New England Trip, Day 5 & 6We stayed in our fanciest accommodations of the trip, the Horse and Hound Inn, near Franconia, NH. When we checked in we asked about dinner as advanced reservations were required. It all seemed rather complicated and when we were finally seated it took a really long time to be served. Nice rooms and free brandy
At breakfast, we met the owner and learned he hates his chef. "Why are all chefs such psychopaths?" Apparently, last night's dinner complications were due to the intransigence of the chef. The owner also complained about his partner who no longer comes up from Boston to help run the inn. "How long have you been running the place?" we asked. "Five years," he answered. Hmmm, the life expectancy of this innkeeper career's is getting short. Later, the waitress admitted the inn was for sale. It eventually sold during the depths of the pandemic for $935K on Oct, 2020. Despite the crazy chef, we enjoyed our stay. The location is adjacent to New Hampshire's White Mountains. Instead of driving to the top of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the northeast, we drove just seven minutes to the Kinsman Trail to hike up Mt. Kinsman. 
Again, the weather was nice and we easily climbed to the first outlook, Bald Peak. On the trail, we were warned that the much higher Mt. Kinsman summit was ice covered and the last bit of trail was treacherous. I doubted we would make the summit, but I hoped to climb to the Appalachian Trail which ran along the ridge line.
 Mona expressed doubts about going further, but I proved to be the weak link as the free brandy, dark coffee and dehydration caught up with me. We stopped for lunch and turned back before the ridge.  "Damn, I forgot to stretch. Do you mind if we stop?" I asked just as we were pulling out of the trailhead parking lot. Much to the surprise of the younger couple sitting on the back of their pickup, we jumped out again and started into our post-hike stretching routine. "If I don't stretch now, I'll be Frankenstein but the time we stop," I explained to the onlookers. They smiled, but they were too young to understand. Limbered up, we climbed back in the car and I accelerated out of the parking lot shooting gravel to impress the youngsters. Very mature -- not.
On our second day in New Hampshire, we headed to the Flume Gorge and Franconia Notch Bike Path. The Flume is supposedly an amazing boardwalk/trail into a narrow gorge. We'll never know as the damn place was closed for repairs when we arrived. We tried to to sneak in the backway by bushwhacking but it proved difficult and, after all, we had some biking to do!  "Notch" is the Northern New England term for the deep, narrow, scenic valleys that cut through the mountains. New Hampshire built an interstate through the Franconia Notch which subtracts from the beauty, but this is offset somewhat by the 9-mile paved bike trail that runs from Flume Gorge to the Skookumchuck Trailhead.  Another crisp fall day, we headed uphill towards Cannon Mountain.
 A 1,000 feet up from the Flume Gorge is Canon Mountain. From the bike trail, we witnessed what's left of the famous "Old Man of the Mountain" rock outcropping which is to say, "Not much."   Citizens of the "Live Free or Die" state are so attached to the memory of the Old-Man-of-the-Mountain they built a profile plaza the simulates the old view with a foreground sculpture. OK, we get it, but the face fell 16 years ago. Maybe it's time to retire the profile from the NH license plate background and move on.
We left the bike path to explore the ski area and ended up at Echo Lake for lunch (perfect). The autumn sun was warm and luxurious. Mona suggested she nap while I complete the route. "Sure, I'll be back before you can say forty winks." 
The last of the trail featured a wide bridge over Lafayette Brook with a great view of Mt. Garfield and was well worth the extra pedaling.
Back at Echo Lake, I asked Mona how her nap was. She said not very good, as a group of picnickers showed up and hovered around her as she was sleeping on the only table this side of the lake. The ride back was easy coast down to our car.
Next stop -- Maine |
| State: | New Hampshire |
| Date: | 2019-10-20 |
| Route: | Franconia Notch Bike Path, Flume Visitor's Center to Skookumchuck Trail Head |
| Distance: | 18 miles |
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