Epic Travel → North America → The Northeast → New Hampshire → Echo Lake State Park

Location: North Conway, New Hampshire

Time Required: 1 hour – all day (depending on activities)

Red Tape/Notes: Park is not always staffed, but is always open for recreation; use fee is $4 (for adults – kids are $2) – use the self pay station if unstaffed. Please note that use fees are not collected during the off-season (mid October – mid May) – check the park website for exact dates.

What’s Nearby?:  Covered Bridges of Bath, Arethusa Falls, Frankenstein Trestle, Diana’s Baths, Mount Washington, Saco River Kayaking

Echo Lake State Park includes Cathedral Ledge, White Horse Ledge, and Echo Lake. The most famous of these (to us, anyway) is Cathedral Ledge, which is home to legendary climbing. The rock in New Hampshire is similar to our Yosemite rock out here, but typically more featured, which means the variety of climbing levels available ends up being huge. The area has dozens of climbs, from 5.5 and 5.6 multi-pitch climbs on Upper Left Wall and Thin Air Face to steep and overhung 5.12’s and 5.13’s on Airation Buttress and The Prow. If you’re interested in trying climbing, this is a great place to do it and a number of guiding companies are available to take you. We had intended to climb Cathedral Ledge when we were visiting the area, but (as you will see in the pictures), it was raining. So we opted to drive up to the top and hike around a bit, check out the cloudy (but still pretty) views, then head down for a wander around Echo Lake.

Echo Lake normally provides nice views of White Horse Ledge (clouds and rain notwithstanding) and is home to the Bryce Hiking Path, on the north side of the lake (this is the opposite side from the parking area – there is a 1 mile trail that loops around the like which will take you there). You can take the Bryce Path up to Cathedral Ledge (2.4 miles roundtrip) or to the top of White Horse Ledge (3 miles roundtrip), or do the White Horse Ledge loop (4.2 miles total). Or you can do a combination of the above, since all three options share the first 0.75 miles or so on the Bryce Path, so you’re only adding about a half a mile total to take the spur up to Cathedral Ledge before hiking out to White Horse. You can find a map of the trails here.

Epic Travel → North America → The Northeast → New Hampshire → Echo Lake State Park