White Mountain Trail from Woodstock

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 Franconia Notch.

2. 2. Franconia Notch

   Franconia Notch is a gap in the White Mountains where a glacier once scoured a deep trough, leaving granite walls rising steeply on either side. The notch is about eight miles long, with Cannon Mountain on the west and the Kinsman and Franconia ranges on the east, and the road threads through the bottom at around 1,900 feet. The ridge above is bare rock and spruce, and the sound of wind in the trees carries down to the highway. For years the main attraction was the Old Man of the Mountain, a natural profile on a cliff face that appeared on the state's licence plates and quarter, until it collapsed in May 2003. A memorial of steel rods and plaques on the lake shore now shows where it once hung.

   Read the complete Franconia Notch write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Franconia Notch comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Crawford Notch.

3. 3. Crawford Notch

   Crawford Notch is a deep gash in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, a glacier-carved, U-shaped valley that squeezes between steep granite walls, with the road, a railway line and the headwaters of the Saco River all running through the gap at about 580 metres. The cliffs on either side rise hundreds of metres, streaked with waterfalls, and the whole setting has a drama unusual for the eastern United States. US 302 runs through the notch, a well-surfaced road with gentle gradients and moderate curves, and it is among the most scenic in New England.

   Read the complete Crawford Notch write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Crawford Notch. Next is North Conway, mostly downhill.

4. 4. North Conway

   North Conway is the busy heart of the Mount Washington Valley, a small town of about two thousand people that fills at weekends with skiers, hikers, leaf-peepers and shoppers. The reason is the setting: the valley is a broad, flat basin ringed by the high, rocky peaks of the White Mountains, with the Saco River winding slowly through meadows, and the great granite cliffs of Cathedral Ledge and White Horse Ledge rising straight above the town. Mount Washington, the highest summit in the northeastern United States at 1,917 metres, lies to the northwest, and is famous for having some of the worst weather on earth.

   Read the complete North Conway write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   North Conway, late in the day. Next is Lincoln New Hampshire.

5. 5. Lincoln New Hampshire

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   Back at Lincoln New Hampshire. That is the ride.