Dixville Notch & Thirteen Mile Woods

The real north: from Colebrook, NH-26 follows the Mohawk River and climbs into Dixville Notch, the most dramatic rock pass in the North Country, then drops to Errol. There the route turns south on NH-16 along the Androscoggin, through the Thirteen Mile Woods and past Pontook Reservoir, to Milan and Berlin. It's 52 miles with almost no towns. There are no services between Colebrook and Errol or between Errol and Milan, so fuel up first, and watch for moose at dawn and dusk.

Dixville Notch is a narrow pass of jagged rock walls where NH-26 squeezes between the mountains, and Dixville Notch State Park, at the east end, has a roadside parking area by the Baby Flume, a small gorge waterfall. The village is famous for voting at midnight: since the 1960 election, its handful of voters cast the first ballots of the New Hampshire primary. The Balsams, the grand hotel beside Lake Gloriette, closed in 2011 and has stood mostly empty since, with redevelopment plans that keep stalling.

South of Errol, NH-16 follows the Androscoggin River through the Thirteen Mile Woods, now a community forest of about 5,300 acres protected along the river. Androscoggin Wayside Park, a free picnic area right on the road, is the natural stop, and farther south the river widens into Pontook Reservoir. Watch the turn in Errol: NH-26 continues east into Maine, and this route goes south on NH-16. Moose are common at dawn and dusk, and there's no fuel between Colebrook and Errol or between Errol and Milan.