White Mountain Spring Getaways in Crawford Notch
Best Deals for Spring Weekend Vacations in NH’s Presidential Range
Apr 9, 2009
Many of those who love New Hampshire’s mountains think that the best time to see them is in springtime when daytime temperatures are in the 60s and 70s and fall into the 40s at night. It’s time to poke around during the day, perhaps take a short hike, and settle into a comfortable B&B at night, hopefully with a fireplace to curl up in front of.
White Mountain Spring Scenery Views
Anyone who has traveled there in winter knows that the views are better when the leaves are off the trees and that is just as true when the leaves are just in buds, turning the smaller branches red against the hillsides. Even when the leaves are in what natives call their “mouse-ear” phase the views are spectacular. There is something special about sparkling white peaks above the wakening forests below.
Crawford Notch Appalachian Mountain Pass
One of the most beautiful rides in the mountains is in Crawford Notch, a pass through the Appalachian Mountains that kept the state’s north country isolated until well into the nineteenth century. Route 16 through the Conways leads to a junction with Route 302 at Glen and on it through the notch to Twin Mountain.
The road passes through the core of the White Mountain National Forest and Crawford Notch State Park. Even in spring there is plenty of good hiking here. Driving up through the notch is a dramatic trip through forests and craggy mountains, the rocky hillsides above showing scars from landslides of the past. Broad at Conway, the valley closes in as it rises to the narrow passage at the pass.
Mount Washington History, Willey Slide
Settled by Abel and Ethan Allen Crawford, the Rosebrook and Willey families and a few other pioneers, this valley is where New Hampshire tourism was born. A state rest area and museum are at the place where the Willey family was wiped out by a landslide in 1826. The Willey story is told in the book It Happened in New Hampshire. Further on, watch for views of snow-capped Mount Washington rising between the hills. Look for the tower of the weather observatory on the peak.
Railroad on Mountain Side
On the opposite side of the valley a railroad line cut into the bedrock rises slowly on the precipitous mountainside. On both sides, rock faces and piles of jagged scree rise above the forest. Be sure to pull off at the parking lot to the left and get out to see Silver Cascade, and a bit further up the road the Flume Cascade, mountain streams that run full in spring falling and cascading down the mountainside. On the other side of the valley a rail bridge, called the Frankenstein Trestle, crosses over a deep ravine. At the top, the rail line and road come together through a narrow rock passage and next to a small pond, the source of the Saco River.
The old and tiny railroad station on the left was where passengers alighted when they came here to stay at the Crawford House Hotel. The hotel burned in the 1990s but has been replaced by the AMC Highland Center. This is a good place for hikers or families to stay, with comfortable rooms, good food and reasonable prices. Daily nature and outdoor programs are free.
AMC Outdoor Activity Center
Beyond the AMC Center lies a beautiful broad valley with access to more hiking. It is a good place for biking, but watch out for the high speed traffic. Look for a stone chapel on the right and if it is open stop in to see its Tiffany stained glass. Just beyond the view opens out over a broad valley to perhaps the best view of the Presidential Range. Mounts Jefferson, Clay and Washington are spread out and towering over the valley. Look for the slash of the Cog Railway straight up the side of Mount Washington. At the foot of the mountains the grandest of the grand hotels, the Mount Washington Hotel, holds court as she has done for more than a century.
Mount Washington Cog Railway
Just ahead a road on the right leads to the Cog Railway station at the base of the mountain. In addition to a nice lunch room, the base station has a good museum of the railway and the farsighted man who built it in the 1860s. Visitors who plan on camping will find Zealand and Sugarloaf camping areas a few miles farther up Route 302.
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