Travel With Whippets: The White Mountains of New Hampshire

Roger here... Goodbye Maine, Hello New Hampshire. A four-hour drive from Bangor, Maine led us to North Conway, New Hampshire --- land of outlet malls, tourist traffic, and bear/moose statues.

Our Campsite....

Lots of Young Families

Our full-hookup back-in campsite (I had requested a pull-through) was fairly large. The outdoor living area and camper parking area is dirt.

Lots of Inner Tubes

In many respects it reminds us of Turkey Run State Park in Indiana --- lots of people, lots of young kids on bikes, lots of inner tubes, lots of partying.

We like watching the kids ride bikes here, but had to be extremely careful to not get hit by them as they speeded by us to get air over the numerous speed bumps.

(Don't get the wrong idea -- we are not old grumps; we really do enjoy seeing young families having fun times and, believe me, the kids here are having a ball -- D.)

There were many amenities here in addition to the river fun, especially for young families: wagon rides, laser tag, fun cycle and golf cart rentals, really nice playgrounds, a "gem mining" station, small baseball diamond, heated pool, giant chess -- the list goes on and on.

Dianne and I took advantage of the nearby Saco River that was just steps from our site.

The water was shallow and very clear. Before we leave we intend to spend more time there.

This hiking trail was only a few feet from our site --- a good place for the dogs to get some exercise.

BTW. The WiFi at our site was excellent.

There were trees all around, but during the hot afternoon hours, our site had no shade. The situation was easily solved with our red cabana umbrella. We also bought a patio rug to minimize the dirt situation. Back to the umbrella, it gave us a sense of privacy in a busy area during evening happy hours.

Despite the location and amenities, there were some irritating situations that will keep us from returning: They lock the main gate at 11:00 p.m. with no means to get out or in. Between the office/general store/activity center another armed gate requires a code to get to the camping area. It also requires a code to leave the camping area. The only dumpsters are located a quarter of a mile from our site. You need quarters to pay for showers (25 cents for 5 minutes, but they are very clean and nice). The cable connection was so fuzzy that it was not watchable. There is a surcharge for every night you stay with a dog, per dog. They require that you pay for the full reservation at the time of booking. They raised our dog surcharge by $14 after our reservation was made and attempted to charge us for the increase (they did remove the increase). They lock up the very nice dog park at sunset (no problem), but do not unlock it until three hours after sunrise.

This was our most expensive per/day location of our entire four-month trip. The stay here was certainly doable. We liked our neighbors. However, it was not relaxing and was often frustrating.

Kancamagus Drive (White Mountain National Forest) ....

Enough of the venting! On our first full day we fully enjoyed a spectacular all-day loop drive through the White Mountains. The 34-mile Kancamagus Highway was an excellent starting point --- no advertising, low speed limits, numerous interesting stops.

The Albany Covered Bridge, built in 1858 is still used by car traffic. It is extremely sturdy.

The bridge was renovated in 1970.

The water of the Swift River, below the bridge, was crystal clear as with all the rivers in this part of New Hampshire.

After walking across the bridge, we hiked for a while along the river on well-groomed Nanamocomuck ski trail.

One more look at the Swift River taken from the covered bridge before moving on.

A few miles further down the road we stopped at the parking area of Sabbaday Falls.

The half-mile walk through the woods and up to the falls was uphill, but easy. The views of the stream next to the trail were calming.

In a short while we sensed the familiar sound of rushing water. We knew we were near when we saw the wooden catwalks ahead.

The white water roaring into the narrow gorge was fun to watch.

The catwalks provided a variety of angles to view the plunging water.

Back to the SUV --- multiple scenic turn-offs reminded us that we were in the middle of a mountain range.

Our last stop before exiting the Kancamagus Scenic Highway was at Lincoln Woods.

A fairly long suspension footbridge crossed the Pemigewasset River.

Correctly spelling the names of the rivers, roads, and towns in this area is a challenge. Forget any attempts trying to pronounce them :-)

The picture below highlights a view from the bridge of this splashy, boulder-strewn river. I would not enjoy kayaking through this frenetic mess.

