I’ve been feeling that I’ve kind of let the summer slip away, so before it was completely over, I decided to take a couple of days off and take a trip on the motorcycle up to the White Mountains.
I’ve done this trip a few times before, but the riding up there is fantastic — the roads are in good shape, mostly not too busy, and very scenic. I was a little hesitant, because while I have a sport touring bike, I have noticed that I’m getting a fair amount pain after time in the saddle.
Some of that is seat pain; sitting in the saddle for hours tends to cut off the circulation. Earlier this summer, I picked up a pair of Motoskiveez — kind of like bicycle shorts, but with a bigger, wider pad — that help some. They don’t alleviate it completely, but I can spend more time, and if I stand up on the pegs slightly when it does start to hurt, the problem goes away,
More serious is the back pain. I had a continuous, low level pain in the small of my back. Sometimes it wasn’t so bad, other times it was a real nuisance.
I did a few things differently this time. First, I decided to reserve a room. In the past, I’ve just gone up, and trusted I could find a place with a vacancy. Some years it’s worked out, other years it’s been tight. I like to do the Kancamancus Highway on the way up, which leaves you in the North Conway/Bartlet area. The last couple of years, I’ve ended up at Attitash, and wound up on their mailing list, so this year, I decided to reserve ahead.
Second, I decided to make it a three day trip, the first time I’ve done so. I was a little hesitant about this, because of the pain, but one of the things I’d seen before was the Conway Scenic Railway way up high on the side of the mountain. Ever since seeing it from below, I’ve been wanting to go on it, so I reserved a ticket for Saturday afternoon.
Third, I decided, again to try to make it easier on the back, to break the trip up, especially the trip back.
Friday
It took me the better part of Friday to get up there. I left the house around 11 AM, after packing up the bike. It has hard saddle cases flanking the back seat, with removable bags within. I brought a couple of changes of clothes, plus a pair of sneakers and the Nikon, and of course, the polarizer filter. It was a little chilly when I left the house, so I wore a long sleeve shirt and brought a fleece and a couple of t-shirts.
I expected to get stuck on the Southeast Expressway and Central Artery, but I was not expecting heavy traffic after that. Wrong. I got stuck on I-93 North of Boston, and then again in New Hampshire from South of the junction with I-89 to Vermont to past Concord. I also became reacquainted with an unlovely thing about being stuck in traffic on a motorcycle — it’s damned hot. The weather had gotten warm, and I was baking in the sun, I was wearing my motorcycle jacket, plus the bike itself throws a ton of heat — when there isn’t air moving over the radiator, it will run the fans and blow hot air right at my legs. I stopped at the New Hampshire welcome center for a snack, and while there, switched to a t-shirt, which helped. A little.
In past years, I’ve gotten off I-93 at Route 4, which leads to Route 3. Route 3 is a back road that intertwines with I-93. Except in the more populated areas, it’s preferable on the bike because it’s curvier, more scenic, less crowded, more fun — but there were a couple of considerations this year. First, the back pain I’ve been experiencing. Second, I’ve found the Lakes region, while scenic, can be a bit of a bottleneck. You’re more apt to get stuck behind a slow moving driver there. Third, because of the unexpected traffic, I was running later in the day. I knew I definitely wanted to do the Kancamancus in full daylight, and Route 3, while more fun than I-93, is slower. I decided to stay on 93 until just south of Plymouth, and then enjoyed Route 3 north to Lincoln, and the Kancamancus.
I got to the start of the Kancamacus around 4. It was a great ride. There wasn’t too much traffic — I did see a lot of other bikes, though, and the air was pretty clear, meaning the views were great. I stopped briefly at the Pemigewasset Outlook, and then again along the side of the road near the Swift River, drawn by the sunlight gleaming on the exposed rocks in the riverbed.
I reached the end of Kanc, and turned onto Route 16. I was surprised to see how crowded North Conway was. The center of North Conway looked to be very touristy, and it was stop and go for a couple of lights, I noted the location of the train station, finally got free of the traffic, and headed down 302 to Attitash.
Another change this year was that since I knew I was staying at Attitash, I brought my bathing suit, and after a day of riding, a nice soak in the hot tub was very welcome before dinner. After supper, I made it an early evening.
Saturday
My train trip was scheduled for 1:30, with instructions to be at the station by 1:00, my original plan was to have breakfast, then walk around Conway a bit. But I got thinking during breakfast.. I was still close to the Kancamancus, I had a couple of hours of unstructured time, and I generally do it in the west to east direction. I decided to ride back, not all the way back to Lincoln, but to one of the overlooks I’d passed by the day before.
