The White Mountains of New Hampshire

Jul 8 -- Began exploring the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Staying in the little town of Bethlehem. Old Man in the Mountain - was a natural formation of a man’s head in a mountains… it doesn’t really exist anymore as in May 2003 it crumbled & he lost his nose, forehead and chin! Went on Gondola to top of Loon Mountain & hiked around there. Drove the Kancamagus Highway & hiked a mile to Sabbaday Falls. Continued our drive through North Conway & onto scenic highway 302.

Jul 9 -- Hiked 1.5 miles to the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park. The hike & Avalanche Falls were very impressive. Also saw a couple of the ‘famous’ covered bridges. Then on to another hike, this one to Bald Mountain & Artists Bluff. This hike was a 1.75 mile tough hike - pretty much straight up with the last part up solid rock (felt more like rock climbing). It truly was a bald mtn - we could see for miles all around - the ski runs of Cannon Mtn, Echo Lake, Vermont…. Drove to the town of Littleton to find an internet connection.

Jul 10 -- Drove the “Mt. Washington Auto Road”. Private road that took us to the 6288 ft summit (tallest peak in the east). The road was over a 4000 ft climb in 8 miles - it was a ‘white knuckle’ road for me the last 3 miles up & then back down. That part was a dirt narrow road that dropped offffffff! Lucky for me Mike does not have a fear of heights - I could never have driven it. It was pretty cloudy at the top so our visibility was limited. There is a large weather observatory (highest clocked wind of 231 mph) there as well as an old 12 room hotel that was used after the first road was completed in 1861. They actually went up in horse & buggy! The temp at the top was 54 degrees and 83 at the bottom - highest . We didn’t get enough mountain so we headed for another hike. This one was a 3 mile hike to Arethusa Falls. This was one of the toughest - it was rocky and a steep incline for 1.4 miles to the falls. The site was worth the effort - the falls were 200ft and the largest in NH.

Jul 11 -- Rain in the AM. Drove to Littleton to visit the 8th wonder of the world to Rver’s -- Walmart!

Jul 12 -- Stopped at the Mt Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods. This is a huge hotel built in 1902 - it looks out to Mt. Washington & all of the White Mountains. Hiked the 3 mile trail to Mt. Willard. This one was another steady incline up a narrow forested rocky path. Once at the top it was a “oh WOW’ view!
Tomorrow we leave for Graniteville, VT just south of Montpellier.