White Mountains NH Covered Bridge Hunt 7/6/2011

Nice view from scenic overlook near the hairpin turn on The Kanc



Bartlett Bridge (1870) spans the Saco River



Honeymoon Bridge (1876) in Jackson NH spans the Ellis River



I decided to cross Hurricane Mountain Road to get to the next bridges.
It's a great place to smoke your brakes or wreck your car and it's as bad as the name sounds.



It's steep and she needed a well deserved rest at the peak (had to let the rad cycle a few times to get the temp down first).



Do you like roller coasters?

 

WHEEEE!



This turn is especially wicked at night. Lot of tail hitch & oil pan scrapes here OUCH!



Then I got stuck on Federal (dirt) Road north of Fryeburg. Pics of minor carnage at the end of this post.

I still made it to 2 more bridges although I lost the light.

Hemlock Bridge (1857) in Fryeburg Maine spans the Saco River



Saco River in the rain. Pic taken from Frog Alley Road.



Last but not least - Saco River Bridge (1844) in Conway NH spans well dur, the Saco River

This is a crappy pic but it's very close to downtown Conway.
It's located on West Side Road that passes Cathedral Ledge and is easily accessible so I'll be back for more pix.



Minor carnage and BTW - It's a good thing I washed her on Tuesday.



Good luck with that wiper delete mod



Here are a couple more wooden covered bridge related links

Book - New England's Covered Bridges: A Complete Guide @ Amazon

DVD - Covered Bridges of New England PBS Special @ Amazon or buy it at Bartlett Covered Bridge Gift Shop

 

I've seen the PBS show a few times already but yesterday I bought the DVD at Bartlett Bridge Gift Shoppe anyway.
I would recommend anyone even the least bit interested to watch the PBS show.

I just finished watching a 35 minute segment called "Four Seasons Surfari" that's included on the DVD.
It's a video showing highlights from a few dozen bridges during the 4 different seasons.
Snow falling, rivers gurgling, camera panning, neighbors' horses investigating, you get the (moving) picture.
There is no spoken word just soothing piano/acoustic guitar music and a subtle 2-5 second flash of which/where the current bridge is.
It's not exactly Die Hard or Fast & Furious just relaxing stuff.
It's extra sweet to me because I've been to most of the bridges shown (some just yesterday) and enjoyed the beauty/serenity of most of their settings.

I highly recommend the DVD

 

Nice Mowgli! Let me know when you're headed to that car show on Sundays up your way. PM me or just call me.

Later
Allex

 

BTW - A mama & baby porcupine were scurrying across Frog Alley Road next to the Saco River near Hemlock Bridge.
I figured they'd still be there when I got back from the bridge but poof! they were gone.
I saw no cars during the ½ hour or so that I was down there so they're probably used to having the place to themselves.

heh - I just found a pic of what Hemlock Bridge looks like in early May

 

I drove a couple hundred miles Saturday.
visited 2 covered bridges
picked up a very good Magnavox console stereo for $19
a few great records for $14
then home.

Looky


First I drove to Gilbertville Covered Bridge (1887) in Hardwick Mass.

They just finished repairs/restoration on it last October.

It was closed to traffic since 2002 and they must be psyched to have it back.



Then followed GPS (set to shortest route) over to Swamp Meadow Covered Bridge (1994) in Foster, RI



then did other stuff

 

Here's the plan for Saturday: http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Cl...8&via=6,11&z=8

The wife and I'll leave at about 8AM and pick up a friend near Walpole NH.
We'll hit a few covered bridges and swim at some of them, at least this one near Charlotte, Vermont.:



There are upper and lower pools deep enough to swim in at the waterfall.
There is also a 50+ foot cliff coming out of the water at the lower pool.

We'll continue to a few more covered bridges, up through Smuggler's Notch and through a few unscheduled bridges that I'll act surprised about.
One of the surprises is 2 bridges within sight of each other (about 350 feet away from each other).

Here's Smuggler's Notch shown in post #45



And here are 2 of the (surprise) bridges of the 3 on this road in Northfield Vermont.



We're looking at 12 hours+ of driving and 500 miles. My kind of day

.

 

Took a lil 460 mile ride with Mrs. Mowgli and my friend Nate into Northern Vermont 7/16/11

First we stopped at the West Dummerston Bridge from this post

Then we stopped at Williamsville Bridge in Newfane about 4.5 miles away

Here's how it looked last year



Yesterday...



Then 26 miles to Worrall Bridge in Rockingham

Again - Here's how it looked last year



And yesterday


No that's not me. I have a nicer dome and no pink camera see here

 

We did actually stop at Bartonsville Bridge on the way to Worrall Bridge in Rockingham from the previous post

Here's a couple of pictures of it from last year



Hey look what's behind the Gulf in Mt Holly VT on the way to the next bridge



Up a dirt road, on the way to the next bridge, I thought my wife would like to say hi to these moomoos at Bit O Wind Farm





Next was Kingsley Bridge in North Clarendon (about 36 miles from Rockingham)

 

Here's the biggest draw for this trip (61 miles and ~2 hours North from Clarendon).
Saquin Bridge in Charlotte VT is one of my favorite bridges. Sure it's a nice enough bridge but I love the setting.

Ed Barna in his book Covered Bridges Of Vermont describes the setting as: "A fairly secluded area for a well-maintained and well preserved bridge".
Terms like fairly secluded area are relative I guess.

Swim call!



I didn't even expect it but we rolled through Quinlan Bridge in Charlotte on the way out of that fairly secluded area

Here are a few pix from last year



My wife & friend both have bad backs that were bothering them so I had mercy on them.
After rolling another 60 miles North to go over Smugglers Notch we just hit the highway homebound.
I was planning to surprise them by rolling through some covered bridges in Northfield VT on the way home.
They'd had quite enough so we had to skip them if I ever want them to go covered bridge hunting with me again.

We were all beat after 460 miles but they had no regrets and look forward to the next road trip...just not too soon.

Wimps