Sunday, September 30, 2012

VERMONT COVERED BRIDGES AMID AUTUMN SPLENDOUR

Lower Falls on Kancamagus Highway


Rocky Gorge on Kancamagus Highway

Who is this mystery man with the fabulous hat?
A whole day of rain as we traversed the first half of the Kancamagus Highway, still stunning views of foliage, falls and gorges.
Still raining on second half of this gorgeous highway with endless autumnal views. Into Vermont and our tour of covered bridges,starting with one out of the ordinary - a covered railroad. We then ditched the trailer in the campsite and had a tour round Montgomery and four covered bridges. They dont exactly advertise their location so we discovered them by looking for load limits on back roads and we also found the remote Creamery bridge as advertised in our New England travel book.


The soft rolling hills of Vermont are awash with glorious autumn colours in spite of the gloomy weather. Roy has been amazing at planning this trip to make sure we saw the fall colours at their peak.


We spent another rainy day looking at three covered bridges in a row, a floating bridge and as most Vermonters seemed to do on a wet Sunday, we went into Ben & Jerry's shop/factory in Waterbury to have a look, declining the tour as they were not making ice cream.

Back into New Hampshire and the White Mountains tomorrow to catch the sun and do some hiking.


Fisher railroad covered bridge

Roy in Fisher bridge struggling to walk across broken wood with river flowing below

Pumpkins everywhere

Remote Creamery Covered Bridge

Vibrant Vermont



endless Vermont country roads
Ben & Jerry's

Oooh which to choose!

Brookfield Floating Bridge

Northfield Falls Upper Covered Bridge

Northfield Falls Staion Covered Bridge







Thursday, September 27, 2012

THE MOUNT WASHINGTON AUTO ROAD

the start of the auto road - see summit at left of tree

on the way up

the runaway train went over the hill and she blew!

at the summit

We were both a little sceptical about all the hype of driving up Mt. Washington, at 6288ft the Northeast's highest peak,
overlooking the Presidential Range of the White Mountains,  but we were not disappointed.
This 8 mile, old carriage road built between 1854 and 1861 using hand tools, horses and oxen and old fashioned blasting
powder was a breathtaking experience.
Costs $33 and you get a CD to play as you drive up and back. We were blessed with sunshine and brilliant views
although clouds often blew in at the summit.
Famous for having the worst weather in the world, they recorded the world record peak wind in 1934 of 231mph.
The summit is in the clouds about 60% of the time so we were so lucky to get the perfect day.
Temperature at the top was minus 2oC but with the wind chill it was minus 12oC.
We visited the Tip Top House built in 1853 as an hotel, saw the old weather station that is a chained to the ground, watched the cog railway fall
down the mountain, stood in a queue to have our photo taken at the very summit and had to succumb to clam chowder  in the cafe.

When we got back down to earth we enjoyed a short hike to some pretty falls in the fall.
Tomorrow we move westwards on the Kancamagus highway, the weather is set to change to rain for the weekend - why does it always do that?


The Tip Top House at the summit

inside Tip Top House and no the ladies were visitng like us

Tip Top House accomodation

the new manager of The Tip Top House

Clam Chowder - yummy!

this looked so scary!

Our turn at the summit



see the chains to stop it blowing away!

spot our Dodge


me and my man!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

LEAF PEEPING TIME

Moosehead Lake

Mt Kineo

Moosehad lake from Mt Kineo trail

Top of the fire tower on Mt Kineo - a good lunch spot with 360o views

Our journey took us into Maine's Lakes and Mountains region, stopping on the way to hike up Mt Kineo, a lovely trail  accessed by a shuttle boat and had a fun lunch at the top of the huge fire tower with 360o views.  We camped at Rangeley Lake State Park and finally went leaf peeping! Foliage colours are changing daily and are simply stunning especially in the sun. They say that there are only two places on earth where you get such amazing colours - here and in Japan.

 Maine is the most forested state in the USA, 90% - so the sign at Mooselookmeguntic Lake said - dont you just love that name!
We hiked part way up a ski run at Saddleback Mountain, a big skiing area and deserted at this time of year. All I can say about skiing is there is no way I could put those things on my feet and launch myself down that steep hill we hiked up and down. We then did the tourist thing of driving the scenic roads revelling in the awesome foliage and views.
Westwards and into New Hampshire and the White Mountains - laters!

a beautiful campsite early morning mist

same campsite and sun up

Fall colours
No photoshop here!
Saddleback Mountain Ski run

Saddleback Mountain flower


more Saddleback Mt flowers

NO - It's ALL mine!

Mooselookmeguntic Lake

Beaver at work

our pet hare who sat watching Roy on the site while he chopped wood for fire then sat by fire to keep warm
desolate looking hikers on the Appalachian trail with at least 150 miles left to do

Stunning fall colours - not via photoshop!

Taylor made for Roy - seen in a Walmart carpark

I SAID - DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE!


Halloween comes early at this campsite in the White Mountains