cascading falls surrounded by the national forest. The cascading falls measure approximately 75 feet in total height.
In the summer the pools in the brook invite to swim or at least dipping to cool down.
Right now, the cascading falls are pretty strong and noisy. No way would I want to go in there.

For the afternoon, we went for a rather unusual sight: Hiking the Mineral Site Trail (also in the White Mountains National Forest) leads to an active Rock hounding site.

Rock hounding - not a word I came across before - is searching for and collecting rocks, fossils, or minerals.

We met the Park Ranger at the entrance of the hiking trail and she explained that we could 'mine' for rocks at the Mineral Site and take up to a 5 gallon bucket home with us. One needs a permit to do so but that's just filling out a piece of paper and doesn't cost anything

The trail winds through the woods and along a brook. When we got to the site there were two true 'Rockhounders' lying in the mud, digging holes and excavating rocks.

Chatting to one of them she showed us some of her finds - a small piece of pretty looking smoky quartz. She also said, it's her sister's 60th birthday and that's what she wanted to do this on her special day.

Must admit what she showed us, looked pretty (even if tiny), but I am going to do something else on my birthday 🤣🤣

Didn't stop Fergus to do a bit of digging though 😬Read more