Northern New York and New England - July 4 to 6

July 4

The I90 took us out of Ohio and east toward Acadia National Park. As we were passing within 60 kilometres of Niagara Falls we decided to drop in. It is always a challenge to drive the RV into cities and this was no exception. Fortunately, we lucked into a free parking spot within walking distance of the falls.

Niagara River

We hooked up with the south side of the Niagara River just west of the Falls and followed the path parallel to the river.

Niagara Falls

After a short walk we were right on the edge of falls. In the distance, we saw the Skylon Tower on the Canadian side of the border.

Skylon Tower - detail

American Falls in the foreground and Horseshoe Falls in the background

American Falls- detail by Luna Island Overlook

The power and volume of water thundering over the falls was impressive.

Emma at Niagara Falls

We watched the Maid of the Mist and two Hornblower ships as they sailed into the mist and right beside the water thundering over the falls.

Maid of the Mist VI

We continued along the I90 through northern New York State. The terrain was mostly deciduous forests interspersed with open farming meadows. By nightfall, we were in a Walmart by Northampton Massachusetts.

July 5
We traveled up the I 91 into Vermont. The terrain became steadily hillier and the forests greener.

For our daily hike, we chose Ascutney Mountain State Park. However, the park was poorly signed and once again we found ourselves lost at the end of a long narrow gravel road that ended abruptly. We had to back the RV up a few hundred yards to continue our quest for the state park.

This was much easier to do in hindsight than it was at the time. Emma got out of the RV and enthusiastically waved her arms hither and yon to help me back up. I must admit I was so impressed by her vigorous gesticulations that a couple of times I just stopped so I could admire her dexterity.

Success, we found the park and went for a nice hike up the side of Ascutney Mountain.

Hiking Trail up Ascutney Mountain

Emma and Sonaa resting at Ascutney Mountain State Park in Vermont

Chipping Sparrow

We carried on up the I91 then turned east at St.Johnsbury to follow the I2 into New Hampshire. The terrain was quite beautiful with the undulating hills covered with dense green forest. At Bethel, we stopped for the night.

July 6
Leaving our pine forest campground we passed six young hitchhikers and a golden retriever. We stopped and gave them a lift. Turns out they had left the Appalachian Tail the night before and were hitching back to continue onward toward Georgia.

We detoured 20 miles to get them to to their trailhead at Grafton State Park. Our intrepid passengers had a long way to go as the Appalachian trail is 3,500 kms long and extends from Maine to Georgia.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail

It was a little crowded in the RV with seven people and two dogs but we had a good time exchanging stories about our adventures. Arriving at the Appalachian Trail our young hikers piled out of the RV  and were quickly on their way.

As we were already there we decided to hike up the side of a mountain then loop back along the Appalachian Trail.The hike started out easy enough.

Quickly the trail turned vertical and we had to pull ourselves hand over hand up long a cable line.

Sonaa fared better with the added benefit of four paws on the ground.  Even so, I had to lift her over my head in a couple of places where the trail was completely vertical and the rock face too high for her to jump up.

Emma is a real sport and always up for an adventure.

We got to the top and had a nice view of the forest below us.
This was the apex of the loop trail and we continued onward hoping that the trail did indeed loop back.

This wouldn't be the first time we thought we were on a loop trail that took us straight into the bush.
This time our luck was with us and we hooked up with the Appalachian Trail and staggered back to our RV tired but happy.

For the rest of the day we drove through central Maine. We passed many quaint villages that were founded in the 1800s and didn't seem to have changed much. Between villages, it was nice to see the conifer trees making a reappearance after days of deciduous forests.

Near Bangor Maine, we stopped for the night at the Pumpkin Patch RV Resort.