Foliage, Bridges and Rocky Coasts

We made a good call moving cities a day early. The weather in New Hampshire was marginal to lousy and pretty bad back in Niagara.  Though it was overcast Saturday, we did not expect much rain.  We had landed in Vermont but had not really visited.  Today we would address that omission.

We headed off with our friends and worked our way West.  Our first stop was Rollins State park in New Hampshire to climb Mount Kearsarge. The mountain is 2,937’ and luckily the road goes most of the way to the top.  As we drove over mostly high overcast changed to mostly cloudy and I was less hopeful that we would get some good views.

The falls colors were very nice though cloudy conditions make the the pictures seem muted, they did look vibrant in person.  Arriving at the Ranger station we paid our entrance but before the ranger would take our money, he stressed that it was pretty socked in at the top. 

Maybe it was our overall ignorance or just youthful exuberance but we threw caution to the wind and accepted the challenge.  The road from the gate to the trail head parking is 3.5 miles and the farther we went, the mistier it got.  We started to think we would be the only idiots doing, you know, driving through clouds to hike in a dense mist. Arriving at the parking lot we found several other cars, so apparently we were not the only only ones.

We had remembered our hiking boots which was good because the “easy” path was steep, wet and rocky.  The trail is only .55 miles each way so not a big hike. It was wet and very muddy in places. We worked our way up the trail and we’re greeted by several scenic overlooks.  We saw a stunning pallets of grey at each one.   The trick is to gaze out and really take on all the subtle shades of nothing.

 

When we finally reached the Summit, we were rewarded with more insides of the clouds. Luckily it was not so dense that we had trouble navigating or seeing each other. It was still fun and sort of cool to watch the cloud insides blow by.  In the airplane it happens so fast, you can't fully appreciate it. The walk down was a bit tricky with the wet rocks but we all made it safely and were soon on our way to our next stop which was coffee and hot chocolate.

Sufficiently fortified we headed out for Quechee Gorge. As we approached the gorge our friends' attention was distracted by an antique mall which made us detour a bit to look at hand made wooden bowls.  Undeterred by the delay, we completed the last half mile and parked to view the Gorge.  The consensus was that it was gorgeous. I read there is a trail down but that it had washed out and was under repair.  I did not wish any ill will on the path but I was secretly happy that we could skip that hike.  It seemed too vertical for me.

Our next stops were covered bridges, I had lined up four to view but after the second  bridge we were once again distracted by a sign for cheese.  Our friends really like cheese and we went off the path for about 10 miles to score a pound of the white gold. We followed the signs to Sugarbush Maple Farms. I had seen this in my research but had taken it off the list because it was on a dirt road.  Cheese is a powerful motivator for some and our friends we not deterred by some rough terrain.

Reading the description and travelling down the unimproved road, I had figured that no one would be at this place.  Boy was I wrong. It was a zoo, literally and figuratively. They had calves, goats, rabbits and who knows what else.  The overflow lot was full and people were everywhere.  The store was over full of people, it may be because they had free samples but to me it seemed like a lot of work for a few cubes.  As you entered they hand you two cheese samples, then three more.  They top you off with four maple syrup samples. After all the samples, they allow you the opportunity to buy these cheeses.

We escaped but our friends were compelled to get some cheese.  We then continued on to the final two bridges, ending our Vermont adventure.  Driving home we did have some rain but still enjoyed the leaves as many areas had good color.

We finished the day by eating way too much food for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  We still had the dual storms heading our way and we’re unsure how bad it would be but we planned to drive the White mountain forest so we headed off to bed to see what the morning brought.

Our rain luck ran out this morning.  The main rain from the two systems was slowly closing in but we headed out to see what we could see before it was too wet. We had some nice foliage in Vermont but headed North to peep more leaves.  One of the best places to peep is call the Kank or more precisely the Kancamagus Highway. It runs between Lincoln and Conway NH and is part of the White Mountain National park.

We stopped at the visitor center to pay our day use fee and hang out on the suspension bridge.  The Kank had some great views but soon after we started our drive the rains came.  These did not seem like they were part of either system but rather the interaction between them. Regardless it got pretty wet. The only advantage to the rain was that this was prime season and this was the prime spot. The smart people were waiting a day so it was not as busy as usual. Probably just us and the others that climb Kearsarge in the mist.

The great views were a bit muted due to the clouds and rain but we had some good color.  We did one small hike to a waterfall between hard rains.  I did get pretty wet but it was a nice walk.  After some lunch, we gave up and headed home to just relax for a few hours before eating again.  Sometimes you need a kick back day on vacation.

For our final day sightseeing the Northeast we headed down to Coastal Maine to sample the New England lifestyle. Actually we were looking for lobster and ice cream but that comes later.  We drove from New Hampshire to Kittery and drove North along the waterfront.   We actually had no real plans other than food, walking and views. The weather had moved through and we were back in the blue.

As we passed Fort McClary, I say a cool pier off to the right.  Our host was driving and I was navigating so I made some guesses and started issuing vectors.  At the end of a long road we came to Foster Park.  The pier was also as good as it looked.  It had a nice view of the ocean, land, observation station and light house.  Frequent blog readers will know we like light houses so this was a nice bonus.  It had been a military installation and you could climb about the old gun emplacements.  

We walked about exploring the area and then headed North.  Our next find was a nice little beach in York.  We didn’t do so much beach stuff like frolic in the water but we did enjoy watching the waves crash over the rocks.  While I was still wearing my Jacket in the 60 degree weather with the strong gusty winds, I did see beach goers with just a bathing suit and they were touching the water.

I looked up the temperature and it was a chilly 62.4 degrees.  No thank you.  We did see a surfer but at least he had a wet suit.  Our next stop we saw was a Wiggly Bridge.  Actually that was its name.  The small suspension bridge was a bit wiggly and lead to a small nature trail.

After completing the nature trail and returning safely across the bridge we headed for another lighthouse. The far South had been pretty quiet but as we headed North the traffic and parking situation got grimmer.  The good weather and holiday weekend had brought out the crowds and by the time we got to the Nubble Lighthouse, it was pretty bumper to bumper.  Somehow we scored a space right up front and had a great view of the lighthouse and the waves crashing onto the shore.

Our next challenge was lunch.  As you drive through the small towns they are packed with people and no place to park.  We eventually worked our way up to Ogunquit where we found a place to store the car and proceed to feast on lobster rolls.  Suitably fed, we took a short walk and then headed further North.  

We made it up to Kennebunkport and it was also pretty much a zoo.  After searching for parking by the ice cream store and coming up empty, our driver sacrificed and sent us in by ourselves.  Just kidding, we did an ice cream pickup while he circled. The store had some unique flavors.  CC got spicy Rocky Road.  I went with the more mundane Dark Chocolate.

We were tuckered out and headed home where our hosts made a sumptuous dinner topped off with cake and ice cream.  We hit the sack as we had a big day ahead of us.