It was a great ride. I really do love that road. The weather was very comfortable, with great visibility. The back pain was there, but not too bad. There were a lot of other bikes out too. At the outlook, you could see a line of clouds above the mountains in the distance.
I got back to North Conway around 12:30, with just enough time to pick up a baseball cap to replace the one I’d forgotten to bring — I keep forgetting that when I’m not on the bike, my bare scalp needs protection — and grab a snack. Then I picked up my boarding pass, had a look at the station, and it was time to go.
My trip today was the Mountaineer; it’s a four hour trip from North Conway to Crawford Notch. The railroad runs along the side of the mountain, built on sort of a shelf carved into the mountain. As I mentioned, I first became aware of it on a previous trip while riding Route 302; I looked up and saw the train way above me.
In general, the routes of the train and Route 302 intertwine. They cross each other repeatedly; sometimes at grade, in other places, Route 302 is on an overpass.
The main experience of riding the train is going through the woods, The whole area was once extensively logged, but the woods have grown back up around the tracks, There’s a guide on board who kept up a nice running commentary on the outbound trip, explaining what there was to see on each side of the trip. He called out abandoned stations, junctions with other lines, what the roads we were crossing at grade, the various bridges over the Saco river, including the four “Irons” — steel truss bridges over the river. We passed through the Attitash campus, and I could see my unit. There were roads to private homes, and a really steep former Conservation Corp road to a camp. He also called out a couple of monuments to railroad men who had been killed on the job.
After about 40 minutes or so, I started to notice that the ground was indeed sloping down from the tracks. We were still riding through trees, but we were on the side of a hill, and the bottom of the hill was getting further and further below us.
And then the views started getting more and more spectacular. We were quite high now, and as the track curved, you could look ahead and see the track far ahead as a straight horizontal line in the side of the mountain ahead. We passed into Harts Landing, far above the floor of the Notch below, where Route 302 was. Opposite us were sheer bare cliffs on the mountain across from us. And it was clear enough that we could see the top of Mount Washington, off in the distance. As we passed over the Frankenstein Trestle, we had unimpeded views of the whole Notch.
Gradually, the floor of the Notch came up, and we were running parallel with Route 302 again, and we eased into Crawford Notch Station, next to 302 and across from a small pond. There, we were able to get out, stretch our legs, or pick up a snack while our locomotive was uncoupled, switched to the opposite track, and then recoupled at the other end of the train for the trip back. After half an hour, we were underway again for the trip back. It was a great trip, and I’d do it again, especially during foliage season.
It was 5:30 when we got back to North Conway. A lot of the shops were closing, so I stopped at a steakhouse for supper, and headed back to Attitash for another soak in the hot tub and called it an early night.
Sunday
Since I’d gone to bed relatively early the night, I was up pretty early, and had a decision to make. One of the places I’ve been before, and liked, is Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill. They have quite the reputation — any time I’ve been, there’s been a line of people waiting. To get there would entail a 55 minute ride to the northwest, along Route 302. I was feeling a little leery, given the back pain, But I like Route 302. It’s a great ride, scenic, very little traffic and in good condition. And after yesterday, I was more aware of what was there. So I decided to go, and to try to break up the ride the rest of the day.
As expected, it was a great ride. I was glad I had my fleece with me, as it was still relatively early. I rode through Harts Landing, and past the Crawford Notch station we’d stopped at yesterday, on through Bethlehem, then south to Sugar Hill and Polly’s. There was a 45 minute wait for a table, but since I was by myself and was willing to sit at the counter, it wasn’t too bad.
From Sugar Hill, I took 18 south to Franconia, and onto Route 93. I got off Route 93 as soon as Route 3 diverged from it. Route 3 in that area is another nice road for a motorcycle. Not much traffic, scenic, and in good condition. Except in the center of towns, you can do around 50 MPH there. I stayed on Route 3 until just after Plymouth, where I got back onto I-93; again, I wanted to make some time and avoid the Lakes region. This was borne out to me when I exited Route 3 at the first exit after Laconia — the exit was backed up with people trying to get to the Lakes.
From there I stayed on Route 3 until it joined Route 4. I have an aunt in East Concord, and decided to visit her. We had a nice visit, and then it was time for the last stretch, from Concord back into Massachusetts and around Route 128 to home.