Following the summer’s trip to the White Mountains on the motorcycle, I decided I wanted go back up for the fall foliage. I’ve done this a couple of times; last time I did this, in 2017, I did it over a weekend. I’ve also done it over the Columbus Day weekend. The trouble with doing it on the weekend, of course, is that when everyone else does it, so this year, I decided to take the first three days of October — Wednesday, Thursday, Friday off from work, and head up. It turned out to be a good move. There were a lot of other people around up there, but it wasn’t overwhelming.
I booked the time off about three weeks in advance, and as the week began, I started getting a little concerned about the weather. It was supposed to be sunny, yes, but the highs were supposed to be in the low sixties — nippy on the bike. Not too bad during the peak of the day, but I had visions of freezing my ass off in the mornings and late afternoons, and considered driving up instead.
I’m happy to report it was a non-problem. The jacket had a liner that I could put back in, and I could wear a sweater under it. And I have a pair of overpants I can wear over my jeans. What clinched the deal for me was remembering that the windshield on the FJR is adjustable, and when it’s fully up, you get a lot less wind blast, and the handlebars have heaters. I was quite comfortable on the way up, even with my lighter-weight gloves; I did turn on the handlebar warmers and raise the windshield at the end of the day. It was pretty nippy in the evening; the restaurant at the resort was closed Wednesday evening, so I had to venture out to a nearby pub in the evening without the overpants, and I was very grateful it was a short trip.
When I did the trip in August, I lost a lot of time getting stuck in traffic on I-93. I figured this time, traveling on a Wednesday, the traffic would be a lot less, and this proved to be the case, though I was surprised to get caught in Boston, even though I was traveling late morning, Still, I got past Concord early enough that I was able to switch off I-93 relatively early, and switched to Route 3 in Penacook. Route 3 entwines around 93 all the way north, and once you’re past Concord, it’s the scenic way to go. So I got off the highway for a stretch until just south of Plymouth, where I transferred back to the Interstate; the goal was to get to the Kancamancus by around 3:30, while the sun was still high enough to light up the surrounding trees.
Just the previous week, I’d gotten a letter from my mother’s cousin Julie. She reads the blog (Hi Julie!) and the trip and the pictures brought up memories for her, She recommended I try out Bear Notch Road — it’s a road that runs from near the midpoint of the Kanc to Route 302 in Bartlett. It was a great recommendation. I ran through the first part of the Kancamancus, stopping at a couple of the outlooks, then switched over to Bear Notch Road. It’s a nice road, especially on a bike, though thirty seconds after stopping at the first outlook, a big tour bus pulled over and I was inundated in tourists. I stopped again at a couple of the other scenic outlooks at the further end of the road, and was able to see the mountains to the north. It ended at Route 302 about where I thought it did; I headed back east on 302 to Route 16 and the scenic outlook there before turning back to check in at Attitash, where I was staying for the next two nights.
When I got to Attitash, I had two unpleasant surprises. First, the right front panel of my jacket had torn all along the seam with the side panel, which explained some of the breezes I’d been feeling. It was OK for the next two days, but was irreparable, since the fabric itself had shredded. Second, the resort restaurant was closed on Wednesday, and I had to head elsewhere for dinner. Fortunately, there was a steakhouse nearby.
Thursday, I had another train ticket on the Mountaineer, the scenic train that runs up above the highway on a “shelf” cut into the side of Willy’s mountain. The day dawned bright and sunny, but cold; it was 37° when I got up. So I took my time getting out of bed, and getting ready to go. I knew I wanted to stow my gear on the bike while I was on the train, so I had taken the luggage out of the saddlebags; I knew I could squeeze the helmet and jacket into the saddle bags, but it meant I had to leave the overpants behind.
By around 9 I was dressed, and the temperature had risen to the mid-forties. The plan had been to head over to Conway, have breakfast, then poke around town until it was time for the train at one. And the I started thinking… I was pretty close to the far end of the Bear Notch Road. I could take in the opposite direction this morning, pick up the eastern end of the Kancamancus, and get back to Conway from the opposite side for breakfast. The only question was, would it be too cold to handle without the overpants? I decided to give it a try.
