Our cabin was cool rather than cold to wake up in and the views outside were overcast so nothing too ambitious made sense for the day. We ate breakfast, prepared a lamb casserole in the slow cooker we found, put together sandwiches and again donned our warmest gear before heading a little north to the Franconia Notch area where we'd identified a walk with no summit climbs and plenty of river stretches to provide interest in another tree-surrounded day.

Our trail climbed quite steeply for a over a mile to Lonesome Lake where we stopped for lunch and admired the views of trees and cloud, again! The relatively gentle (according to the map and contours) descent proved a little eventful. Firstly, the immediate descent via the Cascade Trail was undergoing renovation after flood damage and was difficult in terms of providing easy footing. We had seen a warning that a bridge had been washed away but that the stream was only impassible when in flood so we were not overly concerned (we wonder if you're guessing what is to come?).

Things were looking up generally, the weather warmed a little and we found a picturesque stretch of tumbling water where we could try out some long exposure photography. While we were messing about with cameras we met and chatted to fellow hikers Carolyn and her Swedish friend who were interested in our photograph technique and also suggested a couple of good hikes in the area. Moving on we were quite relaxed, scrambling our way down the track blissfully unaware of what lay ahead.

What lay ahead was the bridgeless crossing of Cascade Brook. A crossing place was indicated by the new route of the trail but it looked to be a real challenge. And challenge it was. Dave found what looked like a tolerable route across the rocks, streams and pools but disaster struck as Jill slipped down a large rock that Dave had deemed to be 'safe' and as Dave was holding her hand to help her balance he followed suit only more-so. Jill ended up siting in shallow but chilly water whereas Dave tumbled forward and was drenched up to the waist and elbows. We picked up a few bruises from the tumble and Dave's camera bag was momentarily immersed.

Fortunately the weather was warming and Jill was able to take off her top layer of trousers and we didn't feel overly cold despite our wet and bedraggled appearances as we continued our descent now on the Basin-Cascade Trail. As we followed the far bank of the stream our trail grew increasingly narrow, steep and indistinct. However, underfoot the signs were clear that we were not the first to pass this way and sure enough we were soon caught up by another intrepid but bemused walker. Checking the map we decided we must have missed a river crossing and we backtracked to find Carolyn and her friend scrambling back across the brook - again without any obvious bridging or rock steps.

This time we decided on the 'shallow wade technique' which meant another wetting for our feet but safety from a full soaking and crossed without further major mishap. Thus we descended down to the valley and the Pemigewasset River. It must have warmed up as we felt comfortable stopping at the interesting stream-weathered rocks to play with more long exposure shots that captured the water flow. Finally, as dusk approached we walked briskly along two miles of pleasant and uneventful Pemi River Trail back to the Lafayette Campground where we were parked.

Back at our cabin it was clear that our lamb casserole was a little too slow-cooked and Jill had to take remedial action with the microwave and a frying pan whilst Dave worked on fire lighting. The end results were a warm, cosy cabin; delicious, tender lamb and another relaxed evening.