Three days in foliage

Laurie and I took our annual three day trip to see the foliage in New Hampshire. We always go the weekdays before Columbus Day weekend. It is too busy up there to deal with Columbus Day crowds. I have Thursday and Friday off the week before Columbus Day anyway, so it works out well that I just have to ask for Wednesday off.

We actually left on Tuesday night but didn't get to a campsite until 11 pm. We set up the tent and went to bed. When we woke in the morning it was roughly 38 degrees but it was clear. We put the tent in the car and headed to the Eastern White Mountains. We actually headed for Maine to see some ponds I always wanted to see. They are just so far away I have never made it there.

There are three ponds very close together about ten miles from Rt. 2. Two are roadside and the other requires an easy two mile round trip. The two roadside ponds ( Crocker Pond and Broken Bridge) both have a ramp for putting in canoes and kayaks. Round Pond is the one that requires a short hike.  Although the light was bad for photos, the ponds themselves were very pretty

Round Pond

Crocker Pond

Broken Bridge Pond

 After we left  the ponds on Wednesday our plan was to hike out to Province Pond and sleep at the shelter there. Unfortunately for us, the key to Laurie's car got bent so we went all the way back towards North Conway to get another made. This wasted a lot of time. By the time we got a key made it was too late to go to Province Pond. We found a campsite and called it a day.

The following morning we headed out to Province Pond. We weren''t going to sleep there but it was a good 3.2 mile round trip hike. I still wanted to see the pond. I learned that Beech trees take longer to turn color than other trees. The woods on the way to the pond were predominately Beech and still quite green (see below)

The trail to Province Pond was still very green

 Province Pond was nice. We walked around to the far side and ate a snack at the shelter. This is this is the first view you get of the pond from the trail.

Province Pond

 Before we left the Evans Notch area we stopped at one of my favorite roadside gems, Basin Pond. It is right off of Rt. 113. It is the perfect roadside pond. It is surrounded by mountains, has a picnic area, and has trout. It is outstanding.

Basin Pond

Basin Pond

 From Basin Pond we had a pretty long ride. After sleeping in the tent the previous two night, Laurie and I had reservations for a motel on Thursday night. I didn't know where the motel was. She had picked it out and it was a surprise to me. Before we went to the mystery motel, we did a quick hike up Artist Bluff in Franconia Notch State Park.

View from Artists Bluff

It turned out the mystery motel was Loon Mountain Resort. Laurie got a really good deal on Groupon. We got to the motel about 5 pm. The motel room had a great view of the mountains. It had a sliding glass door and we could go out on a small balcony. 

View from inside motel room

Same view from the balcony

 The first thing we did was go for a swim in the indoor pool. After that we jumped in the outdoor hot tub which was really fun in the cool autumn air. After our swim, we went into town and ordered a pizza. We brought it back to the motel and ate it while watching the Patriots play the Giants. We had looked at the schedule before the season started and knew the Pats would be on Thursday night. This is the third year in a row they have played the Thursday before Columbus Day. The timing is perfect for our getaway plans.

Looking across the outdoor pool, the indoor pool is behind the
doors at the left of the photo. The outdoor hot tub was under the
blue umbrellas.

 When we checked in at the front desk on Thursday the clerk gave us our room key along with some coupons for the resort. Laurie didn't know it when she booked the room, but we got to ride the Loon Mountain gondola for free (regular admission is $20). When we left our room on Friday morning that is what we did. We took it to the summit.

A view of a gondola going up

A wider view from the summit. The pointy mountains are
the peaks of Franconia Ridge.

 One of the things you can do at the summit is climb through caves. There are ten caves you can climb through. They are pretty tight. You have to squeeze through some tight spots and lay on the ground in places. Of the ten caves to go through. I went through nine. The tenth didn't seem big enough for anyone over seven years old. It was really fun.

 All good things have to come to an end. After an hour we headed back down.

View going down from the car we were in

After we left Loon our plan was to hike out at Tunnel Brook Ponds. Tunnel Brook Ponds are a great hike. The trail goes out to a series of Beaver Ponds along Tunnel Brook. Unfortunately, the road leading out to the trailhead was closed due to work being done to it. We drove around to the other side of the road, a loop of about 20 miles, but we couldn't get in that way either. On our way around to the south end of the road, we stopped at Olivarian Pond. It is another one of those roadside ponds that no one seems to go to. I have fished there once before. I caught a bunch of rainbows that day. It looked as though I would have done just as well if I fished Friday. Trout were jumping all over the pond.

Since we couldn't go out to Tunnel Brook and we wasted so much time trying, we took a quick walk (ten minutes) out to Jeffers Brook Shelter where we made lunch before driving home.

Jeffers Brook Shelter

 All in all, our three day getaway was more like real life than a vacation. The trip had some great ups such as Basin Pond, Loon Mountain, and free gondola tickets. It also had its downs that we had to deal with including wasting so much time to have a key made and the road being closed to our last hike before driving home. The weather was far better in New Hampshire than back home in Mass. Although we woke to chilly mornings (36-38 degrees all three days) we did see some sun. When the sky was overcast the ceiling was very high. I could see Big George and the Presidential's summits all three days even when the sky was grey. The temp topped out at about 60 degrees everyday. Meanwhile in Mass and Rhode Island the outer bands of a tropical storm were pounding the coast. There was huge surf and wind gusts.

Despite the couple of challenges, we had a very good time. I loved watching the Pats game and going in the hot tub. We visited a total of six mountain lakes (four were new for me). It was fun and sure as hell beat going to work.