Located in northern New Hampshire, the Kancamagus Highway is a beautiful scenic byway that winds through the White Mountain National Forest for 35 miles. The “Kanc” as it is known locally, connects the towns of Conway and Lincoln, New Hampshire. People drive the Kancamagus Highway for many reasons, among them is the hope that they will see a moose along the side of the road. They are plentiful in this part of New Hampshire, and Kate and I have both seen moose in the White Mountain National Forest, but we did not see any on this drive, unfortunately. Moose are very large animals, standing about six feet tall at the shoulder and weighing between 600 and 1,500 pounds. You do not want to hit one with your car.

The photograph above was taken from inside of the Albany Covered Bridge in Albany, New Hampshire. This covered bridge is 120 feet long and allows traffic to safely cross the Swift River, a 25 mile tributary of the Saco River that for its entire length closely follows the Kancamagus Highway. There are many places to stop and swim in the Swift River during a drive along the Kancamagus Highway. The water does move quite quickly in spots and even in the heat of the summer is very ‘refreshing’.

This picture is of the Falls Pond at the Rocky Gorge Scenic Area, one of the many fantastic stops along the Kancamagus Highway. We did stop at the Rocky Gorge and admire the falls there, but I really liked this photo of the trees reflecting on the perfectly still glass-like water in Falls Pond.

One of the few consistently flat and straight sections of the Kancamagus Highway is after the Kancamagus Pass before you get into the town of Lincoln. The Kanc gets a lot of traffic during the summer, but it is also extremely popular in the early fall when the trees of the dense White Mountain National Forest change from green to red, orange and yellow. 

And now we continue west into Vermont!