2017 Favorite Images, White Mountains – Another year is coming to an end. Can you believe it! It is that time of year when I look back on a year's worth of photography and share with you the images that stand out to me from 2017. But instead of doing my "ten favorite images of the year", like in previous years, I am going to do a year in review this year.

It has been a great year both in my professional life and personal life. But 2017 has been one of the strangest years I have ever had as a photographer. Over the last few years, I have been working on a few long-term photography projects. And one of these projects that focuses on the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad is currently being put into book format and will be published in the summer of 2018. And because of this the bulk of my field time this year didn’t involve photography, it involved mostly verifying information for the book.

When not working on my current book project, I spent time shooting and doing research for another long-term project I am working on. It involves Franconia Notch, and I spent a few days shooting in the area of Falling Waters Trail and Cloudland Falls (above). The history surrounding Franconia Notch is amazing!

Here in the White Mountains, we had an awesome 2017 spring waterfall season. Many of the cascades and waterfalls in the region were breathtaking. The Pemigewasset River (above), near the Flume Visitor Center, in Franconia Notch State Park was an impressive site during the spring.

Last year, while doing some research on Crawford Notch, I came across a water feature in the 1907 Guide to the Paths and Camps in the White Mountains referred to as Fleming Flume in Carroll, New Hampshire. I visited the Flume back then, but the water level was dreadfully low. So this year I revisited the Flume (above) during the spring season. The Flume looks great when the water is flowing.

In October 2017, crews were fighting a human-caused forest fire on Dilly Cliff in Kinsman Notch. These cliffs are behind the Lost River Gorge and Boulder Caves on Route 112. The smoke (above) made for an interesting scene, beautiful and scary at the same time. Days before this forest fire was discovered, I put out an unattended campfire along the Carrigain Notch Trail in the Pemigewasset Wilderness.

As you can see from the images included with this blog article, I did photograph waterfalls in 2017. The above image shows the top section of Walton's Cascade (some refer to this section as Cascade Brook Falls) on Cascade Brook in Lincoln. There are a handful of waterfalls on Cascade Brook, and the Basin-Cascades Trail travels by most of them. This is a beautiful brook to explore.

My landscape work in 2017 was almost nonexistent. And the landscape scenes that I did create were mainly created to show where historical features of the White Mountains once were. An example of this is the above scene of the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River. During the early years of the Lincoln Mill era, this was the location of the Number 1 Dam. Today, little remains of the dam.

During the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad era, the Franconia branch of the railroad ended at Thirteen Falls (above). And outdoor enthusiasts could hitch a ride on the log train to these falls. During this era, the area known today as the Pemigewasset Wilderness was privately owned and the mountainsides were stripped of timber for profit. Now in the 21st century, the railroad is long gone, and Thirteen Falls is now public land, part of the 45,000-acre Pemigewasset Wilderness. And year after year, outdoor enthusiasts of all ages explore this one of a kind wilderness. The Pemigewasset Wilderness is an exemplary example of wilderness preservation.

Greed and selfishness are hampering conservation efforts in the White Mountains. And I think it is has become critical to educate the young and old on the importance of wilderness preservation. Some of my focus this year has been to create awareness for the definition of Wilderness per section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act of 1964.

As 2017 comes to an end, I am thinking about Trestle No. 16 (above) along the abandoned East Branch & Lincoln Railroad. While verifying information for my book this year, I passed this trestle a bunch of times. Built in the early 1900s (1908 or earlier) the last log train rolled over this trestle in the 1940s. It is rotten beyond belief, but its survival is amazing. When it falls, a significant piece of logging railroad history will be lost.

As we move into the new year, I have just about closed the books on 2017. My 2018 schedule is ready and waiting, and at this point, it is time to shut down for a few days. December is the best time to shut down, so I will be taking time off to spend with family and friends, and of course to do some hiking.

If you haven’t purchased one of my 2018 White Mountains calendars yet, I do still have some available. Be safe on the trails and Happy Holidays to all of you. It has been a great year!

Happy image making..

To license any of the above images for usage in publications, click on the image.

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Erin Paul Donovan

Owner of ScenicNH Photography LLC

Erin Paul is a professional photographer, writer, and author who specializes in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the New Hampshire White Mountains. His work is published worldwide, and publication credits include: Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Backpacker Magazine, and The Wilderness Society.