Gravel Riding in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

For my birthday weekend this year, Jordan and I brought our bikes up to the White Mountains in New  Hampshire for some gravel riding. The highlight of the route was the Presidential Rail Trail that spans about 20 miles from Gorham, NH to Whitefield, NH with great views of the Presidential Range. Another highlight was riding through White Mountain National Forest!

We booked a bare bones hotel in Gorham to set up a base camp. We loaded our bikes and all of gear and headed out. We first stopped at White Mountain Cafe to get some sandwiches to go for lunch, which worked out perfectly.

Our plan was to ride the 20ish miles from Gorham to Twin Mountain where we had a room booked at a lodge. The rail trail was a beautiful gravel bike path that offered great views of the surrounding mountains.

perfection

When we finished the rail trail, we took a wrong turn and started riding in the opposite direction of the lodge. Ooops!  Eventually I figured it out and we had to ride a few extra miles, but it wasn’t that big of a deal, since the scenery was gorgeous. We checked into the lodge and I headed back out to the local gas station / deli YaYa’s to pick up some hot subs and beer! It was only about a mile away from the lodge, so it was an easy ride.

Day 1 Gorham to Twin Mountain

For breakfast the next morning, we rode back to YaYa’s for seriously one of the best egg and cheese on a bagel I’ve ever had.

From there, we started Day 2–riding back to Gorham through the White Mountain National Forest.

Another highlight of the route was riding on Old Cherry Mountain Road–a Forest Service Road that was still closed to motorized vehicles.

A few sections still had snow on them, but it was completely rideable! Keep in mind–this was at the end of April/Beginning of May, so it was still a little chilly up there!

The road was absolutely beautiful and was perfect on our gravel bikes.

 

After a pretty big climb up to the Cherry Mountain trailhead, it was time to start descending! Soon we connected back up with the Rail Trail.

Day 2 – Twin Mountain to Gorham via Old Cherry Mountain Road and Presidential Rail Trail.

We dropped our gear off at the hotel and quickly headed to Big Day Brewing before they closed. We had some delicious food and beverages, which hit the spot after days of riding! Apparently this is a great spot for mountain bike trails, because the brewery was packed with mountain bikers! I can’t think of a better way to spend a birthday weekend!

Note: This was a modified version of Bikepacking.com’s Northern White Mountains Overnighter. Instead of camping on Old Cherry Mountain Road, we opted to book a lodge in a nearby town of Twin Mountain and ride Old Cherry Mountain Road in the opposite direction the following day. Because there was still snow on the ground up there, we also skipped riding Jefferson Notch Road. Eventually I’d like to go back and ride the route as intended!