Friday October 6th
I had chosen this place to stay overnight partly because it was near to the Kancagamus Highway, which was said to have spectacular autumn colour at this time of year, with many sights and walking trails along its roughly 35 mile (55km) length, between the towns of Lincoln and Conway. The run of sunny weather had come to an end, and it was a cloudy, misty day. The colours were still beautiful though.
It was only 15 minutes to the first stop, Lincoln Woods Trail. I arrived about 7.45, and set off along a footbridge over the Pemigewasset River, which was beautiful with the coloured trees along the sides.
I walked a little way along a trail that ran near the river, though without views of it, where the trees formed a kind of very high tunnel. I hadn’t planned to hike very far along this, so I turned back before long.
About 10 minutes further on was Big Rock Campground, with very striking colour at the entrance, then on I went to several lookouts, or overlooks as they are called in the US.
The road wound up to the highest point, Kancagamus Pass. There were mountains visible in the distance from the overlooks, though the tops were covered in cloud, and hills covered in colourful trees.
The CL Graham Wangan Overlook and Sugar Hill Scenic Vista had particularly lovely colours.
About 8.50 I got to the walk to Sabbaday Falls. Apparently, many moons ago, workmen had been working on the road nearby, near the start of the winter season when no more work was done, and hid their tools there so they could collect them in the spring and wouldn’t have to carry them home. They left them there on and headed back on a Sunday, hence the name Sabbaday Falls.
It was a short walk up the river to the falls, which were quite pretty, pouring down into pools and over rocks, down over several levels, with a quite big drop in the middle. There were steps and observations platforms, and a number of people around, though it wasn’t crowded.
I could see the parking lots were starting to fill up already, though there was still space. It was the Friday before the Columbus Day long weekend, when a lot of traffic would be expected. I had wanted to make sure I was there before the long weekend to avoid as much traffic as possible, and the moody weather probably helped with there being less people too.
I particularly wanted to see Rocky Gorge, which was about 10km further on – the photo I used as my background screen was labelled Rocky Gorge, and I thought it was likely it was this one. I had a hike planned at a spot before the gorge, but drove past it and had a bit of a look at the gorge first in case the car park was full when I came back.
I am still not entirely sure if the gorge was the one pictured on my screen background, but I think it was. I didn’t find a scene that looked completely like the picture, but the area had a lot of the same elements, rocks, river and autumn trees, and I think cloud was hiding the tops of the mountains that were in the photo I had. The gorge was very pretty, along the quite wide Swift River, with trees on either side.
From there I set out to find the spot where the hike was, going to Hedgehog mountain. It turned out not to be so easy to find. I was looking for a signposted turn-off for the mountain, but I didn't see anything mentioning it around where I thought it should be. I stopped at one spot and met another guy who was also looking for the hike. I had seen a map on a billboard at one of the stops which gave me an idea of where it was, and we discussed exactly where it might be, then headed off.
I eventually did find the spot, with a sign that mentioned a different trail, but was also for the one I wanted. It was down a narrow road, to a parking lot which was already nearly full around 10am. I parked the van just outside the parking lot, manoeuvring it to get it on the side of the road out of the way of traffic as much as possible. I met the other guy there who was glad to see I had made it too.
The hike was fairly steep in places, and quite a few people were taking it. There was a stopping place part way up where you could go out on a rock and enjoy the views. Two or three small groups were resting there. The beautiful view looked across a fair sized valley with autumn foliage, to cloud-covered mountains in the distance. It was still quite cool, misty and cloudy.
I kept hiking and got to the summit, to find it clouded in. There was nothing really to see, except cloud. I asked the Lord if He would lift the clouds. After a while there were some breaks in the mist, and I saw vistas of large hills and colourful valleys. The clouds lifted enough to start to see a bit of a distance away, though the far distance was still hidden.
I found another spot near the summit which looked like it would have a good view, and stayed there quite a while, but it didn’t clear much again after that. I headed back down to the van again, it was about two and a half hours for the hike. By this time there were cars parked quite a distance along the road to the car park. I had been thinking of doing a longer hike up a higher mountain, but was glad I hadn’t – there wouldn’t have been much to see there either probably.
From there I went back the other way again, skipping a second look at Rocky Gorge, where the car park was looking pretty crowded, and found a spot where I could pull off the road and take my folding chair down near the river for lunch. I had a look at Lower Falls, only about a mile down the road from Rocky Gorge, with similar views, and quite a few people walking around enjoying the scenery.
A little further along was the Albany Covered Bridge, one of many in New Hampshire. It was a fairly narrow enclosed bridge, dating back to 1858, with the occasional car driving across it (I think to get to a campground on the other side of the river), and quite a few people walking along it.
I figured I should get going after that, as I had a lot of driving left to do. My destination was south of Boston, where I would meet my second cousins Mary and Charlene in person for the first time. New Hampshire is a long narrow state, and I drove through Conway at the other end of the Kancagamus Highway, then down to the coast towards the bottom of the state at Portsmouth. There was a scenic route mentioned, which I gathered was meant to have beautiful rivers and autumn colours. It was quite a dull day, and I didn’t see anything too special driving along it, but then I had been spoiled by incredible autumn scenery that week!
My plan was to drive along a 12 mile (20km) or so stretch of coastline off the main highway, from Portsmouth to the border with Massachusetts. I got to the coastal drive about 5.15, after navigating through Portsmouth itself. It was an interesting drive, but quite muted because a coastal mist had come in, and though sunset wasn’t for another hour or so, it was starting to get a bit darker. There were houses along most of the road, though the northern part was a bit more countrified. As I went south, some areas were very built up, with large paid parking lots by the beach. Clearly this was a very popular area in prime season.
At a little place called Rye along the way, there were some of the most enormous mansions I have ever seen, huge places by the sea, on large areas of land, that must sell for a mint. At the end of the coastal drive I crossed a bridge that could open for boats, and entered Massachusetts, then drove inland to the main highway, I-95 which I stayed on for quite a long while as it got dark.
I drove on the highways through what looked like almost the centre of Boston - I could see the city buildings . Until then the traffic hadn’t been too bad, but as I got south of the city centre I found myself in traffic that was almost stopped, and would inch along every so often. My cousins later told me this was people getting out of the city to Cape Cod, a popular holiday destination south of Boston, for the long weekend. Even at 7.30pm or so, the traffic was terrible.
Eventually I got to my exit, off to Braintree a little south of Boston, and then found that Google told me I had reached my destination when I clearly hadn’t – I was on a main road, and they were on a side street. There was some weirdness in its mapping there, and I turned off another road and found my way to their street. Charlene was there with a torch to guide me into their driveway. It was so lovely to see them! Mary had prepared some dinner, so we ate and chatted, and then headed off to bed.
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