Forty years ago, when our children were young, no summer would be complete without a week's stay in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  We would rent a housekeeping cottage, sometimes one on a lake that would feature loons, great blue herons, and boat around the lake, swim in it, take nature trails and thoroughly enjoy our close commune with nature.

As the children became older we became bolder and began to explore the mountain trails in the Presidential Range, gradually becoming accustomed to long hours of uphill climbing to finally reach a summit and look out on the mountain range laid out before us, one mountain top after another, the sky looming large above.

And then there were tamer, far more accessible places where little-to-no energy output was required to enable us to view nature's infinite grandeur and beauty at close scale.  Like Sabbaday Falls off the Kancamagus highway, between Lincoln and Conway, at Albany, New Hampshire.  This is a site not to be missed.  With little effort one walks alongside Sabbaday brook on a wide, well-travelled trail that takes the traveller to the gorge and a series of stairways leading to wonderful views of this powerful and lovely fall.

This time around, it was one of the places we returned to with memory guiding us.  It has changed quite a bit since we first observed it so many years ago.  Not the elemental geological features of the falls itself, nor its surrounds, but the access points that have been thoughtfully built around it to enable people to view it at closer range through a series of rough log stairs and open fencework.

Little wonder early settlers in the area used to congregate at the falls after church attendance, to share with one another this awesome spectacle of nature's beauty.

The spectacular views of nature's primal creations take no effort and are worth planning for.