Presidential Range Loop

The full loop around the Presidential Range on pavement: it leaves Gorham on US-2, follows NH-115 and US-3 to Twin Mountain, passes the grand hotel at Bretton Woods and drops through Crawford Notch, with Silver Cascade and the Willey House site, down to Bartlett. From Glen it climbs through Jackson and Pinkham Notch to close the loop in Gorham. It's 77 miles of valleys and mountain passes, a full day. Stay on NH-115, never Jefferson Notch Road, which is dirt.

The loop circles the Presidential Range, the peaks named for presidents with Mount Washington at their center. On the west side it passes the Omni Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods, opened in 1902, where the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference set up the postwar monetary system. Then US-302 drops through Crawford Notch State Park, created in 1913. Silver Cascade falls right beside the road, and lower down is the Willey House site: on the night of August 28, 1826, a landslide after a violent storm killed the Willey family and their two hired men, while the house itself was left standing.

The north side is quieter: US-2 through Randolph and Jefferson, then NH-115 and US-3 to Twin Mountain. Stay on NH-115: Jefferson Notch Road, which shows up as a shortcut on maps, is dirt. The east side repeats NH-16 through Jackson and Pinkham Notch, so this loop chains naturally with the Auto Road route if you want the summit too. Plan fuel stops in Gorham, Twin Mountain or Glen.