New Hampshire and Vermont

(cont.)

Day 5: We drove to Gorham, New Hampshire and climbed up Mt Washington auto road with our rental car. Phew!  It was 7.6 mile journey that gains over 4,000′ in elevation! At the top, there’s a visitor center, cafeteria, gift shop, and museum. 

It cost $45 per car to go up and an additional $20 per added person so $65 total which seems slightly steep. (pun intended.)

At 6,288 feet, the summit is the highest point in the northeast. On April 12th of 1934, a wind speed of 231 miles per hour was recorded on the summit, and this remains the highest wind speed ever recorded by man.

Side note: originally Mike and I were going to rent a Polaris slingshot to go up the auto road. I think we would have froze to death!!  One thing I did not account for this trip is that 68° in Ohio is very different from 68° in the northeast. Plus, the summit was even colder! 

Day 6 We drove Kancamagus Highway and stopped at Sabbaday falls. The leaves were changing colors which made for a beautiful backdrop. The hike to the falls was easy (15 minutes maybe) and also very beautiful. Definitely recommend!

Afterwards, we drove to flume gorge. This was one of the highlights from the trip!!  I felt like I was walking in a fairytale. From their website, “The Flume is a natural gorge extending 800 feet at the base of Mount Liberty. The walls of Conway granite rise to a height of 70 to 90 feet and are 12 to 20 feet apart.” we spent over an hour here hiking and looking around… This was a 2 mile hike with a lot of stairs and uphill, but so worth it!! 

Shout out to Indian Head resort!! We loved this hotel- they even offered pedal boats and had a cool lookout tower! 

Overall, I loved New Hampshire and it was my favorite state from this trip! We had good timing as far as the leaves changing color and we really enjoyed the flume gorge!! 

Day 7: On our last day we drove to Stowe, Vermont. We stopped by Moss Glen Falls which is the tallest waterfall in the state with a drop of 85 feet. This was another short and easy hike!

We then went to the village at Spruce Peak which was pretty vacant. There’s a little village that has a hotel, shops, restaurants, and is basically a ski lovers resort in the winter time. 

We drove through Smugglers Notch state park and there is one part of the road that is really cool. It’s a very windy road and people pull over to get out and hike. There are so many huge rocks which are perfect for climbing. 

Our last stop was the Gold Brook Covered Bridge. It was built in 1844 and has since been added to the national register of historic places. 

There were more hikes and more scenic drives (another auto road) we could have done. Unfortunately by this point in the trip we were kind of done. We were pleased with the foliage, the scenic drives, and the hikes we had already accomplished and were ready to relax.

We flew out of Burlington the following day and unfortunately it took us 12 hours to get home. (I hate airports!!) 

12 more states to go!! 

Maine

Just got back from a week long trip in the northeast! I was finally able to check off Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.  (The only northeastern state I’m missing now is New Jersey which will be taken care of next year!)

We spent the most time in Maine so here is a recap of days 1-4:

Day 1: We arrived mid afternoon in Portland, Maine. The weather was cloudy and a little misty so we checked out the Portland Head Light before going to the hotel. Fort Williams Park offers trails and views which was a nice stop along the way. 

Fun fact: In 1776 soldiers were posted at Portland Head to warn citizens of coming British attacks. 

Day 2: We drove a few hours to check out Baxter State Park.  One of my new favorite trails happens to be at this park: Kidney pond!  I loved this trail because we could climb on rocks and on balance beams aka logs. :)  

We also hiked Daicey Pond, a little bit of Cranberry Pond. 

Baxter park was a little out of the way and the weather was a little cloudy, but I’m still glad we included it. There are over 215 miles of trails, more than 50 lakes and ponds, and so much more. 

Day 3 We drove a few more hours to head to Acadia. The only thing we had planned was to do an afternoon bike ride along the carriage roads. The carriage roads are super nice because no cars are allowed- just hikers and bikers. We rented e-bikes from Fat Tire and had such a great time. We did what they call the trifecta trail around some of the ponds. Jordan pond was my favorite - it was so pretty. 

I loved renting the bikes because you didn’t have to worry about finding places to park, didn’t have to worry about being run over by cars- it was perfect!

Day 4 We spent another day exploring Acadia, but this time it was by car. I was a little disappointed in signage around the park - it was confusing to get around at times. Another downside was that it was crowded so it was hard to find parking at some of the trails… Apparently everyone had the same idea about coming to Acadia in the fall. :)

Shout out to Bar Harbor Motel for being an awesome place to stay ! Highly recommend this hotel - it was close to Acadia and offered a bunch of amenities!