THE WHITE MOUNTAINS
The White Mountains are a wonderful place to escape, explore, most of all to ride your motorcycle and create unforgettable memories.
The White Mountains cover about a quarter of New Hampshire and a portion of western Maine, covering about 3,440 sq. miles of outstanding motorcycle touring. They are part of the northern Appalachian Mountains.
About a 2.5 hour drive from central Massachusetts, where we live, is one of our go-to spots for a weekend getaway, or a long day trip.
We absolutely love other parts of the Northeast as well, and we will cover those adventures in other posts. For this post, I will be focusing on the White Mountains NH & ME.
STARTING POINT
We will use Lincoln, NH as our starting point for this journey. Starting out from US I-93 and NH 112 – Kancamagus Highway. This is near Loon Mountain Resort.
The Kancamagus Hwy. is a very scenic drive, like all the roads in this area. This ride offers plenty of locations to pull off and take in the breath-taking views.
Riders Note: Be mindful of wildlife this region has a lot of deer and moose.
Along the Kancamagus Highway you can also take short hikes into the forest to see some spectacular sites, gorges, and waterfalls. Sabbady Falls, Rocky Gorge, and Champney Falls, to name a few.
Following the full length of the Kancamagus Highway will take you from Lincoln, NH over to Conway, NH. For this ride we will be turning off the Kancamagus Highway onto Bear Notch Road.
Riders Note: Part of Bear Notch Road is closed in the winter from December – March.
Bear Notch Road is a nice long swooping road through dense forest, also offering several places to pull off and take in the views.
At the end of Bear Notch Road, take a Right onto NH-302, Crawford Notch Road. This will take you past Attitash Mountain Resort, heading East/Northeast, towards North Conway NH.
You will come into a town called Glen, NH with the intersection of Rt. 16 and 302. Take a Left onto Rt. 16 North – Pinkham Notch Road. This will take you past the tourist attraction Story Land. There can be some traffic here, so watch for families crossing the road to Story Land. This road will also take you to Mount Washington and the Mt. Washington Auto Road.
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern US. Elevation: 6,148’ and has erratic weather at the summit.
Riders Note: If venturing up the Mt. Washington Auto Road on a Motorcycle check in at the base lodge to check the weather at the summit. As I said, the weather at the summit is very erratic. You will also want to be mindful of the road, most of it is paved, but has sections with packed and loose gravel. It is very steep in places and unforgiving with steep drops off the shoulder. Take it slow stay safe and use low gears on your dissent as to not overheat your breaks.
Stay on Rt. 16 North until you reach Gorham, NH. (Rt. 16/Rt. 2 West will continue off to the left) We will be taking a Right onto Rt. 2 East and following that to Rt. 113 South. Rt. 113 is very much like Bear Notch Road. This is a nice, flat, winding road running through dense forest with a river running along the roadside. Very nice road to find a place to pull off and take in the views or jump in the river to cool down if needed.
We will stay on Rt. 113 as it crosses over into Western Maine.
Riders Note: Once over the Maine state line, Rt. 113 splits off into 113 & 113B. 113B veers off to the right, you want to stay left on Rt. 113. If you should take 113B, don’t sweat it, they end up in the same place.
When you get to the STOP sign where 113 and 113B join back up, at the Stow Corner Store, take a left, staying on Rt. 113 South. We are heading towards Fryeburg, ME.
Continue South on Rt. 113/N Fryeburg Rd. You will be looking for S Chatham Road, and it will be on the Right. You will see a little White Fire Station on the opposite corner. This road is very ruff, watch for potholes. Don’t worry, it is only ruff for a about 1mile, once you cross over back into NH the road is nice and smooth.
Riders Note: Don’t go like a Bat Out Of Hell when the road smooths out, you have a hard Left turn coming up.
MY FAVORITE ROAD
We are now very close to one of my favorite roads in New Hampshire!! HURRICAN MOUTAIN ROAD. This road is nuts, and I love it!
This road has a steep ascent and descent, be cautious on this road and respect it. It is very narrow with trees, rocks, and drop-off shoulders.
Some drivers take this road very fast. You need to be mindful of oncoming vehicles, bicyclist, and pedestrians, particularly at the top. This is a very fun road, like being on a roller-coaster ride! It has whooped de whoops and tight turns that make it a very challenging ride.
This is the type of road that ether you love it or it scares the hell out of you and you will avoid it like COVID (the plague of 2020/+). But if you love this kind of road, and I certainly do, then it is very addicting!
Okay back to our ride. As I mentioned, that hard left on S Chatham Road puts you back into NH, and the road changes to Green Hill Rd. You will be on this road for about 8miles, and you will be looking for Hurricane Mountain Rd. on your right. As I said, be safe and heads up on this road! Have a blast, I will see you on the other side.
Question for you all.
QUESTIONS
Have you ridden Hurrican Mountain Road by motorcycle or car?
Did you love it?! Is this your kind of road?
Leave us a comment below, we would love to hear about your experience!!
FUN, RIGHT?!
Now that we have gotten over Hurricane Mountain, let;s keep going. We will be taking a left onto Rt. 302 S/16 S/White Mountain Highway (yup it is all 3 at once), this is just a short run, 1mile, and then we will take a Right onto River Rd.
Riders Note: Fuel Up if you need to, we will be going back over the Kancamagus Highway and you will not see a fuel station for about another 50miles.
Riders Note: This rout will take us around the center drag of North Conway and avoiding all the traffic. If you prefer to go through town you can continue South on 302/16 and see the sights, get some food or ice-cream, go in the shops, what ever you like. You can meet up with us down the road. If you do, keep heading South until you get to Rt 112/Kancamagus Highway on the right and follow that to the end, we will meet you at the starting point back in Lincoln.
Okay, let’s get back onto River Road. 1mile down the road we will be taking another left onto West Side Road. This is a nice way to avoid all the congestion in the center of town. About 5.4miles down the road we will be taking a right on to Passaconaway Road. Follow this to the end and it intersects back with Rt 112/Kancamagus Highway. We take a right onto 112/Kancamagus Highway and take it back over to Lincoln.
We are now back to the starting point! I hope you enjoyed the ride!
Great route! Lincoln NH is a great place to start and this route has some amazing views!