Camping: White Mountains 2026, Day Two

Monday, August 24, 2026, was the second of six days of camping at Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia Notch State Park in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Today my plan was to join a short nature hike, ride the Cog Railroad to the top of Mt. Washington, and ride my bicycle on the recreation path.

For the previous day of this six-day camping trip, see White Mountains 2026, Day One.

Lafayette Place Campground

Noisy and inconsiderate neighbors in a nearby campsite woke me up at about midnight, but my noise-canceling headphones eliminated that problem. I had brought these and earplugs to deal with traffic noise from nearby I-93, but I discovered that the traffic noise was not bothering me as much as the noisy neighbors. Since I was awake, I crawled out of my tent to check the sky. I had a good view to the north and west, and I could see the bright stars of Cassiopeia, Cygnus, and Lyra (with Vega); but low moonlight in the southeast washed out the dimmer stars.

After a good sleep, I got up at 6:00 a.m. and remembered to take a photo of my campsite. My Zipcar was parked to the left, out of the photo. The site was much larger than I needed.

My Campsite at Lafayette Place Campground

The day was bright and sunny, and I had a good view of Cannon Mountain to the northwest.

A View of Cannon Mountain from the Playground at Lafayette Place Campground

AMC Highland Center

After cooking and eating a breakfast of muesli and granola with hot cocoa, I left at 7:40 a.m. to drive to AMC Highland Center. I had to drive south on I-93 to reverse direction at U.S. Route 3 near Lincoln, then looping around from the north on Route 302, arriving very early at about 8:20 a.m. before the nature hike scheduled at 9:00 a.m.

While waiting, I explored the grounds of the AMC Highland Center.

AMC Highland Center

Crawford Notch, with Saco Lake and Elephant Head in the Foreground

Elephant Head Nature Walk

As for the nature walk, I turned out to be the only person who had registered. My guide was Mary, who was working full time at AMC during the summer before going to graduate school in the fall. We walked southeast on Crawford Notch Road from the Highland Center to the Webster-Jackson Trailhead just past Saco Lake. We followed that trail past the lake and branched right on the spur to Elephant Head.

During our walk, Mary showed me four kinds of maple, including sugar maple and red maple; hobblebush, which grows close to the ground and trips unwary hikers. Mary’s sharp eyes spotted a tiny frog next to the trail and many kinds of fungi. We had a close look at American beech trees infected with beech bark disease.

We climbed about 200 feet to the top of Elephant Head, where there was a good view north.

Saco Lake, AMC Highland Center, and Mt. Washington Hotel and Resort Viewed from Elephant Head

Cog Railroad to Mt. Washington Summit

I drove north on U.S. Route 302 to Base Station Road, which took me to Marshfield Station of the Cog Railroad, which climbs to the top of Mt. Washington.

The Cog Railroad’s Marshfield Station with Mt. Washington in the Background

The Path of the Cog Railroad Up Mt. Washington

Cog Railroad Diesel Engine

The Gloucester, Massachusetts, Student Band was present on a field trip, and they played their instruments at the bottom, during their train ride, and at the top of Mt. Washington (where, among other tunes, they played “Top of the World”).

Gloucester, Massachusetts, Student Band

Boarding the Carriages

I rode the train that departed at noon. We climbed 3,500 feet in 2.8 miles, a steep climb with an average grade of 24%. The diesel engines are very powerful, and the cogs, of course, hold the engine on the track to prevent it from sliding down the rails.

Carriage Interior

Mt. Washington Observatory: https://mountwashington.org/

Several photos. Schist with mica in the rocks at the top, not granite. The backs of the train seats are reversible so you always face in the direction the train is traveling. Back at the base station at about 2:00 p.m.

I drove back to the campground. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/57071895

Franconia Notch Recreation Path

In the late afternoon, I rode my bike north on the Franconia Notch Recreation Path.

As with the southern section, which I had ridden the day before, riding the northern section was also very challenging with a few extremely steep hills and some rough surface. The lowest gear on my Trek Valencia is 18 gear inches, which was barely sufficient for me to climb the steepest hill.

This description from a twelve-year-old video of riding the recreation path, Franconia Notch Bike Trail Virtual Cycling Bike Training, describes the trail succinctly and humorously:

Speed varies greatly due to the nature of the trail, basically the complete opposite of a rail trail. I think if you go up a little further north there might even be a vertical loop like in the old Hot Wheels tracks.

I turned around when I reached an old auto bridge over a stream, with barriers blocking automobile drivers but not bicyclists or hikers. I lacked a good map and a cell phone signal, and I was disoriented and not sure where I was when I turned around. The bridge seemed like a possible remnant of old U.S. Route 3 that had been replaced by the newer I-93 route.

When I had access to a good map a couple of days later, I learned that the bridge crosses Lafayette Brook and that the Franconia Notch Recreation Trail continues for a few more miles northward. I also discovered later that there was a good cell phone signal at the bridge. And the parking lot near the bridge is accessed from an exit from northbound I-93 and is located at the trailhead of Franconia Snomo, a snowmobile trail.

I returned to the campground by 5:30 p.m. I did a little walking around the campground, made dinner, cleaned up, and was in bed at dark, 8:00 p.m.

For the third day of this six-day camping trip, see White Mountains 2026, Day Three.