Scenes of April, White Mountains – Here in the New Hampshire White Mountains, the weather we have had during the month of April has been your typical, unsettled crazy New England weather. The last few days, the daytime temperatures have been more of what we would expect in late October and November, and it has been snowing on and off. I still have not put the snowshoes away yet for the season.

I love the month of April, the snow is slowly melting away making the waterscapes interesting and somewhere in the state of New Hampshire flowers are starting to bloom. It won't be long before the landscape of the White Mountains is lush green, and we are wearing shorts again. Earth Day is also celebrated this month, which is an annual event that many consider to be the birth of the modern environmental movement.

The brooks and rivers are flowing pretty good right now in the White Mountains region. Photographers can find nice waterscape scenes along some of the roadside brooks in the White Mountains, but there is still a lot of ice and snow covering many of the bigger waterfalls. With warmer weather expected during the next few weeks the big waterfalls should look better than they do now.

I spent one day this month on the New Hampshire coast photographing old stone walls at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye. I started the day on Rye's rocky shoreline in an area where someone has been building many rock structures (above). We use to refer to these structures as “rock people”. They look pretty cool and make great photo subjects. From the coast, I made my way to Pawtuckaway State Park to photograph block foundations.

About twenty years ago, I remember Odiorne Point State Park as being very overgrown, but a lot of effort has been made since then to cut back the shrubbery that was taken over the park. Many of the stone walls (above) are now visible for all to see. And if you enjoy New Hampshire history you will love exploring the old bunkers of Fort Dearborn that remain at Odiorne Point. The big maple trees found throughout the park are awesome!

One day this month I spent a day shooting in the area of the abandoned 1800's hill farming community along South Landaff Road, off Cobble Hill Trail, in Landaff, New Hampshire. Just a short distance from the trailhead along Cobble Hill Trail is a great cascade along Dearth Brook (above).

Bonus – I am going to end April's blog article with an update to a past blog article. Some of you have been following my work in Kinsman Notch, shooting the tributaries of Lost River. One of the nagging questions I have had about Kinsman Notch is why are so many of the tributaries of Lost River unnamed? Well, it turns out three of the tributaries are named. And my favorite cascade goes by the name of Waternomee Brook Cascades.

I can’t take any credit for discovering the names of these three tributaries. All credit goes to Steve Smith, owner of the Mountain Wanderer Bookstore. He made my day earlier this month when he emailed me the name of an old book that references the tributaries in question. I have updated my article on the tributaries of Lost River with the proper names, and you can read it here.

All of the above images can be licensed for publications by clicking on the image you are interested in. And you can view more images from the month of April here.

Happy image making..

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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.