White Mountains and Whitefield, 9:00 am

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

The weather looks good for a ride with mountain views! It should be sunny, clear and not hot, so let's head up to the Bretton Woods area for some Presidential views. (The forecast as of Wednesday night still looks great!!)

I tried to put together a ride that mixes the good parts of other rides that we have done in the Bretton Woods, Twin Mountain and Whitefield area. It is impossible to avoid hills, but the ones on this ride aren't too bad!
We can decide after the ride how this one rates as compared to the others - keeper or not?!

Let's start the ride at 9:00 am, ready to ride, summertime schedule.

The whole ride is 39 miles, an out-and-back ride.
The ride goes to Twin Mountain, turns right on route 3, then right again on route 115. There is a gradual climb up to the lookout point. We then take a left and go down Airport Road past the Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge parking area, past the airport and out eventually to route 116. The gazebo on the town square in Whitefield is 1.6 miles on route 116. There is water available from a faucet, a convenience store with toilet, an ice cream store, a lawn, park benches and a gazebo. What else could cyclists want??

We reverse the route for a return with beautiful White Mountain views.

For the 39 mile ride, start out of the Eisenhower Wayside Park parking lot, located downhill about 1.5 miles from the top of Crawford Notch, on the right (the sledding hill in winter). There is (used to be?) a flag and a sign.

Shorter Options:
For a 33 mile ride, start out of Bretton Woods ski area, park near the fitness center ~9:10 am
For a 29 mile ride, start out of the Zealand parking lot, on the right side of Rt 302 before the Zealand access road/campground ~9:20 am
For a 24 mile ride, start out of the gazebo at the Twin Mountain tourist info center at the 4-corners where route 302 and route 3 intersect ~9:35 am.

If you want a few more miles (42 total), which includes the short climb up Crawford Notch at the end of the ride, park at the Mt Clinton Road Parking area (need a forest service parking pass) at the top of the notch. Ride down to meet the rest of the riders to start riding at 9:00.

Carpool out of Grant's parking lot at 8:15 am

If the weather forecast actually is true, it should be a great day!

Here is a map:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/40208406