Glen Ellis Parking Lot - Quite the project

[peakbagger]

While heading down to Conway today I went by the Glen Ellis parking project. I was quite surprised, starting at the entrance they are clear cutting large patches of the woods and leveling the area. Looks like they are going for a Lincoln Woods sized parking area. Its popular with the drive up tourist crowd, but over the years I have rarely seen the sides of the road lined with cars like I do at other drive up attractions. The lot was not set up for buses and expect that that will taken care of.

 

[jrcinnh]

It's interesting they would choose that lot to expand. It's full on days when everything is full but not a real hotspot like Pinkham, Lincoln woods or Crawford.
Obviously peakbaggers use it for Iso, Wildcats and Boott spur to George, plus tourists like the falls, maybe trying to pull some cars out of Pinkham lots?

 

[peakbagger]

Putting that pedestrian bridge over from the Pinkham overflow lot pretty well solved the Pinkham parking issue a few years ago except for spring weekend and some entity is making sure its plowed before the real high traffic weekends occur. I did notice that at some point in the last year or so that the overflow lot is now signed no camping as it had been a popular place for overnighters during Covid and in the past. AMC does not allow camping in their lot and one of the tasks for the overnight Joe Dodge lodge clerk year ago was to go out and roust violators.

Glen Ellis is a "historical" tourist spot and had gotten special funding a few years ago to upgrade and restore it, they restored and upgraded the actual path under the road to the falls a couple of years ago so this is phase 2. Like other national forest projects they tend to get overboard for special projects while the actual maintenance budgets for everything else usually lags.

 

[peakbagger]

BTW, if they spend a lot of money on the lot, maybe they will start plowing it in the winter. I see folks parking in sketchy spots along RT 16 in the winter as the lot is not plowed and I think with most folks its too long to walk from Pinkham.

 

[sierra]

It's interesting they would choose that lot to expand. It's full on days when everything is full but not a real hotspot like Pinkham, Lincoln woods or Crawford.
Obviously peakbaggers use it for Iso, Wildcats and Boott spur to George, plus tourists like the falls, maybe trying to pull some cars out of Pinkham lots?

Pinkham notch has never been a hot spot for Tourist.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Pinkham notch has never been a hot spot for Tourist.

The roads lined with cars is the same as it is in those other areas. The falls are definitely a hot spot, I often end up parking along the driveway. I also see a bumper sticker everyday that is a tourist badge of honor.

 

[peakbagger]

I am not sure I agree regarding tourism counts, plenty of tourists make the loop around Mt Washington in their cars and Glen Ellis is pretty much a standard stopping point. Plenty of tour buses go by but the Glen Ellis lot is not bus friendly as its really just the remains of RT 16 before the highway was relocated long ago. I have also seen the 2 mile backups along RT 16 on fall weekends to access the autoroad. My guess is if they make the Glen Ellis lot more bus friendly its going to get a lot more traffic.

 

[dailey7779]

Three big tourist spots really close to each other with Glen Ellis, Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, and Great Glen. Both PNVC and GG have nice souvenir shops for people to pick up some gifts. Pinkham has a nice tourist hike to Crystal Cascade and while it's not as nice or draws the crowds as Glen Ellis Falls it still is a very impressive cascade. Great Glen during peak foliage is a great place for tourists to view foliage.

 

[peakbagger]

Would Clark Griswold pull over to Glen Ellis ?Of course he would

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like the Glen Ellis gravel pit project has stalled. The road has been blocked off with a pile of precast underdrain and catch basins piled up at the end of the road but no activity at the site and its definitely not finished. Must be waiting until after Memorial Day weekend to restart to give the illusion of progress to the tourists

 

[NHClimber]

We have been back and forth a number of times recently and it's a big mess for sure.

 

[skiguy]

We have been back and forth a number of times recently and it's a big mess for sure.

Maybe so but not as bad as when they worked on Dead Man’s Curve.

 

[peakbagger]

That was quite the detour, I tell folks about it and they cant believe they actually routed traffic through the woods. Luckily the trees they planted on either end are finally big enough to screen the openings.

 

[NHClimber]

That was quite the detour, I tell folks about it and they cant believe they actually routed traffic through the woods. Luckily the trees they planted on either end are finally big enough to screen the openings.

Is that why there is a concrete culvert in the woods off the main part of the road?

 

[peakbagger]

Good possibility, they had a two lane paved road up and over the hill they blasted.

 

[NHClimber]

Good possibility, they had a two lane paved road up and over the hill they blasted.

I looked on lidar. Does in fact look like the old road bed.

 

[peakbagger]

The temporary road reportedly was built on top of the original Pinkham Notch route that continues on past Pinkham as the Old Jackson Road trail which is also the AT. RT 16 has been realigned significantly over the years to try to reduce some of the steep hills and curves. South of dead man's curve there is very obvious old route of the road complete with culverts on the east side of the road that eventually curves up slope and crosses the current route 16. The Great Gulf Parking lot is old RT 16 and past the turn off to the suspension bridge the road keeps going past an abandoned USGS river gauge house (looks like concrete outhouse) and eventually disappears in the woods as it joins the "new" RT 16.

 

[NHClimber]

The temporary road reportedly was built on top of the original Pinkham Notch route that continues on past Pinkham as the Old Jackson Road trail which is also the AT. RT 16 has been realigned significantly over the years to try to reduce some of the steep hills and curves. South of dead man's curve there is very obvious old route of the road complete with culverts on the east side of the road that eventually curves up slope and crosses the current route 16. The Great Gulf Parking lot is old RT 16 and past the turn off to the suspension bridge the road keeps going past an abandoned USGS river gauge house (looks like concrete outhouse) and eventually disappears in the woods as it joins the "new" RT 16.

Yes, that is exactly what lidar revealed. It’s fun to see things in the woods and wonder what they were for. Thx for the insight!

 

[peakbagger]

The contractor is back on site and moving a lot of dirt. My guess is they were probably closed down for some wildlife issues like nesting season. Still a lot of works left to do, if it gets reopened it would be leaf season. I think there are some building in the project but my guess is they will be prefab so may not need a lot of time to put them in.

 

[JoshandBaron]

The contractor is back on site and moving a lot of dirt. My guess is they were probably closed down for some wildlife issues like nesting season. Still a lot of works left to do, if it gets reopened it would be leaf season. I think there are some building in the project but my guess is they will be prefab so may not need a lot of time to put them in.

Late November is the current estimate. Only structure I saw mentioned was a vault toilet.