The Ice Box & Crop

I wanted to capture NH's most impressive gorge in the winter, so I visited last week during a nice dump of snow - hoping it would create the pristine conditions i was after.  In the summer, the place is a madhouse of visitors and not that interesting to me unless it is raining - which drives off the bus loads of people and you could have the place to yourself to explore.  A boardwalk is installed during the summer for access, then removed in the fall to prevent it from being destroyed by the ice and water that flow through it in the spring.  The boardwalk makes getting wide angle images difficult with including the boardwalk, so visiting while it is not  in place is more to my liking.  Removing it may be also be part of the park's strategy to limit access in the winter as it can be a dangerous place with overhanging icicles several feet long.  I may have arrived a little to late, as mush of the water flow had already been covered by ice but there was a nice fresh coating of snow on everything which I may not have had had I gone a couple days earlier.  I didn't have all of the right safety gear with me on this trip, but when I returned 2 days later even less of the water was visible and the nic dusting of snow was gone. 

I would consider this a box canyon, as the far end which is well out of view ends somewhat abruptly as Flume Brook drops over Avalanche Falls to enter the gorge.

810D, 16-35mm, ISO 100, .5 sec., polarizing filter