Copy/Repost Hike

Five of us met in Campton at the Northway Bank parking lot on a chilly and breezy day. This was to be a road bike trip on a paved road but nonetheless, we had a variety of bikes: road, hybrids and mountain. Temperature was around 50 degrees under mostly cloudy skies.

We followed Route 49 east on a wide breakdown lane to get to Waterville Valley. We started out passing by beautiful Campton Pond with views of Welsh & Dickey. Beautiful Mad River was alongside the road and we could hear rushing water in the background. It was certainly breezy as we faced a headwind forcing us to work harder.

Our first break was at the Smarts Brook trailhead. We then continued as the road began to wind following the Mad River. We were climbing up but it was hardly noticeable.

We took our second break at roadside picnic area. Only three more miles to get into town! However that did not include our planned ascent up the ski area.

In this next section we experienced a brief shower and a couple of moderate hills. Thankfully by the time we got near Waterville Valley the weather was clearing and we had blue skies. As we rode into town we had fun seeing how fast we were going on the display used to capture the speed of cars.

The next section was an uphill climb to the ski area. Everyone was in great spirits and ready for the challenge! We rode at different speeds and decided to all meet up at the top.

We could see Mt Osceola and East Peak as we climbed up. We took a well-deserved break at the top on a bench. I went to check out the ski area base lodge and it is so quiet this time of year. The chairlifts were quiet. Green grass replaced winter’s white snow. There were still a couple patches of snow! There was a great view of the Tripyramids from the ski area.

We then took a fast and exhilarating ride back down the mountain into down. Big smiles all around! We rode into town planning for lunch at Wild Coyote Grill only to discover they would not open until 4pm. So we got back on our bikes and rode into Town Square and had lunch at Legends. They have a nice deck outside along a babbling brook but it was too chilly to sit outside. The food and atmosphere was OK for our group but I think next time I’ll plan for a later start so could have an early dinner at Wild Coyote Grill.

The ride back would be downhill on the return which was perfect since we just had lunch. It felt like the wind picked up and along with the wind chill of riding downhill, it was quite cold! In fact, it was such a windy day, we noticed fallen trees on the breakdown lane on the other side of the road that we had been on about 90 minutes earlier! On top of that, we encountered another brief shower.

That said, it was another beautiful ride following the river and we only needed one break for the return.   Wonderful ride. Thanks guys for joining me. Loved the expansive views, river sounds, peacefulness, downhill runs and lunch! You guys ROCK!      

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