During our visit to New Hampshire, we stayed at a new (for us) campground, took two dogs to the highest point in the Northeast, and ate at a restaurant where I suspect we were the only ones who didn’t know someone else there.
New Hampshire was just one stop on a much longer trip. Click the appropriate link to read about our previous stops in New York, Canada, Vermont, and Maine.
Table of Contents
Where We Stayed
Spacious Skies–French Pond
Spacious Skies French Pond is located in Henniker, New Hampshire, about 12 miles west of Concord. They have tent sites, RV sites, and one cabin. The pool looked nice, but it wasn’t open during our stay…something about an issue with the pool water. There’s a playground and a beach area with a dock on the edge of French Pond.
Overall, the campground felt tight, in terms of the roads and turns. The nice thing is that most of the sites appear to have plenty of shade.
| Campground Name | Spacious Skies–French Pond |
| Location | Henniker, NH |
| Dates | June 4-6, 2025 |
| Site Number | Site A13 |
| Site Surface | gravel, difficult to get level |
| Hook-ups | Full hookups |
| Cost | $74.40 per night (including taxes and fees) |
| Water Pressure | 40 psi |
| Voltage | 113-119 V |
| Verizon Speed Test | 37 Mbps down; 10 Mbps up |
| T-Mobile Speed Test | 48 Mbps down; 1 Mbps up |
| Campground Wifi | 15 Mbps down; 5 Mbps up |
Our site was tricky! To get in the spot, you have to back up a hill between several trees. Once we were in, we had difficulty getting level (side-to-side and front-to-back). Fortunately, we made it.
If we ever come back, we’d want to try for site D9. It looks like a nice size, and it’s not on a hill. The only downside is that whatever’s behind it isn’t terribly scenic.
One thing that caught our attention was the electrical equipment. It seems, instead of putting in telephone poles, they attached many of the wires to actual trees. Several of those trees are dead. We don’t know if they died before or after things were attached, but we wonder what happens now? Will they be proactive and replace those trees before they fall? Or will they wake up one day to find a tree has fallen and taken some utilities with it?
This campground helped us add another first to our list. As we were packing up to leave, we encountered a problem with the sewer hookup. Jesse had emptied the black tank, filled it up with water, and was going to flush it. When he opened the valve, the water filled up the hose…and went nowhere.
We let the staff at the front desk know. Because they couldn’t quickly figure out the reason for the problem, they found an unoccupied site for us to use as a dump station for our gray tanks on our way out.
What We Did
Mount Washington State Park
Mount Washington State Park is a 60-acre park on top of the highest peak in the Northeast. The drive from the campground took about 2 hours and 40 minutes, but it’s worth the trip.
Getting to the top can be done in a few different ways. Take the Cog Railway, drive your own vehicle up the auto road, be driven up the auto road during a guided tour, or hike one way and take the hiker shuttle the other. Be sure to check out the website for details. Dogs are allowed at the summit, but they are not allowed on all transportation options.
We chose to drive our truck up since dogs are not allowed on the Cog Railway. The road itself is narrow and windy. Our truck is very wide (at the maximum limit of their width restrictions), so it was extra scary when passing another vehicle (someone coming down as we came up and vice versa). There is even a sign at the start of the auto road that warns drivers.
Mount Washington is so much more than driving to the top and taking in the views. Once you’re at the top, there are hiking trails, a museum, a post office, a cafeteria, and more.
Mount Washington Travel Tips
- Read the website thoroughly. There’s a lot of information about prices, vehicle restrictions, road status, and more.
- Download the app before you go. There’s an app with an interesting audio tour, but we had spotty service at the base when we were trying to get the audio tour going. Download it before you go to avoid those issues.
- There are two separate audio tours–one to play on the drive up and one for the drive down.
- Be sure to buy a postcard or two from the gift shop. Write a quick note to your loved one(s) and mail it at the summit post office. Then tell them to look for the “unique Mount Washington postmark from the summit Post Office.”
It’s cool to watch the plant life change as the elevation increases. Also, take note of the temperature at the base to compare it with the summit. When we visited, it was 81 degrees at the base and 61 degrees at the summit.
We saw these cairns off in the distance and assumed they are used to mark hiking trails.
Because of the intense winds they can get here, this building (which is a tiny gift shop) is chained/bolted to the ground.
It’s worth noting that Aiken and Corona were allowed to walk around inside that gift shop. They were not allowed in the main building that houses the post office, museum, and main gift shop, so this was a pleasant surprise.
On your way to Mount Washington, on Route 2 as you approach the Mount Washington area, but before Moose Brook State Park, look for butterflies. They were everywhere when we drove through! I assume it has to be the right time of year to see them. It was great to see, but I kept letting off the gas when I’d see one flying across the road in front of us. I’m not sure the drivers behind me appreciated that!
Where We Ate
Tooky Mills Pub
Tooky Mills Pub is very much a locals’ place and less than 15 minutes from the campground. We sat at a table near the bar and quickly figured out that everyone at the bar knew each other. We saw multiple people come in while we were there. Every single person said hi to someone else in the restaurant before sitting down.
Overall, it was very reasonably priced, and the food was decent. Two burgers with fries (one with extra cheese) and one soda came to $35 before tip. We would stop here again.
Wildlife
There was a lot of pollen in the pond at the campground, but we managed to see these giant tadpoles!! It’s hard to see, but they were so much bigger than the tadpoles we saw in Maine, possibly the biggest tadpoles I’ve ever seen.
More Photos
Happy travels!
