500 miles through Northern NH and Maine.
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:00 pm
I decided to take a little road trip on the old girl up beyond my hiking grounds and explore some of the northern lakes of NH and western Maine. All in all about 500 miles over 10 hours and zero mechanical troubles.
Stopped for lunch in Intervale NH
Crossed the Androscoggin River at the Shelburne Dam
Here's my riding GPS setup
I didn't think the suction cup would hold on all day, but it was solid. I wish it were up on the handlebars because I wouldn't have to look down so far, but for already having the window mount, this was great.
So I decided to check out a road I have been looking at on google maps that leads to a couple trailheads I want to hike from just past the dam. It turned out to be a dirt road, which I thought was no problem, but after being passed by a dirt biker going the opposite direction, and having the road condition deteriorate pretty severely, I realized that I was not on a road, but it was actually a dirtbike/ATV trail...
This picture does not do justice to how rough the trail really was...
I stayed on it anyway, and got a couple nice viewpoints. Here's the first viewpoint on the Androscoggin
A little ways further
This trail ended up going along for about 3 miles, and had some pretty rough patches for a street bike, but the XJ handled it all great. It's certainly not a dirt bike, but she did great with no problems despite hitting a couple ruts quite hard. I followed a couple signs to try to get off the trails, and I ended up going over a neat wooden bridge that goes over the Andro river and right over Rt 16 through the middle of Gorham. I finally got back onto the road and headed up through Berlin. Took Rt 16 up to Errol which has alot of nice twisties, but I got stuck behind some slow folks that I couldn't pass, so they kind of ruined the fun... From there headed south to Grafton Notch on a nice empty twisty road which was great.
The XJ in front of Old Speck Mountain
I stopped at the Moose Cave, Mother Walker Falls, and Screw Auger Falls. Someone took a dump right in the middle of the trail at Mother Walker Falls; random, and gross... Screw Auger falls was pretty cool, and a great place for kids to swim a bit. Cool rock formations, but lots of people.
From there I headed south on back roads. Lots of really nice little towns, and some beautiful scenery. Eventually I ended up on I-95, and made my way back to Boston, hitting the toll booths every 10 miles; thanks east coast. I got home around 7:30PM with a soar butt, a nasty tan line between my gloves and jacket, and a dirty bike. Good day.
Stopped for lunch in Intervale NH
Crossed the Androscoggin River at the Shelburne Dam
Here's my riding GPS setup
I didn't think the suction cup would hold on all day, but it was solid. I wish it were up on the handlebars because I wouldn't have to look down so far, but for already having the window mount, this was great.
So I decided to check out a road I have been looking at on google maps that leads to a couple trailheads I want to hike from just past the dam. It turned out to be a dirt road, which I thought was no problem, but after being passed by a dirt biker going the opposite direction, and having the road condition deteriorate pretty severely, I realized that I was not on a road, but it was actually a dirtbike/ATV trail...
This picture does not do justice to how rough the trail really was...
I stayed on it anyway, and got a couple nice viewpoints. Here's the first viewpoint on the Androscoggin
A little ways further
This trail ended up going along for about 3 miles, and had some pretty rough patches for a street bike, but the XJ handled it all great. It's certainly not a dirt bike, but she did great with no problems despite hitting a couple ruts quite hard. I followed a couple signs to try to get off the trails, and I ended up going over a neat wooden bridge that goes over the Andro river and right over Rt 16 through the middle of Gorham. I finally got back onto the road and headed up through Berlin. Took Rt 16 up to Errol which has alot of nice twisties, but I got stuck behind some slow folks that I couldn't pass, so they kind of ruined the fun... From there headed south to Grafton Notch on a nice empty twisty road which was great.
The XJ in front of Old Speck Mountain
I stopped at the Moose Cave, Mother Walker Falls, and Screw Auger Falls. Someone took a dump right in the middle of the trail at Mother Walker Falls; random, and gross... Screw Auger falls was pretty cool, and a great place for kids to swim a bit. Cool rock formations, but lots of people.
From there I headed south on back roads. Lots of really nice little towns, and some beautiful scenery. Eventually I ended up on I-95, and made my way back to Boston, hitting the toll booths every 10 miles; thanks east coast. I got home around 7:30PM with a soar butt, a nasty tan line between my gloves and jacket, and a dirty bike. Good day.