A couple of weekends ago, we packed up our bicycles and headed to Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. We parked at the Echo Lake Beach parking area – getting one of the last spots available.

The Franconia Bike Path runs the length of Franconia Notch State Park and we’ve biked other sections (read about them here and here. We walked the short distance from the parking area to the bike path and began our journey.

The Franconia Bike Path is very hilly and we walked several parts of it because Alden is still a beginner biker with training wheels. But that didn’t discourage us one bit.

The lovely path follows the notch and Route 93 – so be prepared to listen to vehicle noise the entire time. The views are dramatic and well worth it. We biked past Echo Lake and stopped briefly at an ancient cabin near the site of the old Profile House railroad station. The trail criss crossed the highway a couple of times with tunnels passing underneath. We continued south and after about 2 miles we turned around and headed north again, but you can make your adventure much longer.

On our way back we took the short excursion to the Old Man of the Mountain tribute at Profile Lake. We had a snack, enjoyed the innovative display that lets you see what the Old Man looked like before the rock face fell down, and had fun finding the names of people and organizations we knew inscribed on the donation bricks.

This was a lovely bike ride and one that we will surely do again. We would love to recommend it to other families, but just be warned that this bike path is not flat so it might be challenging for younger kids.