The Kancamagus Highway crosses the White Mountains of New Hampshire for some fifty-five kilometres between Lincoln and Conway, and for all that distance there is not a single gas station, restaurant or shop. That is what makes it special: one of the most beautiful roads in New England, through unbroken forest, along rivers and over a mountain pass, with nothing commercial to interrupt it. This stop lies near its western end, close to Lincoln and North Woodstock, where the road leaves the valley and begins to climb.
The highway is named after Kancamagus, a seventeenth-century sachem of the Pennacook people, who tried to keep peace with the English settlers before being driven north. The road was completed in the late 1950s and paved through in the 1960s, and it has been protected from development ever since.
In late September and early October, when the maples, birches and beeches turn red, orange and gold, the Kancamagus becomes one of the most famous foliage drives in America, and the traffic can be bumper to bumper on weekends. At other times of year it is quiet, with moose in the wetlands at dawn and dusk.
The Swift River runs alongside the eastern half of the road, and at the Lower Falls, a series of granite ledges and pools, people swim and sunbathe on hot summer days. Sabbaday Falls, a short walk from the road, is a narrow gorge with a waterfall. Parking at the trailheads requires a recreation pass, available from self-service stations.
The riding is a joy, with long, flowing bends, a steady climb to the pass and a winding descent. The surface is good, but frost heaves can be sharp in spring. Fill up in Lincoln before you start, and carry food and water.