We walked along the river for 20 minutes before heading back to the suspension bridge. Dianne snapped a picture of this interesting boulder seemingly trapped by the roots of a tree.

(What the photo does not show are the two small pine trees growing on top of the boulder. You can make out their roots at the top of the photo -- D.)

Franconia Notch State Park....

At the western terminus of the Kancamagus Highway we turned north to traverse Franconia Notch State Park. The rock formation of the "Old Man of the Mountain" (the state symbol of New Hampshire) used to be the centerpiece of the park. It unexpectedly slid off the side of the mountain in 2004, so there was really nothing to photograph. However, the state park had other assets. We bypassed the crowded and expensive "flume". (We had experienced a very similar formation in the Canadian Rockies).

Instead we parked at a less crowded and free water feature named The Basin. Henry David Thoreau called The Basin the most remarkable curiosity of its kind in New England.

It really was remarkable. The water swirled from side to side on multiple levels as it cascaded into rock walls --- first one way and then another.

After a confusing multidirectional trip over and between the rocks, the water eventually plunged into an emerald green basin.

I have been told by a friend that swimming in the basin was at one time allowed, but no longer.

Dianne took a few pictures on the walk back to the SUV from this impressive feature.

(Dianne again: the photo below is the same boulder I photographed and commented on earlier. Returning back up the trail, I noticed and photographed the two small pine trees growing on the top):

The loop drive with all the side trips took most of the day. It was time to get back to the campsite for some serious rest before our next day's adventure.

Day Two --- Kayaking on the Saco River...

One of the reasons that we selected the Saco River Camping Area for our stay was the advertised kayaking trips. We reserved a spot in a tandem kayak for a five-mile paddle. As it turns out we were the only takers for the trip that sunny and warm day.

We were transported to a spot five-miles upstream by a friendly campground employee. He explained the route and gave suggestions regarding how to avoid possible portaging in some of the shallow areas. He took our kayak off the transport trail and pointed toward the river. Carrying/dragging it to the river was not an easy task. The double kayak was much heavier than I remember single kayaks being. It was especially difficult during the longish section of river rocks near the water.

Persistance and determination paid off. It was time to paddle.

The water was so clear. There were several shallow sections as the water meandered downstream. There were also several very deep areas, but the bottom of the stream was always visible.

The water moved quickly in some of the narrow areas, but I would not classify those areas as rapids. There were some stretches where the water flow seemed stagnant. We often passed by flotillas of people who were floating down the river on inner tubes. They were not working as hard as we were. Kayaking is an activity that I truly love, and it is great exercise.

Pure Joy

Our exit point at the campground appeared on the other side of this railroad trestle. We completed the five-mile paddle in two hours. I am so glad we did it.

We will conquer Mt. Washington in the next post --- by cheating -- on the Cog Railway.

Dianne's Teensy-Weensy Trailer Tip:

One major difference from traveling in our motor home is the lack of refrigerator, freezer and pantry space for food. I knew I'd have to completely re-think my old way of doing things, which was to stock the pantry and cook and freeze ahead for trips. Now we have to shop more often and cook as we go.

I did not want to spend valuable vacation time researching through my recipes to make frequent shopping lists. When preparing for the trip, I decided to make myself a small cookbook with accompanying shopping lists that I could quickly use for planning and shopping.

I purchased a small 7 1/2" x 9" binder, and dressed it up with a picture of a puzzle I had completed last winter. I already had all the recipes, so it was a simple matter of printing them out in the proper format for a small cookbook and laminating the pages. (I have over a thousand recipes on my laptop computer -- which I left at home, because of its size and weight -- collected since 1970, even before I was married!)

Since I'm mainly using my instant pot and George Foreman grill and trying to stay keto, I focused on quick and easy recipes that would help us stick to our diet.

I tried to keep our itinerary in mind when choosing the recipes. I made this recipe the other day after finding some good, local cod in Maine:

When shopping for upcoming one-night stopovers, I can quickly look at this page and buy what I need for easy throw-together supper after a driving day: