Kancamagus Highway

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Lincoln New Hampshire

   Lincoln is a mountain town that plays the role of ski village in winter and gateway in summer. It sits on the Pemigewasset River, in a bowl of the White Mountains, with Loon Mountain's slopes rising behind and the dramatic cut of Franconia Notch just to the north. On the east side of town, the road named after a seventeenth-century Penacook leader, Kancamagus, starts its climb into the national forest.

   Read the complete Lincoln New Hampshire write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lincoln New Hampshire is where the day begins. Next is Kancamagus Pass.

2. 2. Kancamagus Pass

   Locals call it the Kanc, and every autumn it carries a procession of cars, bikes and cameras through the White Mountains of New Hampshire to see the leaves. The highway, New Hampshire 112, runs thirty-four miles between Conway and Lincoln, and the high point, Kancamagus Pass at 2,855 feet, sits in the middle of the national forest, with spruce and birch forest around it and an overlook looking out over the ridges. It is not a dramatic height, but the effect, rolling green mountains stacked to the horizon, is one of the finest in the eastern United States.

   Read the complete Kancamagus Pass write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kancamagus Pass comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Sabbaday Falls, mostly downhill.

3. 3. Sabbaday Falls

   Sabbaday Falls is the waterfall you can reach in your riding boots. A short, well-made path leads from the roadside car park through hemlock and birch woods for about a third of a mile to a three-step cascade where the Sabbaday Brook squeezes through a narrow granite flume, drops in a series of pools and finishes in a green basin. The stone is smooth and pale, the water is clear and cold, and a bridge and platforms let you look down into the cleft without climbing over wet rock.

   Read the complete Sabbaday Falls write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach Sabbaday Falls. Next is Conway.

4. 4. Conway

   Conway is the front door to the Kancamagus, and the road starts quietly, with a few motels and a gas station, and then plunges into the White Mountain National Forest. The Kancamagus Highway, New Hampshire Route 112, runs about thirty-four miles west to Lincoln, following the Swift River up a narrow valley and then climbing over a pass at nearly 2,900 feet, with forest on both sides and almost no buildings. The name comes from Kancamagus, a sachem of the Pennacook people in the late seventeenth century, who tried to keep the peace with English settlers before leaving the region.

   Read the complete Conway write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Conway closes the day.