This started as a scenic drive about what you can find on 3 October in Northern New Hampshire and Maine. But Lisa and I have changed the focus to the several smaller day trips that you can make based on your travel needs.

Most of the images in this article were from Oct 3, 2013. Those on Route 113 are from 2017 through 2020.

This is one of my long drives to take in autumn. We left Salem on 3 October and drove for 479 miles and we left before 7 AM and returned 14 hours later. But for you, you can make this a simple 88-mile trip by starting and stopping in Conway New Hampshire. or 200 miles (a real full day) again starting and ending in Conway NH and going into Maine. Confused?

Trip 1 – 88 Miles and a minimum of 8 stops

You can pick up a VT/NH Gazetteer in my Amazon Store and Also the Maine Gazetteer to map out this trip. For the short 88-mile trip, you leave Conway NH on Route 16 and proceed to Jackson, Pinkham Notch, Mount Washington auto road, and Gorham. Once you hit Gorham you will leave Route 16 for Route 2 and cross into Maine. You will turn down Route 113 at Gilead Maine and follow it back to Route 302 and head west back to Conway.

I left out the scenic stops as they are noted below in this article or this article that details Route 113.

Trip 2 – 200 Miles and too many possible stops to list…

For this trip, you still start in Conway but at Gorham, you continue on Route 16 and you can add Milan State Park (Listed below) to your itinerary, then you will continue to Errol NH (last stop for gas) and continue east on 16 past Lake Umbagog and proceed into Maine. You will be traveling through some incredible scenery and there are lots of places to get shots from the roadside.

Once in Maine you will travel to the north of Mooselookmegnutic Lake but don’t worry you will turn south on Route 17 and stop at the Height of Land for an impressive sweeping vista of Lake Mooselookmeguntic and the surrounding hills. You will continue south on 17 till you get to Coos Canyon. This is another scenic location worth stopping at. I’ve written about both of these places so click the magnifying glass above and do a search on those locations.

Back on 17, you will continue to Mexico and through Rumford Maine to pick up Route 2 west. Once you pass Newry ME look for the signs for Sunday River Resort and turn onto Sunday River Road. Take it past the resort until you reach the Sunday River covered bridge. photograph and turn around and back down to Route 2 and west to Gilead ME. From here you will pick up the previous trip and head south on Route 113 to Route 302 and back into Conway.

How Our Trip Differs From Yours…

Lisa and I started and stopped in Salem Massachusett which makes our trip soooo much longer than we want YOU to actually drive in a day.

So we drove north on Route 95 to Route 16, following it through Jackson to Gorham. We then crossed on 16 into Maine, heading towards Rangeley but due to the time of day, we headed south on Route 17.

We stopped at a couple of favorites like the Height of Land and Coos Canyon before arriving in Rumford Maine. Lisa probably pointed out that the Sunday River covered bridge is just two towns over down Route 2 (Newry ME) so we headed in that direction. Since we were on our way home I was probably thinking of crossing back over into NH. Lisa probably asked me “Have we been on Route 113?” which was just ahead at Gilead and I said no and today, Oct 3rd, would be the first time to take Route 113.

What follows are some of the highlights of this long route and I know now that I missed SO much because over the years I have tried to get off Route 16 and explore further afield but the lure of the road I’m on keeps calling and I just have to see what is just around the next bend.

Even though Lisa and I dropped our weary heads on our pillows at home and not Conway. You? You can drop your head onto pillows at many places along this trip. You could or should make this at least, a two-day trip.

Conway to Jackson to Pinkham Notch NH.

As I expected there wasn’t much color along the southern route on 3 October. Once we got north of Tamworth NH (South of Conway) I started to see some spotty but bright colors. Again, it should be *noted Conway Rarely turns fully much before 7 October.

The first place we stopped was Ravenwood in Jackson NH. I have a (long) video on YouTube where I walked through the outside gallery… Follow the link.

This year the Pumpkin People theme was Alice in Wonderland (every year is different) and we stopped to catch a few images.

I’ve written about Route 16 a couple of times so I’m not really going into a lot of detail and I’m betting most of you have driven it once or twice already. Read this article if you need a refresher on Route 16.

Pinkham Notch is always nice to stop at before you get to Mount Washington Auto Road. The big pull-out is a magnet for me to pull over at, if nothing else I can stretch my legs for a few minutes and look down the valley.

