This absolutely rocked. Ok, so picture this; ATV’ing through the mountains, literally – through the mountains!!! And hiking to waterfalls, swimming in waterfalls, and getting you and your dad (who is following you) pulled over for 59 in a 40 – thankful Dad has a serious sense of humor. And patience, lots of patience. Go do this. All of it if you can. Just clone our whole day. Maybe not the interaction with the State Trooper…
I’d been eyeing the ATV’ing for a while, and knew it was something Paps would just absolutely LOVE. So what better way to convince him to take a day off, than to use my big 29th birthday (I love all of you that just for a second questioned if the 29 was true!!!). The ATV rentals were all the way up in Gorham, I figured we may as well get all the venturing we could while we’re up there… so I added a nice little waterfall hike to our agenda. And so became one of my favorite days of summer off, yet:)
For anyone that doesn’t know, gorham is around the Northern Presidentials. This is a drive. Gorgeous, but holy shite. Being up here brought me back to our Presidential Traverse 3 years ago (which my legs had forced my brain to somehow distance in memory :)). You get where ‘Gods country’ comes from…
Our day started with the Waterfalls, but lets hit the ATVing first. Cause don’t lie, that’s the fun you’re dying to hear about. I think Dad was a little nervous at first. Can you blame him? I was laughing like a hyena with a 
crazed look in my eye as I floored it over the first few speed bumps. Hold on dude.
So real quick thank you to the amazing crew @ Northeast ATV rentals. They have a great operation, so friendly, so appreciative of the business, want you to have fun. Strongly recommend them – They do ATV’s and snowmobiles (which the very sweet kid shared they are getting all new machines this winter!! WAHAHAHA!!)… They have guided tours as well as the option where they hand you a map, GPS, and tell you to have fun. You are correct, we did that option 🙂
It turned into nothing like I expected – you are literally ATVing through the mountains. So not only are you outside bumping around getting dirty going fast in this fun little machine, but you’re also taking in these views that just don’t seem to end. And they are stunning. With the 2 seater Paps and I rotated driving. They have bigger rigs for 4-6, if you wanted! Taking it all in, I couldnt help but think about being up here in all the white stuff, and how I cannot wait to do it on a snowmobile this winter!!!
The trails seemed endless. Every corner you get crazy mountains, enormous windmills, even cute little old couples (this little old man looked so bad ass in his pimped out rig!! Awesome.) added to the joy. If you’ve ever wanted to try something like this – This is it! With all their options, it could work for just about anyone – Families, couples, girls outing, bachelor party… Even if you wanted to go solo – it would work.
You can do different time increments, so even if you wanted to try it for 2 hours, or pack a cooler for a whole day. You can always plan other fun for the same trip…. Which leads us to the waterfall hike..
I found this one in one of my hiking books – Random hidden gem I think. Wanted something that wasn’t going to kill Paps, or my knees, but also give us some fun and nice views. We did the Waterfall and Vista Loop that starts off Rt 2 in Randolph. It was perfect! 
Good incline, footing, not too much for rocks or crazy ‘Whites Hiking’ but still a good workout! And you hit a few falls along the way. Some of the pools are big and deep enough to swim in (of course we took advantage!)…
After a fun filled day of literally playing outside all day, we were both toast. Grabbed a bite @ the Local Grocer and off went Paps back home – Wyatt and I headed straight for our secret spot on the river – 
Then Jigger. The rest of our trip included lots of riverside lounging, hammocking, Oliverian Brook trail and bear notch… And yes. Chocorua on the way back 🙂
This was, by far, a favorite from Summer Off. Thanks, Paps. You da man. As one of your buddies said, you make some big shoes to fill…
EAT.DRINK.PLAYOUTSIDE! 
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