We're happy to be back at Twin Mountain RV Park in the northern White Mountains.

We enjoyed exploring the area for two weeks in July and are here for another two weeks to do more hiking, cycling, scenic drives, and fall leaf-peeping.

This campground is about the same latitude as Hadley Point but at a higher elevation so the leaf colors were a little more pronounced than at Acadia National Park. The leaves were near their peak colors by the time we left on September 24:

Our plan is to continue to follow the autumn leaves from here to Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and all the way to Florida in November.

On Wednesday we drove from Acadia National Park through the middle of Maine to Twin Mountain, New Hampshire. The campground was nearly deserted when we arrived and we had our choice of sites.

We chose a site at the end of a row near the office. With no one on our door side, the side with the most windows, we have a great view of the Twin Mountains to the south and a WiFi signal that won't be blocked by neighbors:

Our main windows face the Twin Mountains to the south.

There are views of other mountains to the north.

Here we are on a sunnier day.

Sites have 30-amp electricity, water, sewers, and cable TV for $216/week with a Good Sam discount. We are happy campers here and would like to stay at this RV park for the whole summer and fall season sometime in the future.

The campground didn't get more than about 40% full while we were here this time and most nights had fewer than half a dozen RVs.

Despite a wide variance in temperatures from a downright chilly 27 F. one night (see frost in next photo) to the upper 70s during the day, this is a great time of year to visit the northern Whites because of the brilliant leaf colors. In addition, there are fewer visitors in the campgrounds, at popular tourist venues, and on the trails.

The grass was frost-covered one morning.

SCENIC DRIVES

During our two weeks in this area we've made excursions through the mountains almost every day for one reason or another.

Two were loops north of Twin Mountain that included the town of Lancaster. We loved the scenic views on US 3 past the Weeks Historic Site and along the Connecticut River on the border of NH and VT:

Range of mountains west of US 3 between Twin Mountain and Lancaster, NH

Lunenburg covered bridge spanning the Connecticut River between NH and VT

Connecticut River view from the Vermont side

River view along NH 135, a scenic, winding road through the valley

I'll include photos from Weeks Historic Site in another entry about our hikes in the area.

CYCLING ROUTES

Jim has entered a 50-mile "gravel grinder" bike ride in Vermont in late September so he's getting lots of training miles here, including nearby paved highways, dirt forest service roads, and the dirt/grass Presidential Rail Trail.

One day I picked him up after he rode 30 miles on his bike from our campground through Crawford Notch to the town of Glen. It happened to be the same day a couple hundred runners were participating in a relay on US 302 but that was probably more of a benefit to Jim than a detriment because drivers were more wary.

Here are some photos I took as I drove around that day:

Runners on the wide shoulder of US 302, which is also good for bike riding

Mt. Washington was covered in clouds behind the Mt. Washington Inn that morning.

Crew vehicle for one of the relay teams -- love the name!

Jim at the end of his ride in Glen

The summit of Mt. Washington was visible on our way back to the campground
that day but it probably wouldn't have been a great day to climb the mountain.

Another day Jim did a long ride (27+ miles) from the campground south on US 3 and a paved bike path through Franconia Notch to the town of Lincoln, where I picked him up:

US 3 north of Franconia Notch

US 3 and I-93 merge to form the Franconia Parkway through Franconia Notch.

A bike path through the Notch keeps cyclists safer than using the highway.

I also dropped Jim off in Gorham one day so he could ride the rail trail and road from there back to the campground, a distance of over 25 miles:

Casey runs to meet Jim part way through his Presidential Rail Trail ride.

The last part of that ride was on the shoulders of NH 115 north of Twin Mountain.

Another place he's ridden a couple times is the dirt and gravel Zealand forest service road, which has beautiful stream views:

 

That's the road we use to access the Zealand Falls Trail and the Sugarloaf Mountain trails. We reach it on equally-colorful US 302:

 

All these rides have been on hilly terrain that is good training for the gravel grinder event later this month.

Each time I've picked Jim up or dropped him off to ride I've done hikes somewhere along his route. I'll include information about them in other entries.

Next entry: Mt. Madison Hike

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, Cody the ultra Lab, and Casey-pup

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© 2014 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil