Waterfall Wednesday

The weather turned out to be as forecast but luckily it was just drizzling by 9 AM so eight  hearty adults, one small baby and five dogs went on our hike in Cornish on West Pass Rd.

This road takes us by a wonderful waterfall and abuts the blow-me-down brook.  I'll have to look up the origin of this name to add later. At the end is a gate to the private game park (Corbin Park) where privileged individuals can hunt elk, wild boar and other game animals..  I don't understand the attraction when there are many rural areas to hunt for free.

I took some photos but my camera had low battery warnings so I hope a few came out and can be posted.

If you leave the trail on the opposite side of the road by the waterfall, it leads you to an old sawmill cellar hole but the bridge over the brook from here was washed out during one of our tropical storms (Irene?). This leads you to large trail system known as the composer trails .  The Bach trail starts from here.

The cool drizzle meant no black flies but it was very humid and of course damp in this area.

Four of us stopped in at the Cornish store for coffee and met a gentleman who has lived in the area  since 1941.  We learned there were 17 mills between the hills of Cornish and the Connecticut River at one time.   We also learned more about the composer trails.  He said the lady slippers were out behind his house.  I guess we better go check!

After doing some research I found out the name of the sawmill ,  Jonathan Wyman!  The blow-me-down name origin is still unknown, one blogger thought it might have been named by St Gaudens  as a joke.  The brook starts near our hike and meanders through Cornish, then Plainfield (Hell Hollow and Mill Village) and then back to Cornish (Squag City).  The covered bridge by the waterfall in Squag city is called the blow-me-down covered bridge (over the gorge)  and of course the famous blow-me-down mill is on 12A  just below the Saint Gaudens site.  The brook flows for over 12 miles before entering the Connecticut River by the Windsor covered bridge.

As usual, a very interesting and rewarding hike

Seven of the hikers and baby Charlotte (who you need to find), plus the five dogs. Before that, the waterfall and  the remains of the old mill