New Hampshire

 When last we saw our intrepid travelers, they were in Vermont. After two nights with the Lawrence clan based in Saxtons River, VT, they continued on east, spending an evening in New Hampshire…


The evening of Tuesday October 15th, we spent at Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire, home to the Old Man of the Mountain, the famous stone face referenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was a nice place to camp, and not too far from our route east.

An outcrop in Franconia Notch.  It was the first real mountain we'd seen since Idaho.

The morning of the 16th, we headed south and pulled over pretty quickly to check out signs pointing to the Appalachian Trail (AT), as I've got a little fascination with the thing. We got on a trail that is a spur off the AT, and is also part of the Pemi Trail that goes through Franconia Notch State Park. The Pemi Trail is named after the Pemigewasset River, which runs through the park. We hiked down the trail a good way, admired a squirrel that was busily preparing for the winter, and then spent a fun chunk of time playing amid boulders in a brook (or creek or river) by the trail.

There's a little squirrel by the knot in the downed tree

The trail we hiked.

Playing amongst boulders.

Pretty rock and mineral textures!

Different, but similar, rocks.

Eyrene getting all into telling me about the boulder she's standing on.

It's a pretty world.

Nature does fascinating things.

The Rialta next to a tree flashing some gorgeous color. It's a little windy, too.

After the hike, we headed south again, driving to a mountain biking spot that Rob had read about. It was called the Brown Bog Trail, and was in some lovely land, as you can see.

Pretty trees and leaves!

Rob riding in a gorgeous landscape.

We cut the ride a little short due to me burning myself out on a long slog uphill early in the ride, and then the terrain got a little rougher than I was quite up for, but it was still a good ride in a very pretty area.

After the bike ride, we finally started heading east for the day. We got on the Kancamagus Highway, admired many a pretty view, and enjoyed the winding roads.

Leaves on the Kancamagus Highway.

MOAR leaves!

After cruising the Kancamagus Highway, we drove on into the evening, towards Maine.


That's all for this entry, folks. Join us next time to see what adventures Rob and Eyrene got into in Maine!