Crazy Horse Campground, New Hampshire

We left Crazy Horse Campground shortly before noon.   Our goal was to visit Pondicherry Wildlife Preserve after visiting Littleton.  Anyone from the western U.S. will find distances in northern New Hampshire “different”.  While New York is a large state, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are small.  Towns are remarkably close together.  The drive from Crazy Horse Campground to Littleton was ten miles!

   

the Town of Littleton, New Hamshire

Littleton is a quaint New Hampshire town on the Ammonoosuc River.  It has a bustling but small downtown on SR 116 and a few businesses right on the river on Mill Street.  No surprise, historically there was a mill on the river.  In fact the Miller’s Cafe and Bakery is located at the old mill.  The food here is very good, though it can be busy with the staff scurrying to get orders out.  When we ate here, it was blustery, cool, and raining off-and -on.  We avoided the deck.

   

Covered Bridge, Littleton

There are three bridges over the river:  the bland one that SR 116 runs over, a pedestrian covered bridge that runs up to Miller’s Cafe, and a pedestrian suspension bridge a bit further upstream that can be seen from the covered bridge.

   

The town has a number of restaurants, the Thayer’s Inn dating from  1843, and an excellent guitar shop.  We hoped to eat at the inn, but the kitchen was closed.  The concierge mentioned “Topic of the Town”, a family style restaurant, as a good place to eat.  Another fellow at the desk mentioned that there are three bridges over the river, one is a covered bridge and another a suspension bridge.  We would walk a loop of about a mile crossing the three bridges.  He also recommended Miller’s Cafe and Bakery. We took the second fellows advice and walked down the main street to the busy bridge that 116 runs over.

For more information: Thayer’s Inn

 

      

Betty Davis owned a home in Littleton and was often seen in town

 

On our way down main street (116), we passed “Topic of Town”.  It is a very popular restaurant with middle aged people (what I kiddingly call “the gray haired set”).   It is the kind of restaurant that drives the young, the professionals, and the hip away with bland fair.  I’m sure “Topic of the Town” is a quality restaurant.  With one glance as we walked by, we chose to move on.

 

Miller’s Cafe and Bakery, Littleton New Hampshire

From the “116 bridge”, the pedestrian bridge was obvious.  As we turned down the driveway toward the bridge, a tour bus passed us headed for the bridge.  As we photographed the old mill from across the river, the bus disgorged the tourists who flooded the bridge.  We lingered taking photos from the river and the bridge and decided to try the Miller’s Cafe for lunch.  The tourists did not flood the restaurant ahead of us.  Still the staff was recovering from a rush and seemed stressed.  The pulled pork sandwich was good, Ellen’s soup was good, the quiche we took with us for dinner later was good.  All in all Miller’s Cafe is the place to have lunch if the weather cooperates and you can sit on the deck (there are two).

Pondicherry Wildlife Reserve, a bust…

   

Next we set off to find the Pondicherry Wildlife Reserve.  It sits between Whitefield and Jefferson but to the south.  We drove back and forth on 116 between Whitefield and Jefferson expecting to find a road to the reserve.  There was no road, but we have gorgeous views of fall colors in all directions.  We headed south on 115A, thinking surely there would be a sign for the reserve on this road.  Seeing nothing, we asked a fellow installing siding on a farm.  He knew exactly where the reserve was, but there were no roads in!  We could go back up a dirt road and find a trail to the reserve and Cherry Lake, but that could be muddy and hard going.  We could drive down the road a bit, park on the road, and walk in along the railroad tracks.  Or we could drive further down the road, about 3 miles, turn right toward Mt Washington Airport, park there, and walk the railroad tracks to the lake.  We chose the airport, drove past it, turned around (a recurring theme), and parked.  We were looking at a two mile walk up the RR tracks.  No problem, we thought until it started to rain.  We chose common sense, not valor, and skipped Pondicherry.

   

Ammonoosuc Campground, Bretton Woods NH

We drove to Ammonoosuc Campground at Bretton Woods and took site #5.  We chose Bretton Woods because it is near the access road for the Cog Railroad that runs to the top of Mt Washington.   The AllStays listing for Ammonsoosuc states that the campground is open year round.  It is, but….  The owners said that the campground is closing tomorrow until November and it closes again in March for a few weeks.  Why, you ask?  A Vermont state law requires campgrounds be closed for 6 weeks each year otherwise they are considered a mobile home park. I expect we will have some trouble finding campgrounds in the next few weeks.  There are plenty of state parks nearby, we shouldn’t have trouble finding a place for the night to boondock.

The Ammonoosuc Campground is  beautifully located in a grove of hardwoods and pines.  We walked the park and met Jim, Judy, and Gail from Massachusetts. They are seasonal, coming up in the spring and staying until the snow becomes trouble.  It was a gas talking with Jim about how Arlington and Belmont have changed in the last forty years.  When the campground shuts down, they simply turn off the water.  However, the water for the showers, the heated bathrooms, and the electricity are left on.  The owners decamp, but Jim, Judy, and Gail will stay through the shutdown using facilities and getting their own water.  May be that we can fudge our stay at other campsites in the next few weeks.  Who knows?  We’ll play it by ear.

Cog Railway, Mt Washington NH

The cog railway operates bio-diesel trains hourly on the half hour, but has one authentic steam engine that runs at 9:15 in the morning. We had hoped to take the steam engine, but it is sold out!  It’s off season, the weather should be partially sunny and cold (38 tops) and still the steam engine is sold out.  We’ll make do with the bio-diesel.

For More Information: Cog Railway