Next, we stopped at Pinkham Notch and then at the foot of Mount Washington. All along Route 16 to Errol, we found pleasing fall color and a few spots of outstanding color. The further north you travel, the better it gets.

Milan Fire Tower

I’m not going to say much about this stop because I have written about it several times already. You can read about this scenic overlook in this article on day-tripping in Northern New Hampshire.

Height of Land – Maine

We traveled up and over Route 16 into Maine but since we were running out of daylight, we decided to head south on Route 17 prior to getting into Rangeley. We can’t help ourselves though and I always stop at the Height of Land which is above MooselookMeguntic Lake.

These fall colors were some of the best that we had seen so far and we soon took our leave, heading south on Route 17. Next up was a stop at Coos Canyon.

Coos Canyon on 3 Oct

We stopped in Coos Canyon and the colors were outstanding. How good the fall colors are will depend on when you arrive and how the temps are running. In a normal year, the fall colors will be more or less like this during the first week in Oct (in a slow-burn year, they will be a week later).

Continuing from the story in the first paragraph, we drove through Rumford and did not stop on this day and turned west on Route 2. I probably was thinking of going back into New Hampshire on Route 2 but either Lisa pointed out the fact there was a covered bridge coming up or I saw the Sunday River sign and remember I had only photographed the Artists covered bridge but once.

Sunday River or Artists covered bridge – Newry Maine

It’s only about 4 miles after you turn onto Sunday River Road. There is a fair bit of parking around the bridge. The bridge was moved off the road (or the road was moved to bypass the bridge.

After photographing the bridge we turned back south and picked up Route 2 west once again. As I stated up top, Lisa probably saw the road listed in the Gazetteer and asked if we had been on this road. So we started our first trip down Route 113 in 2013 (9 years ago… YIKES, I’m getting old)

Route 113, Less Traveled Gem & 34 miles long

Route 113 is an outstanding little road and in a few spots it’s a bit narrow but paved and it can be very colorful. If the Kancamagus is backed up this is a good substitute and it’s about the same length. From the start of Route 2 in Gilead to the end of Route 302 The total length is 34 miles. Below are a “Few” of the scenic points that Lisa and I have found along Route 113.

The photos below are taken from later years, I’ll post the years in the description.

Wild River Road – 20 Oct 2017 (a slow-burn year)

Your First photo-op can be if you jump off on Wild River Road. WRR is a straight and easy road to take but it does dead-end just under 5 miles out in the New Hampshire wilderness. There are a couple of trailheads that you can park at and please do your research on them before you just head out into the woods. Plus you can get shots of the fall colors along the river.

The road follows the Wild River but as seen here is not all that wild in October. This was a dry summer and we had just had a heatwave a couple of weeks prior, so the river was just barely flowing. Continuing on we come to Evan’s Notch Scenic Lookout.

Evan’s Notch 21 Sept and 20 Oct

The road starts and stays paved the whole length (unless you get off on side roads) and it can be narrow with limited pull-off opportunities. I have managed to stop and “grab” some shots but for the most part, your Second photo-op is the pull-out at Evan’s Notch.

You don’t want to get here TOO early. You also don’t normally have to wait till 20 Oct as I found good solid color on 6 October 2020. The day we were there in 2020 was overcast with very low clouds running through the valley. Also, remember 2020 was an early year for the color.

The Brickett Place

There are trails that lead off from here for exploring and there is sometimes a Ranger here to offer assistance or suggestions. Just across the road from Brickett Place is the entrance to the Basin Campground.

The Basin – 6 October 2020

I didn’t find the Basin till my later trips. My first trip had ended (2013) and I was writing the trip up, I looked in Google Maps to check my info and I saw a splash of blue across the border in New Hampshire. I zoomed in and found the Basin campground. I actually came back with the CBS Sunday Morning crew in 2018 and we recorded my interview in that campground.

I loved the day that Lisa and I arrived there and it wasn’t totally overcast as I made my way down the shore to get a different aspect, The clouds parted a little and I was presented with this view.

As we left and continued south we will travel through Stowe and Freyburg Maine before crossing back into New Hampshire. Route 113 will drop you onto Route 302 and this will take you back to the outskirts of Conway.

Check this article on places to not miss on 1 October (in a slow-burn year make it 5 Oct)

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

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