It’s been a few months since we were on the road, and waking up in our trailer is always awesome.  In the hazy mist of dreams our first night, for some reason I was thinking of Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.  What do you mean I’m funny.  Funny how?  I mean, like a clown?  I amuse you?  If I’m dreaming about Joe Pesci you know I have deeper issues.

 

Dreams aside, we camped in Franconia Notch at the Lafayette Place Campground, a no-services state park in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, close to the Pemigewasset River.  I say no services, but there are fire rings and picnic tables at each site, there are community showers and bathrooms, and water spigots located throughout the campground.

In case you cared, water draining out of Mount Washington and the Whites basically goes east or west – east down the Saco River where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean around Biddeford, Maine, or west down the Pemigewasset River to Franklin, NH where it joins the Winnipesaukee River to form the Merrimack River, which continues to the Atlantic Ocean in Newburyport, MA.  Limnology lesson for the day.

Because this is a notch between mountains, with steep, aggressive terrain (hence the term notch), the “highway” is a two-lane road, with the river (more like a stream at this point in its journey) and the trail running alongside it, with the campground nestled on the side of the mountain – all living together in some harmony.

We spent a couple of nights here, largely for the purpose of checking out the Franconia Notch Recreation Path, an 8.7-mile hiking/biking path, which basically runs from the Flume Gorge up to Echo Lake at the base of Cannon Mountain.  Echo lake is so clear that on a sunny day you can see the bottom – 30 feet down.

We joined the trail directly from the campground and peddled up to Echo Lake, where we rode the aerial tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain – a one-mile journey that takes you up over 2,000 feet elevation.  The original tram, beginning operation in 1938, was the first aerial tramway in North America.  A single car can carry as many as 70 passengers, 35 in winter with skis, and is due to be replaced next year.  The current tram was installed in 1980.

Once at the top, we took a short hike up the Rim Trail to the summit observation deck with 360-degree views.

You are reminded immediately of the severe weather conditions that exist in the White Mountains – Mt. Washington suffers the most severe weather, with record cold temperatures and the highest wind gust recorded at 231 mph, just by looking at the trees.  But the views are still beautiful.

Let no deed go unpunished.  We rewarded ourselves with a cold beer at New Hampshire’s highest elevation tap (4,080 ft. elevation).  Check that box.

If you are a hiker, from Cannon Mountain looking across the Notch, you see the Franconia Range.  The Appalachian Trail runs along the Franconia ridgetop (Mt. Lafayette, Mt Lincoln, Mt. Haystack) and then continues along the Presidential Range (including Mt. Washington) onwards through the Maine wilderness to Mt. Katahdin in Baxter, ME.

Really, any visit to the White Mountain National Forest, whether it be from Franconia Notch, Pinkham Notch, or other locations, is sure to please, from hiking, biking, boating, or leaf peeping.  As I write this in early September, leaves are JUST beginning to turn, and the next few weeks it should be spectacular!