Vermont, New Hampshire

Tuesday, 3 September 

After crossing back into the United States, we then made our way to the Walmart in Newport, VT to pick up some fruit (which we purposely finished before crossing the border) and figure out what to do with the day.  Our plans for today were pretty loose not knowing how long the border crossing would take, and what 20% chance of rain actually meant.

We selected Barton Golf Club in Barton, VT, to play today.  It is a family owned and operated golf course (aka mom-and-pop), which we like to support.

We arrived about 10am.  With no driving range, we practice chipped and putted, then got to start.  There were not too many golfers on the course, and we got to play at our pace without having to wait until the final hole.

We both started off with a par, then Kris picked up a stroke on #2 and #4, then Darrell tied it up with a chip in birdie on #5.  Kris regained her two strokes to make the turn up by two strokes.

The back nine was a bit more challenging, and we halved every hole.  Just when it looked like Darrell might pick up a stoke, Kris chipped in for par to even it up.  So Kris had honors on the day by two strokes.  

A check for a Starbucks did not find one.  A chore for the day was to mail a couple of letters, so we set off for a post office on the way in Lyndonville, VT.  After we parked Sprinty and were walking towards the village post office across the street, we passed by the Freighthouse Market and Cafe which had a sign outside that proclaimed they proudly served Starbucks coffee.  Kris made a bee-line for the market to see if they had Frappuccinos so she could pay up.  They did, and Darrell enjoyed his Frappuccino although he would have also enjoyed it if he had been buying.

Sprinty then headed to Saint Johnsbury, VT, a place we visited on the way to Bar Harbor some six weeks ago.  We selected the Moose River Campground as it was highly rated, and included cable and internet.  When we inquired, they had one site left.  Not the most ideal of site locations being near the main road (Vermont Highway 2), but the internet is very good.  And if we want to stay a second night, the same site is available.  With rain forecast for tomorrow, we are undecided on what to do with the day.

We enjoyed a quiet evening with decent WiFi and cell service.  We spent part of the evening catching up on our YouTube subscriptions, something we have not been able to do since we went into Canada due to limited to non-existent campground WiFi, and having to stay within our 500MB/day data limit.

Wednesday, 4 September

A pretty quiet night.  We did not notice the road noise until the morning traffic started before sunrise.  The forecast for today was unchanged - a cold front is moving in from the southwest bringing a band of occasional thunderstorms and rain.  We assessed it as too iffy to try and play golf today.

Reviewing our options, we decided to just stay another night at Moose River Campground.  The WiFi is near-residential quality, cell service is good, we have over twenty channels of cable TV, and the price with the Good Sam discount is good.  We spent part of the morning planning the next few days including making some campground reservations and a tee time for tomorrow.

We also caught up with Dave and Irene Carey’s (full-time RVers in a Roadtrek Zion) videos on YouTube (Carey on Vagabond) and got two or three great ideas for things to do later this month as we adventure back to Deep Creek Lake.  Readers may recall we learned of Buttermilk Falls from their visit earlier this summer.

The rain was intermittent until about dinner time making us glad we did not try to force golf into the day.  We had a quiet day in Sprinty doing rainy day things like watching videos and movies, reading books, planning the next few days of the trip, etc.

Thursday, 5 September

We woke up to 45 degrees outside.  There must be some long commuters in Saint Johnsbury as the morning traffic noise started about 5am as residents made their way to the I-93 entrance ramp about half-mile away.

Our tee time at Bethlehem Country Club in Bethlehem, NH was for 9:30.  We played this course last September as we passed through New Hampshire on our way to Maine.  Last year, Darrell got to buy.

We were the first to arrive.  After brief practice putting and chipping, we were off.  We both started well, with Darrell making par to start one stroke up.  Kris made par on the next hole to take the lead.  Darrell evened it up, and we stayed tied until the 9th hole.  Kris made the turn up by one stroke.  

Darrell botched a couple of holes, while Kris continued her consistent play to take the day.  Although Kris won, no Starbucks for Darrell as there were none anywhere around.  Plus, Sprinty had other plans for the afternoon.

After golf, Sprinty headed south to Franconia Notch State Park which is adjacent to the White Mountain National Forest.  This park was on our Someday List for New Hampshire, but we had long forgotten why.  OMG, what a great park to visit.

