AMC Outdoors, September 2008
An AMC cycling trip leader searches out great autumn rides
When AMC Outdoors asked me to write about my favorite fall bike ride in the White Mountains, I had to think for a minute. Not because it wasn’t a great assignment, but because I realized in mild astonishment that I didn’t actually have a favorite. Over the years I had ridden numerous point-to-point adventures along the Kancamagus Highway or through Franconia Notch. Some friends and I even did a six-day bicycle tour through the Whites back in high school, but a “favorite” 2-wheeled adventure near the tiptop of the Granite State? Didn’t have one. Then it dawned on me that I probably wasn’t alone. Most people go to the Whites to hike and leave the bikes at home. Still, as a freshly minted AMC bicycle trip leader (Boston), I felt I should have a favorite New Hampshire ride for autumn.
I happily pulled out my crinkled AMC maps, New Hampshire Topaz, and trusty Rand McNally, then fired up the USGS software. The easy and obvious choice was the southern route from Crawford Notch to Franconia Notch, which is always fun, if a little heavily traveled during foliage season. It didn’t take much thought to realize there wouldn’t be a lot of time for leaf-peeping on the downhills, which are rather swift, although there’d certainly be ample opportunity to admire the fall fireworks on the long mountain ascents. After some head scratching, the perfect autumn excursion had not jelled. Finally, I sucked it up, called AMC’s Highland Center and asked Rondi Stearns, who works with cycling groups, where she sends her bikers for inner tubes, quick tuneups, and the 411 on best routes. Rondi suggested that my three biking buddies and I head up Route 302 west to Littleton Bike & Fitness.
Good call. Littleton, N.H., is a busy four-season town wedged into a nubble by the Vermont border and it has a good bike shop—the best yardstick of a cycling community. Once there, a bit of noodling with local road guru and shop owner Dave Harkless landed us on the four-star Swift Water ride, which connects the villages of Littleton, Franconia, Bath, and Lisbon in a loop on the western side of the Kinsman Ridge. At 45 miles with a modest 1,200 feet of climbing, it offers great foliage, good fall diversions (the Robert Frost Museum and access to Bridal Veil Falls, among others), and seemed a great way to dream about autumn this overcast spring afternoon. The bike shop guys printed us a map (gotta love the Internet) and an AMC trail maintenance volunteer (stopping by to replace a busted mountain bike saddle) chimed in to watch for moose at the mile 8 moose wallow.
Once on the bikes, we climbed east past the small shops on the outskirts of town, under I-93, and then right onto Route 18. I had time to notice some fruit trees and a horse farm full of swishing tails before I tucked in for a long, fast descent at the end of our peloton. I didn’t need to look up to Cannon Mountain, its ski slopes still streaked with snow, to know it had been a long winter. It was written in the road cracks and frost heaves and at those speeds I didn’t dare blink. Great wind-whipped, roller-coaster tears streamed across my cheeks all the way into Franconia village. Giddy up.
Once in Franconia, we turned right (onto Route 116) by a large yellow Federal-style building standing boxy and senatorial on a green flat. Over the next few miles we whizzed past the austere but authentic Robert Frost Museum, housed where the poet lived and wrote, and the Coppermine Brook Trail, which leads up to Bridal Veil Falls (a personal favorite). Farther east, the Kinsman Ridge—Profile Mountain, The Cannon Balls, South Peak, and Mount Wolf—looked mighty, and come September would bloom firecrackers of color. To the west, barns, fallow fields, and birch trees saluted and in the distance, some of the lesser peaks of the White Mountain National Forest showed the way to the Vermont border. People sat on the porch of a farmhouse converted to a bed and breakfast. It looked like the kind of place that might offer hot cider to passing bike riders. At the mile 8 moose wallow there were no animals to be seen, just hoofprints in the mud. I lamented the late start.
Leef-Peeping Tours, cont'd >>
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