New Hampshire: On The Road 5.1

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Pandemic Travel Wardrobe

Howdy! After shortening our winter/spring roadtrip by about 50% we finally got back on the road for a short adventure. Based on the title above you have probably figured out that we journeyed up the road apiece from our home base in Connecticut to the Granite State, New Hampshire. This trip was intended to “test the waters” for travel conditions in the new normal of the forever pandemic. Our choice of New Hampshire reflected its proximity, the fact we had not visited the state in some time and the state is welcoming visitors from all of the other New England states.

View from Bald Mountain, Franconia Notch

We visited Nashua and Manchester briefly on our trip north to the White Mountains but our main focus in New Hampshire was on camping and hiking.

The White Mountain National Forest offers significant camping options as well as a seemingly infinite amount of hiking options. We were fortunate to have very comfortable and mostly sunny weather which made for some wonderful (and occasionally strenuous) hiking.

Hiking in New Hampshire is so rewarding with its abundance of streams, rivers, lakes and waterfalls to be found along the way not to mention the views from the ridgelines and summits.

Franconia Falls, Lincoln, New Hampshire
View from Pine Mountain, Gorham, New Hampshire
Cherry Lake, Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge
Beautiful Stands of Birch Trees are Scattered Throughout the Forest
Riding the Trails near Gorham, New Hampshire

Littleton, hard on the Ammonoosuc River, was one of our favorite small towns in the Franconia Notch area. It has a well preserved downtown with a variety of shops as well as a number of eateries right along the river. Of course, best of all there was an excellent coffee shop with ooutdoor seating on the riverbank (Inkwell Coffee & Tea).

Bridal Veil Falls, Moultonborough, New Hampshire
Franconia, New Hampshire

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in New Hampshire and plan to explore all of northern New England on a more comprehensive basis at some point in the future. Next stop: a short swing into Maine to visit friends in Boothbay Harbor and then visit the beautiful city of Portland.

Be seeing you!

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the art and coffee photo galleries in the sidebar.

Box – Death Hollow Wilderness Area

On Wednesday we hiked in the Box Canyon within the Box – Death Hollows Wilderness Area which is located in the Dixie National Forest. The Spring Creek flows through the canyon and requires numerous crossings of the creek to proceed up the canyon. This area is very different from the nearby Escalante desert with a mix of red rock canyon walls and towering Ponderosa Pines. The creek was running high from late winter snow melt so we eventually had to get our feet wet on several of the creek crossings. Our hike took about 4.5 hours in which time Maria and I had the canyon completely to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

Hells Backbone Road Scenic Backway

Today we attempted to drive the Hells Backbone Rd.  We knew that it was unlikely we could make it through but wanted to see if we could make it to the Hells Backbone Bridge which spans Sand Creek. The Bridge is 109 feet long and 14 feet wide. The drop is 1500 feet on both sides! Unfortunately due to a late winter storm the road is closed just short of the bridge. We spoke with another traveler who proceeded past the road closure sign but turned back when he saw a vehicle ahead of him stuck in the snow.

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Not Today!