First stop was the Aerial Tramway (https://www.cannonmt.com/things-to-do/attractions/tram).  Built in 1938, it was America’s first passenger aerial tramway.  It travels about a mile in length to the top of Cannon Mountain with a vertical rise of 2,100 feet.  The tram station at the top is at 4,080 feet elevation.  

The original tram carried 25 passengers and ran until 1980 when it was replaced with a larger one that carries 80 passengers in summer and 70 passengers in winter.  It was built as part of the downhill ski venue on Cannon Mountain.  The ski area has the highest ski summit in New Hampshire and nearly 100 trails between the two mountains.

Today, we were two of ten passengers on the way up. 

The tram normally runs every 15 minutes.  In two weeks, they will be in the peak of the leaves changing and it will be a lot more crowded.  Campgrounds in this area are already sold out for that weekend.  And they said they will run the tram non-stop, 80 passengers per 8 minute trip, all day.

It was a nice clear day, and we could see three states from the top:  New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.  And probably Quebec Province as well.  A comment by the tram operator suggests today was unusually nice.

After disembarking from the tram, we did the short trail to the obervation tower at the top of Cannon Mountain.  Along the way was a granite bench with an interesting inscription:

• “If you love someone tell them. Most importantly stay close to your friends.  Let it make a difference in your day and theirs.   Jerry Warlop

At the observation tower deck, I did a partial panoramic photo of to view to the north.

While the trail is a loop, form the observation tower, we could see the rest of the loop back to the tram station went through the woods.  We elected to return the way we came as it afforded nice views.

After going back down, we visited the New England Ski Museum (http://newenglandskimuseum.org) located near the tram station at the bottom.  Outside was a 1938 skimobile from a nearby ski lift.

Among the artifacts in the ski museum were photos of Olympic and World Cup skiers who were from the nearby area or skied regularly at Cannon Mountain.  One was Bode Miller.

One of the attractions that made Franconia Notch famous was the Old Man of the Mountain, an unusual granite formation made up of five blocks of granite naturally stacked atop on another.  On 3 May 2003, the blocks gave way and the Old Man of the Mountain was no more.

Near the bottom tram station is a memorial to the Old Man of the Mountain.  As Sprinty had some more things planned for the day, we did not stop.

The next stop was the Franconia Notch Visitor Center, which is also the start of the 2-mile hike to The Flume.  

Discovered in 1808, the Flume is a natural gorge extending 800 feet at the base of Mount Liberty.  The walls of Conway granite rise perpendicularly to a height of 70 to 90 feet and are from 12 to 20 feet apart.  We imagined (correctly) that it was like a mini-Watkins Glen.  

The hike offered there choices - take a self-guided 2-mile loop trail, take a bus for the first 1/2 mile and hike the rest of the self guided loop (1.5 miles), or ride the bus up and back, and only go to The Flume.

We chose to do the 2-mile hike.  Early in the hike, we passed a glacial boulder, one of many in the area.

We crossed two covered bridges.  At one was a sign about why bridges were covered.

As we went up the trail, we enjoyed numerous small waterfalls.

As we got to the Flume, there was a sign describing how the flume was formed

We walked up the Flume on a wood trail built on the side the the Flume

Once at the top, we continued on the loop trail, which was mostly downhill to the Liberty Gorge and the Pool.  Then returned back to the Visitor Center.

Back at the Visitor Center, we watched the video on Franconia Notch State Park and the things to do - at this point, mostly a recap of what we had done this afternoon.

One more site in the park to visit was the Basin.  The Basin is a large granite pothole that was created by a glacier more than 15,000 years ago.  It is along the parkway part of I-93 that runs through Franconia Notch State Park, the only single-lane Interstate we could recall.  There is an exit traveling north or south, but you can’t change directions here.  Since our destination for the evening was in Lincoln, NH, south of the park, we chose to drive back to the exit for the tramway, then turn back south to do the hike from the south bound parking lot.  We could have stopped at the northbound parking lot, but to then get to Lincoln, we still would have had to travel on north to the tramway exit to turn south.

A short hike to the basin which included some small waterfalls along the way.

By now, we had walked about 6 miles on the day and it was time to get Sprinty settled for the evening.  Our campground for tonight is the Country Bumpkins Campground.  It was selected based on its AllStays ratings.  $29 for a water-electric site with WiFi was an added benefit.  Unlike the last campground which was almost full, there were lots of sites available tonight, although they are completely full for this weekend.

