West of Rumford we arrived in the town of Gorham, the start of our traverse of the White Mountain State Forest. It is an obvious jumping off point for hikers on the Appalachian Trail as we saw many people with packs of varying sizes walking purposefully around the town. South out of Gorham, Highway 16 passes the turn off to Mt Washington and its Auto Road to the summit (but cars only). Farther south at Conway we picked up the Kancamagus Highway (or the Kanca as it is apparently known). This road winds west along the Swift river for some miles before starting a steep climb to Kancamagus Pass. There after it descends along the Pemigewasset River into the town of Lincoln. Here we picked up the Sawyer Highway (SR118) to complete our traverse of the White Mountain State Forest and eventually arrived in Wentworth.

The scenery along todays drive was interesting and pleasant. None of the grandeur of the Rockies or Sierras but still impressive. The few small towns we passed through were quaint and generally well cared for.

At our WalMart camping spot we got an insight into another form of WalMart-culture. We got talking to a young man who seems to be living out of his Jeep Cherokee SUV parked in the WalMart lot. He told us he had been there a year. Guess we did not have to worry that WalMart may not like us parking there for one night.