Welcome to the National Forest.
Jim dropped me off on a forest service road just west of Bartlett, NH and I set out with map in pocket. The first 4.0 miles on Sawyer River road, a forest service road, were a constant uphill that got my blood flowing quickly despite a temperature in the 30's.
Steady uphill on a gravel forest service road.
At the end of the forest service road was a gate, blocking vehicular traffic, and a sign board. From here on the riding would be on double track.
End of the forest service road.
Still going up, there were some steep and continuous grades.
Along the way I was greeted by some nice views of surrounding mountains. By this time I had been riding about 45 minutes, all of it uphill.
A view to the west.
About an hour into the ride I reached a "high point", just short of the infamous Kancamangus highway. I was making frequent map checks to ensure I was on track. With no cell phone service and a lack of familiarity with the land, it was important to keep up with my progress on the map.
Map: $7 well spent.
After turning and riding east I joined up with another forest service road for a short distance and then had a decision to make. Continue on with a good chance of being back by the time I had planned or do the "Owl's Head Climb" trail. I figured I wouldn't be back here soon, so I headed up the climb.
Coming down from the Owl's Head climb.
The climb was all good, with no shortage of steepness and some rocks thrown in for fun. Coming down was equally exciting with rocks spotting the way. I came to a small bridge and decided it was a good place for the PB&J I had packed for lunch.
Sitting on the edge of the bridge and eating my sandwich I had the idea to set the camera for a self timer shot. I placed the camera on the opposite edge of the bridge, pressed the button to start the 10 second timer and attempted to walk back to my lunch perch. Unfortunately my foot slipped in between slats in the bridge and one of the slats broke. I fell knee deep through the bridge and violently wrenched my left knee. My right foot also dropped into a space between slats and I ended up with both feet in the stream below. As I groaned over the pain in my left knee I heard the camera take a picture. Nice.
Fallen through a bridge.
This was supposed to be the picture.
With a bum knee I had to modify the rest of the route. I made my way to the nearest forest service road and road out to Bear Notch Road. My leg was scraped up from busting through the bridge but I was thankful to be moving under my own power, praying for healing all the way.
An overlook on Bear Notch Rd, snow
covered Mt. Washington in the background.
When I reached Bear Notch Rd. it was a left hand turn, north, and a steady grade up to the notch. I was pedaling along okay on the smooth road. Over the notch it was all down hill to get back to Bartlett. Passing by a scenic pull off I caught a glimpse of Mt. Washington, so I pulled off at the next one for a picture. Further down I stopped at a pull off and asked another gawker to take my picture.
Sporting the OCC wool.
Despite the unfortunate bridge crash incident, it was good ~4 hour ride and the weather was perfect. This will be a loop to repeat on future visits.
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