New Hampshire – October 2024 – Travels with Vinny VanGo

Franconia Notch State Park

The colors were popping in the White Mountains as we arrived at Franconia Notch State Park. Coastal Maine was just starting and thought we should go to the White Mountains for some color peeping – that’s what they call it in New

England. The White Mountains are ablaze. We camped at Cannon RV Park at Echo Lake and did a quickie .5 hike to Artist Bluff Trail which was good for a leg stretch but the palette was gravel lot. I didn’t really get it. Oh it was getting late, and we didn’t have time for the whole loop where we saw tons of people on Bald Mountain everytime we drove by and looked up.

Franconia Notch Camping

We had three days in a ten-site Cannon Mountain RV park where a single line of sites backed up to colorful trees and a huge parking lot that is also used for Echo Lake usage.

Most other NFS campgrounds in the area had no power or cell phone connection, and this was the only one that had full hook-ups. It can get cold at night, although we have not had to break out our space heater yet this trip. After riding the “Kanc”, there were several campgrounds that would have been very convenient to what seemed to be many hiking trails, something to think about for a future trip.

The Echo Lake Area has no hiking trail and is really only worthwhile if swimming or renting a paddling vessel.

It was only open Friday to Sunday during the fall foliage season, and not worth the entry fee, as there was no real hiking around the lake and it was right on the highway too. There are a few less popular hikes that lead from this parking lot plus I discovered the Franconia Bike Path which is not marked and this would be a great place to pick it up right in the middle of the 8.6 mile paved trail.

Mt Pemigewasset Trail

Although there was very little color on the trail with many already fallen brown leaves, the view when you got to the granite was incredible.

Color painted the valleys and mountains all around were exceptional. Although listed as Hard in All Trails 3.3 mile and 1259 foot elevation gain, this is usually in a comfortable reach for us. I found it to be more moderate and even a bit easy moderate because there were so nature’s well placed roots and rocks that you never had to take very few real big quad muscle exertions just step along at a comfortably onto nature’s steps as you ascended.

Comfortably tired, what is the next thing that we usually do?

Rek’lis Brewery, Bethlehem

“Just Good Porter” which it was, especially after seeing a pumpkin ale being rimmed up with Carmel and Salt and requesting this for his next “Just Good Porter”. Delicious crispy Brussels, Wings and Pretzel followed. Nice atmosphere and John got a “Make America Kind Again” button from a random lady.

Kancamagus Scenic Byway “The Kanc”

This 35 mile path through the White mountains only reaches 2855 feet, but the drive is ablaze with color. Seems like you need to have sunshine to produce/see the color so the two-lane highway is just enough to let the sun in to hatch them. And here you are so close and they are more vibrant than scanning across the massive valley when atop a mountain.

And this goes on for miles as this is all Forest Service Land. It was Thursday afternoon and close to high peeping season, but we always found parking in all of the overlook spots. Places were busy, but that’s what we expect on this top Scenic Byway in fall color season.

Rocky Gorge

This was my favorite Kanc Stop.

Here the river gorge let in the sunlight and the colors.

Sunlight through the carved rock and running water, makes for a beautiful piece of scenery.

Sabbaday Falls

Another small hike to a waterfall that has quite a right angle turn due to the occurrence of a geological fault just at the right time when a glacier decided to march through.

The hikes along the Swift River that we have done in forests don’t seem to show much color until the sun takes over.

Sugar Hill Outlook

Sugar Hill Scenic Area provided a sweeping view of the New Hampshire colors and of course Sugar Hill.

We never got to Lower Falls near Conway because the sun would be gone soon, and we still needed to enjoy the colors on the way back to camp. We decided it best to do a U-Turn and not do a small scenic loop that went through Conway as the left turn in was already jammed and not moving and this was not a windjammer cruise! But the colors were absolutely gorgeous on our ride home!

Flume Gorge

Flume Gorge looked to be the biggest tourist attraction in the area with a Visitor Center and Franconia Bike Path Entry point.

It was less busy than I would have anticipated.

We had gotten a noon reservation time for entry which did the perfect job of controlling the crowds. 11am had been sold out, we got right in at noon and I got multiple photos with no bystanders.

The gorge walk was really very well done and you got to go along rock faces and view Avalanche Falls.

down deep as well as walk above to see the cascading waterfalls like the Liberty Cascade.

And what is more picturesque than a covered bridge in a New England town among the fall colors?

The Franconia Bike Path, we had come across it at the beginning of our Mt Pemigewasset Trail, and we had 30 minutes to kill before needing to leave to visit Tom and Kathy, so up the trail we rode.

Not for long because it was a bit too steep for our Q-Bikes and we needed to put them in P-Bike mode (P=Push) for the first part. Did a bit of up and down for about ½ mile and then came to a big uphill section, ugh, so decided to call this our one and only Franconia Bike Path experience. Evidently this was a less steep section of the trail, so those E-Bikes would really be needed to enjoy this most beautiful color filled bike trail.

Ashland Area

Cold Spring Resort Condo

This 70’s townhouse in the woods was no Marriott, but it would have several important advantages for our situation. Bonus: carpet and appliances were new. Steve and Terri would be driving in from their New York adventures. Jim would need to find an overnighting place for his rig and his little Buddy too. Technically both were not pegged as welcome in the check-in materials, but there were no threats either. We had a quiet section except for the highway noise where there were very few other guests. The front desk said he could park there and no one ever bothered him. So all in all, the place was perfect and had great WiFi, and a kitchen table where we would all fit for our delightful meals and great wine. No resort fees even though nice tennis courts and a game game room were available. Our biggest facility attribute was a washing machine, although tiny, was a great convenience.

Pontoon Time on Lake Winnipesaukee

Captain Jim in command of this really nice boat at this very busy Meredith Marina.

The fall colors were being quite shy on the lake shores, but we saw some really interesting structures.

It became rather windy and we were all rather flushed for the evening, but not too flushed to hit a brewery.

The Last Chair Brewery

Great beer all around from the Peabody Pumpkin Ale to the Platter Pull Coffee Porter to the Vortex (Peach Vanilla) Milkshake these beers were fabulous.