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5. Bethlehem
The drive soon begins to climb in earnest as Rte. 302 heads into the foothills of the White Mountains. On the way, be sure to tour Bethlehem, a longtime resort area that lies halfway up the granite shoulder of Mt. Agassiz. It was to this town at the turn of the century that many people suffering from hay fever—presidents and poets among them—came by the hundreds to escape the ill effects of summertime pollen. A walk through the thick stands of evergreens here—which drop their pollen in springtime and are free of it by summer—will quickly confirm the opinion of those earlier visitors: the fresh air truly is invigorating.
The terrain turns wonderfully wild and rugged as the drive rolls onward and upward to the Presidential Range, the tallest peaks of the White Mountains. Rocky and bruised by the often brutal climate, the summits slice the sky all along the eastern horizon. The seemingly endless woodlands in this region are protected as part of the White Mountain National Forest, a vast tract that stretches into Maine. The Trestle Trail, one of the first places to sample the forest on foot, begins near the town of Twin Mountains. Though fairly short, the pathway wends past a surprisingly varied array of plant life: patches of wild sarsaparillas, ferns, Canada mayflowers, and stands of red maple, birch, and balsam trees.
6. Bretton Woods
“The second-greatest show on earth” was P. T. Barnum's assessment of the view from atop Mt. Washington. To decide for yourself, take a ride on the historic Cog Railway. It departs from Bretton Woods and huffs and puffs as it inches all the way up to Mt. Washington's lofty 6,288-foot peak. Mixed forests yield to stunted evergreens along the way, until above the timberline only tundra plants can survive. Hardy well-equipped hikers can descend via the Jewell Trail, which skirts the 1,600-foot cliffs of the Great Gulf on the way back to Bretton Woods, where the tired can unwind at the Mt. Washington Hotel, a white palace of a place that sits in the shadows of the great peak.
7. Crawford Notch State Park
Hot on the trail of an elusive moose in 1771, a hunter by the name of Timothy Nash stumbled upon a gap in the mountains that no white man had ever seen. Today that steep-sided cleft is known as Crawford Notch, a rugged pass where the Saco River scoots between rocky ramparts washed by water racing down from the uplands. Silver Cascade can be seen from the road, while Arethusa Falls, the highest waterfall in the state, can be reached by a hike that passes Frankenstein Cliff, whose monstrous wall—covered with a glistening sheath of ice in winter—rises to an elevation of 2,451 feet.
8. Mt. Attitash
The familiar sight of rushing water accompanies the road as it snakes beside the Saco River. Just a little east of Bartlett, the trails of the ski area on Mt. Attitash trace thin lines among the trees—streamers of white in winter and ribbons of green in summer. Visitors can ride a chairlift to the 2,300-foot summit. In service year-round, it whisks passengers to an observation tower for a last glimpse of the Presidential Range, its peaks perhaps gilded by the setting sun.
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