It was cold, for sure, but not unbearable, and it was a great ride. The foliage was pretty much near peak, and the relatively low angle of the sun meant that the trees were often either spotlit or backlit. Gorgeous.
When I booked the train ticket, I’d booked a first class ticket, and carefully chose a window seat. I was dismayed to find when I got on the train that there was another guy already in my seat — and his ticket had the same seat number as mine. And he was clearly unhappy that he and his wife would be sharing a table with me. But when the conductor came around, we explained the situation, showed him both tickets, and it was obvious that they screwed up, and he told me he’d see if there was another open window seat. Sure enough, there was, on the very first car of the train, right behind the locomotive, The seat was a little cramped, and opposite the entryway, but this turned out to be an advantage when the train reversed directions; passengers were expected to swap sides with the passengers across from them, but since I had no one across from me, I was able to stay on the “good” side of the train both ways. Side note: when I got back to wifi at the hotel room, I found the train company had issued a partial refund. So I’m happy the way they handled it.
The conductor had found the window seat for me before the best part of the trip. Once it crosses into Hart’s Location, while Route 302 follows the bottom of Crawford’s Notch, the railroad starts climbing onto a shelf incised into the side of Willy’s Mountain, over the Frankenstein Trestle, and then on to Crawford Notch station, when it meets the highway again. The views are spectacular. You can see the stark face of Willard Mountain across the notch, and you can look down into the valley of the notch.
Once the train reaches the station, there’s a short layover, where you can get out, stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, or pick up a snack. While that’s happening, the locomotive is uncoupled from what was the front of the train, shunted onto a side track, then moved to the opposite end of the train and recoupled to it. What this meant, as I gleefully realized, was that the window at the far end of the car was now unobstructed, and once we got going again, I was able to get several clear shots of the cut the train had just passed through, and a great view of the Frankenstein Trestle after we passed over it. It was interesting to see that there was a young main perched on a rock next to one end, and as soon as the train cleared, he hopped down onto the tracks to take a picture.
We got back to Conway at about 5:30. Still a little early… what to do? I could just go back to Attitash via 16 and 302, but there was still a little light left. Instead, I took the long way back, via the Kancamancus and Bear Notch Road. Thank you, Julie, for the suggestion. I got a nice picture of sunlit clouds over the mountains from one of the overlooks.
Friday was my last day in the White Mountains. I took my now traditional trip west on 302 to 93, where I headed over to Sugar Hill and Polly’s Pancake Parlor for breakfast. Route 302 is a great road on the motorcycle, and I do like Polly’s. After breakfast, I decided to stop in nearby Franconia Notch to take the Cannon Mountain Tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain.
There were enough people that there was a bit of a wait to get a tram. Once there, I took the path all the way around the top of the mountain and got some great shots of Mount Lafayette across the Notch, and route I-93 snaking through the Notch, and of Echo Lake on the tramway trip down.
The tramway trip consumed enough time that I couldn’t follow Route 3 back as far as I would have liked. I wanted to get home at a semi-reasonable time, and I also wanted to stop at Cycle Gear in Woburn to see about a new jacket. At highway speed, the torn one was really starting to balloon unpleasantly. So I followed the northern parts of Route 3 until just before the Lakes Region, and switched back to the highway for the trip home. Looking at the northbound side, I congratulated myself again for taking the trip mid-week; traffic was stop and go from Massachusetts to just north of Concord.
I really enjoyed this trip, and was glad that I did choose to take the motorcycle. The temperatures were not the issue I’d thought them to be, something to remember. The Motoskivveez padded underwear I picked up seem to have broken in and alleviated the seat pain, and I’ll need to get another pair; on the other hand, I’m still having back pain, though not as bad as it was in August. It wasn’t a problem until the end of the day on Wednesday; I was off the bike most of Thursday; by Friday, it was becoming an issue. Hopefully, this is something exercise or more riding will cure, as I’m realizing I do like touring by motorcycle.