Friday, 6 September 

Last night, we were a little proud of the many adventures we had packed into a single day.  18 holes of golf, about 6 miles of hiking, an aerial tram ride, waterfalls, and a museum.  Hard to match.

Sprinty felt up to the challenge.  We learned of the Kancamagus Scenic Byway (http://www.kancamagushighway.com), a 34.5 mile scenic drive along NH's Rt. 112 in Northern New Hampshire from Lincoln, NH to Conway, NH, through the White Mountain National Forest.  In and of itself, an interesting drive.  We also found that there were four waterfalls along the way.

At the Franconia Notch State Park Visitor Center yesterday, we asked for information from the staff.  Amy was very helpful by providing a map of the Byway and developing a plan for the day.  She also suggested another waterfall on NH 16 north of Conway, and suggested to take Bear Notch Road from the Byway to US 302.

Our first stop of the morning was Sabbaday Falls.  As we drove east along the Byway, we were surprised to see so many cars already in the parking lots at  various trailheads.  When we arrived at the parking lot for Sabbaday Falls trailhead, we were relieved that there were only a few cars.  Sabbaday Fall is one of the most popular waterfalls in New Hampshire.  A fair easy 0.3 mile hike to the falls.  The trail followed along the stream making for a picturesque walk up the trail.

The falls were quite nice.

Our next stop was the Champney Falls.  We knew from the map that it was a longer hike, so we were surprised to see more cars in the trailhead parking lot. There was a big group preparing for a hike.  The Champney Falls hike was 1.4 miles each way.  And more uphill, and rocky than the first hike.  

About a mile into the hike, we were starting to hope that the Falls whould be worth the effort.  They were.  The Falls consist of several cascades.  We can only imagine how they will look in two weeks when the leaves turn.

Along the hike, we talked with another couple we met on the trail.  They lived locally and said this was the ideal time to do the hike.  After Labor Day and before Fall Foliage- they are super crowded those weekends.  They had friends in town over Labor Day weekend and said everyplace was a zoo.  And no bugs today.

Our next stop was Lower Falls.  After the 2.8 mile loop to Champney Falls, we were both hoping the falls were near the parking lot.  They were.  The falls were not very high, but quite beautiful.

We then turned around and headed west to Rocky Gorge.  Again hoping for a leisurely, easy hike.  It was, and unlike the other three, it was handicap accessible via a wide, paved asphalt trail.  Not as dramatic a gorge as the Flume, but still a nice waterfall.

We headed west about a mile and turned north on Bear Notch Road.  A nice road with very little traffic.  Bear Notch Road is also gated and not maintained in the winter, making it a cross country ski area.  Very pretty drive. 

We turned east in US 302, then turned north on NH 16.  Glen Ellis Falls in also in the White Mountain National Forest and physically located on the east side of NH 16, but the parking area was on the west side.  Access to Glen Ellis Falls was by a path that went under the highway via a pedestrian tunnel.  The falls were 0.3 miles down the trail, and with about 65 feet of height, were very nice.

After our fifth waterfall of the day, and 6.7 miles of hiking, we were done adventuring.  We headed back to the Glen Ellis Campground in Bartlett, NH to take advantage of their public laundromat.  In our travels, we usually have low expectations on campground laundromats, and certain have not ever seen any open to the public.  Wow, were we in for a surprise.  A very nice facility with over 20 washers and 20 dryers, all looking to be in excellent condition.  The reviews on this laundromat were very good (reviews by local residents, not campers), and we knew to expect some sort of card system for operating the machines.  We got a card for a $1 deposit, then added money to it like riding the Metro in Washington DC.  

After laundry, a quick stop to stock up on groceries, then on to our destination for the evening, the Sebago Lake State Park Campground located near Naples, NH.  When we arrived, we were surprised to see an open-air registration office.  First one we have seen in all our travels.

After checking in, we got Sprinty settled for the night.  

Expecting rain in the morning, we chose not to plug in so we would not have to deal with a wet electrical cord in the rain tomorrow morning.  The benefits of having a RV capability of Boondocking/dry camping.

Two sites over from Sprinty was a most unusual RV:

It is a 1937 dump truck with a 1972 Starcraft camper on the back.  It was built by a guy who was very much into hot rods.  When Darrell went to take a picture, he met the son of the current owner, who got it from his dad who built it.  Darrell also got to meet the owner.  What a fascinating story on the history of this one-of-a-kind RV.