aggiegirl

I'll be in New Hampshire in early May and am trying to figure out which town to stay in for a couple of nights. I'm interested in attractive, cute towns and easy access to nice hikes. Some towns under consideration are Franconia, Littleton, Lincoln, North Conway. Is there a stand out town among these or another town I should consider?

Thank you in advance!

dfrostnh

Despite living in NH we rarely visit the White Mountains area. Research your hikes since the popular trails were too popular during covid creating parking and litter problems. There are plenty of trails even in small towns that most people overlook. North Conway is a tourist mecca with lots of shopping in adjacent Conway as well. Would not consider it a cute town. Early May might be less traffic and congestion. If you are interested in mountain biking Northfield is further south on the I93 corridor and you can do rentals. Although the Tilton/Northfield/Franklin area has been thru some hard times the area is improving, They are also working on a whitewater park. Some new breweries have opened in these towns.

Depending on which trails you wanted to do you could consider Meredith off I93 or Wolfboro closer to Conway on the east side of mountains. Both are on Lake Winnipesaukee. Meredith would be fairly convenient to Mt Major but I think that has some of the too popular trails.

https://www.hikenewengland.com/Artic...fety071128.php

cdnyul

None on your list are "cute" or "attractive".

There is nothing to do or see in Lincoln, bring sleeping pills.
Littleton has a diner, and a main street, if you blink you will miss it
North Conway is good place for factory seconds and chain fast food

All of the above were dumps before the plague, I don't think they improved in the past two years.

Early May is mud season at lower elevations,, probably the worst month for hiking.

Jackson is close to hiking trails on Mt Washington's.
We stayed a night in the past, it is similar to Lincoln.

aggiegirl

Thank you for your response, dfrostnh.

aggiegirl

Ok, cdnyul, what is a nice town in the region?

J62

I agree about mud season. May is a month we avoid hiking here in the northeast anywhere expcept on paved roads... and we are avid hikers....

cdnyul

They are all "nice"

FWIW, in Lincoln we stayed at the Nordic Inn.
I hiked the Lonesome Lake trail in early May, snowshoes would have helped.

Stayed at Wentworth Inn in Jackson. They will have the latest info on local hiking conditions.

Don't drive the Kanga at night, we had a close call with a moose, came within inches of dying.
After that we stuck to daylight hours and saw a moose on both occasions.

aggiegirl

Wildlife viewing, particularly bear and moose, is a top wish. I will definitely avoid driving in the dark to minimize any close all collisions!

Christina

I'm not a big hiker and haven't ever stayed in the White Mtns, only in VT. But if you can't figure out what to do, the town of St Johnsbury VT is right on the border near I91 and is attractive or cute enough, at least the center. It has a little museum, also. It's only about 45 miles away or 20 miles past Littleton.

https://www.vermontvacation.com/expl...s/st-johnsbury

aggiegirl

Thanks, Christina. I'll look that up. I'll be in VT as well during this trip. I was looking at Burlington and Stowe as cities to visit.

J62

Deer you can expect to see, especially in the evenings. Chipmunks and squirrels too, and plenty of birds of all types.

In my 50+ years of hiking and camping in the Northeast I've never encountered a moose. They are elusive. They only bears I've seen have been a) those rummaging through our food storage in the middle of the night when it was improperly stored / securedor b) at the local garbage dump... way back in the era of local open dumping and the bears were habituated to dumps as a source of their food.. Great efforts have been taken to ensure that bears remain wild foragers so don't expect to see any.

dfrostnh

In 70 years I have only seen moose twice and once was in our yard. Bears are common in our town and we usually see in spring with their cubs. Squam Lakes Science Center in Holderness has NH wildlife in natural settings as well as daily lectures with animals. Eastern coyote are all around but they had a quite rambunctious coyote in the small lecture hall. There was also a wonderful docent walking around with a small owl talking to people. The nature cruise on Squam Lake is nice for loon viewing. It doesn't matter what time of day. If you see one deer there is likely another one. Stop to let them all cross the road. My closest encounter however was at night and I probably would have hit more than one if my passenger hadn't been scouting for a restaurant a d shouted for me to stop. The last one just cleared my car.
wild turkeys also abound and have death wishes. Stop if you see one trying to cross the road because there is usually a small flock.
if you,re really lucky you will see a bobcat. And don't forget foxes and skunks. There is one type of skunk you might think is an albino because it has mostly white fur. Possums are now in NH.
should you hit a deer, beer or moose I think you are given the,option of keeping it. If you don't it will be donated to a food pantry.
https://www.fosters.com/story/news/2...at/9622240007/

aggiegirl

Christina, I’m back from my trip and want to thank you for mentioning St. Johnsbury. I made a point of stopping en route to NH, I found it be a very cute and attractive town.

Christina

great! Hope you had a good time.