White Mountains - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 849

long slides, and gutted ravines on the way to Lincoln. Just west of the highway sprawls
6,500-acreFranconiaNotchStatePark,builtaroundaspectacularmountainpass.TakeExit
34B to the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway, the first of its kind in North America. A
five-minute ride whisks visitors 2,000 vertical feet to the mountain's 4,180-foot summit,
where an observation tower commands views that extend into four states and Canada.
From the tramway you can spot Echo Lake, sparkling far below like a turquoise jewel.
A haven for fishing and boating, the looking-glass lake is fed by springs and surging
streams that crash through a hushed forest of birch, beech, and spruce trees. Gangling
moose stare from the woods, and graceful deer step lightly through the underbrush like
four-legged ballerinas, pausing to nibble on buds.
Also along Exit 34B a pullout offers a view of the former site of the Old Man of the
Mountain—a series of stacked granite ledges that resembled a human profile and was the
state's emblem, but which fell in May 2003. As taciturn-looking as a New England farm-
er, the 40-foot-high rock formation was the inspiration for one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's
tales and dubbed the Great Stone Face. What really made the image famous, though, was
its appearance on New Hampshire license plates. It stood for years beyond its natural life
with the surgical assistance of locals, who each spring rewired its stony countenance and
patcheditsunsightlycracks.(Visitorscannowseethefamousfaceasitoncewasthrougha
series of profilers that were installed recently). Back on the parkway, The Basin Exit leads
to a shimmering pool, located at the foot of a waterfall.
2. Flume Gorge
Return once again to the parkway and take Exit 34A to the visitor center at Flume Gorge,
where a shuttle bus takes visitors to within 500 feet of the entrance to the gorge. There a
cascading brook burbles through an 800-foot-long chasm hemmed in by towering granite
walls.Thegorgeisespeciallylovelyinspringtime,whenpaintedtrilliums,troutlilies,wild
cherry blossoms, and many other blooms upholster its banks.
Beyond the flume, hiking trails wander through the woods and across two covered
bridges. On bright spring days sunlight filters through the dense canopy of trees, creating
puddles of light on the forest floor. Farther on Rte. 93, the drive briefly overlaps Rte. 3 and
hugsthePemigewassetRiveronthewaytoLincoln.TherethedriveveerseastwardonRte.
112—the Kancamagus Highway (pronounced kan-ka-MAW-gus ).