A Beary Good Day In The White Mountains! Clark’s Trading Post, Black Mountain Pond & Franconia Falls

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Clark’s Trading Post is one of my favorite summer traditions. I go at least once every summer to see the bear show, ride the train and enjoy all their fun stuff.
Becca loves Clark’s too. We were excited and couldn’t wait to see the new bear cubs Darla and Hildie. Our aim was to spend the morning at Clark’s and the afternoon on the water in the Pemi Forest.
We arrived at Clark’s just minutes before their 9:30 opening and we got in the line at the entrance of the train station.
Tickets are sold online at ClarksBears.com; in person tickets are available until the park is sold-out. The line moved rapidly as nearly everyone had pre-purchased their tickets. We waved our ticket and the clerk ink-stamped our left hand with a bear.

We had a plan to do as much as we could by noon. We hurriedly walked up Main Street to the north end of the park past the shops and museums, Blaster Boats and the Old Man Climbing Tower to arrive at Wolfie’s Segway Park. We donned helmets and received our instructions and we were off. There is no extra charge for the Segway ride, it is 3 minutes of fun and since no one was in line when our timer went off the instructors reset the timer and let us go again. We really got the hang of it and someday we’ll spring ($25) for the 45 minute Segway Safari tour.

Next we went to Merlin’s Mansion and after knocking on the door and hearing the warnings we were permitted to enter and we slipped into our seats near Merlin. Merlin’s magic accompanied by music took us through the galaxy and felt like we were upside down while we didn’t age a minute while we were inside! Everyone that works at Clark’s is so polite and fun that we believe it was really Merlin.

We arrived at the ring just in time to catch the Yandong Chinese Acrobats. We really “ooh-ed” and “ahh-ed” with wonder as the talented performer squeezed and bent her body through a small barrel right before our eyes. We marveled at their amazing feats of balancing and flexibility; we enjoyed all the acts.
The Central White Mountain Railroad’s first train ride leaves the station shortly after the show, everything is timed at the parks so visitors can go from one show to another. We walked with the crowd to board the train. All the train cars offer great viewing of the Wolfman but the car at the far end is the best to see Wolfie’s last ditch effort to stop the train before it crosses back over the covered bridge. Wolfman is loud and wild and appears to be heavily armed with explosives from ACME but the train, like the Roadrunner, is never stopped. The conductor instructs everyone to yell “Scram you old goat” at the Wolfman and we hollar with glee!

Back at the station everyone hustled off the train because it was now time for the bear show! We truly love all Murray Clark’s corny bear jokes and we joyfully clapped our hands as he introduced his sister Maureen and Showbear Echo as they entered the ring. Echo began her act by raising the Flag. Echo is a pro at bearsketball and really knows how to swing and delights in eating ice cream. 18 years ago I saw Echo and Pemi when they were just little cubs. We love them Beary much!
After Echo left the ring Darla and Hildie burst in the ring. Wow the energy, they went Bear-zerk! The two little bear cubs ran around and took quick turns at performing dozens of different acts, with a little help from Maureen and Murray. One cub is swinging and then goes off to catch a bearsketball and then runs off to balance on a ball. All the while the other cub jumped off a wheel and into a barrel and sticks its tongue out the bunghole for a lick of ice cream! They were Beary entertaining.
I don’t know how the Clark’s can keep up with them!
After the bear show we went and bought cones at their Peppermint Saloon ice cream shop. We joked that we were eating the same ice cream as the bears and it sure would taste good with blue-Beary pie. It was almost noon and time for us to leave for our next adventure.

We drove to Lincoln Woods Trailhead on the Kanc and took out our bicycles and our backpacks that held our packrafts. We jumped on our bikes and rode our bicycles almost three miles up the Lincoln Woods Trail and a short distance up the Black Pond Trail where we locked our bikes to a tree.
The hike to Black Pond was hot and humid and we Bearely could stand the heat. Thankfully we had less than 10 pounds in our packs. At the outlet of the pond there is a good view of the pointy Owl’s Head Mountain and here we used our “electric fan in the box” to blow up our packrafts. The water was shallow here and from the rocks we were able to get in our boats without getting wet.
Black Pond, according to the NH Fish&Game maps, is just 5 acres with an average depth of 17 feet and a max depth of 44 feet, wow that’s deep. The water is black and not inviting. In the shallow edges it even smelled. But out on the water we found a nice breeze. We spent more than an hour floating and paddling around the lake. From the water we were able to enjoy unique views of the mountaintops of Whaleback, Flume, Owl’sHead and Bondcliff.

Unlike the Lincoln Woods Trail at Black Pond we were the only people around.
On trees that fell into the lake a long time ago, Pitcher Plants were now growing and their bright pink and red colors stood out above the black water. They were really pretty.
We took out our boats, pushed out the air and rolled them back up. They’re no bigger than a sleeping bag and they fit right inside our backpacks.
We started walking back a few minutes and it was so hot. I suggested to Becca that we should go swimming at Franconia Falls. I took out my compass and to get my Bearings and we made the 15 minute bushwhack through the forest to hit the Franconia Brook Trail.
Lots of people were in the cold water among the sculptured rocks and ledges that make up the bed of Franconia Brook.

We dropped our packs and we took off our shoes and went Bearfoot into the cold water to swim. Bearrrrr it was cold but it felt good.
We hiked down the trail along the brook and then back to our bicycles for a fast downstream trail ride back to the car.
After a big day it was great driving home with the Bear-conditioning on to keep cool.
Have fun.