Since Mollie has been staying with me (and often needs a ride), I'd hesitated to take too much time away from Hanover. This weekend, though, the hiking weather was too good to pass up and I decided to travel for a few days. With Mollie all set (she made arrangements for rides to/from work), my bags packed and my work day complete (by 1500), I departed for Maine! I used I-91 (in VT) during my drive north and encountered the most traffic I’ve seen in New England in the last year. Once I switched to I-93 (near St. J), the crowd thinned out but, since I was wary of northbound tourists heading through the Twin Mountain area, I got off the Interstate just after crossing back into NH (also got a map from one of the NH Welcome Centers). I passed through Littleton and discovered that the locals have named it “The Glad Town” in honor of the book “Pollyanna” - apparently, the author lived in town just before writing the book. Following some general guidance from Google Maps, I followed US-3 to Whitefield. At that point, though, I missed a turn - the resulting GPS "recalculate" ended up taking me down a LOT of gravel/dirt roads to reach US-2 in Jefferson. One bonus for my mistake was that I got a lot of great glimpses of scenery on the skyline included the Presidential Range (sans snow). After reaching blacktop again, I made good time to Gorham, my home-away-from-home during the weekend. Before checking into my hotel room, I stopped on the western edge of town (1730) and spent over an hour walking on the Presidential Range Rail Trail. The section between the parking lot and the Androscoggin River was mainly used by ATVs. There were a LOT of them - they kicked up a ton of dust but we coexisted alright... I took the old railroad bridge to the eastern side of the river and then backtracked via a hiker bridge in the lower part of the span. Had to cross NH-16 to get back to my car - wasn’t tired yet so walked another mile to the west. This section, which crossed into Moose Brook State Park, was completely deserted and I didn’t see anyone for the rest of my walk. All the signs and maps I passed indicated a huge complex of off road trails - this explains all the ATVs I’ve seen whenever I’ve come through the area for hikes. Finished up at around 1900 after about 3 miles. The sunset was still a long way off - it’s going to be great to be up here for the next few days! I drove a short distance and checked into the Rodeway Inn in Gorham (1930). After getting settled, I spent the rest of the evening reading and packing for the hike the next day. Went to bed at 2200 - crossing fingers I won’t get rain...
