Kancamagus Highway

National Scenic Byway (1996). New Hampshire Route 112 Between Lincoln And Conway, Running Entirely Through The White Mountain National Forest, Where Parking At Every Developed Site Requires A Forest Recreation Pass. · Lincoln, New Hampshire

A 34.5-mile mountain road, New Hampshire Route 112, that crosses the White Mountain National Forest from Lincoln in the west to Conway in the east, and the drive most Americans picture when they think of New England in autumn. It climbs to nearly 2,900 feet at Kancamagus Pass, winds past a string of overlooks across the Pemigewasset and Swift River valleys, and runs its whole length without a single petrol station, shop, motel or billboard - the national forest owns both sides of the road. It was opened as a through road in 1959, was designated a National Scenic Byway in 1996, and is named for Kancamagus, a seventeenth-century sachem of the Pennacook people. Along the way are short walks to Sabbaday Falls and Rocky Gorge, swimming ledges at Lower Falls, the 1830s Russell-Colbath homestead, the flat Lincoln Woods trail into the Pemigewasset Wilderness, six national forest campgrounds and a good chance of moose at dusk. In early October the traffic can be as memorable as the colour, so timing is everything.

NH Route 112 (Kancamagus Highway) from Lincoln to Conway, Lincoln, New Hampshire, 03251, United States

The highway itself is open 24 hours a day, all year, and is ploughed in winter, though it can close for a few hours in a heavy storm or after an accident, and there are no services on it at any hour. The Lincoln Woods Visitor Center at the western end and the Saco Ranger District office near the eastern end in Conway sell passes and give out maps; both keep daytime hours, the ranger office on a reduced schedule outside summer and foliage. The Russell-Colbath Historic Site is staffed only in summer and early autumn. Campgrounds along the road open roughly mid-May and close between mid-October and December depending on the site. Overlooks and trailheads have no closing time, but some pullouts are not ploughed in winter.

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