Foliage season in the White Mountains moves at motorhome speed. Rigs roll east on the Kancamagus from Lincoln toward Conway with the ridges going orange and red on both sides, pulling over at the overlooks and turning in by late afternoon at the Forest Service campgrounds along the road. Near the Conway end, Passaconaway Road passes through the Albany Covered Bridge, and drivers of tall rigs read the height sign twice.
That bridge clears 7 ft 9 in, so a motorhome reaches Passaconaway Road from the east in Conway, the way the Forest Service sends taller vehicles. From there the loop carries on north through Gorham and Twin Mountain and ends at Echo Lake in Franconia Notch.
South of the mountains the week changes shape. At Ellacoya on Lake Winnipesaukee or at Hampton Beach on the Atlantic, the rig parks once, plugs in, and the driving is done.
The White Mountains loop, from the Kancamagus to Echo Lake
The first two nights belong to the Kancamagus. Jigger Johnson, Passaconaway and Covered Bridge are among the Forest Service campgrounds on the highway, close enough to the overlooks and trailheads that the rig can stay put while everyone walks. Those sites come with no hookups, so roll in with a full fresh tank and empty holding tanks and plan on two nights running on your own water and batteries.
Lock these sites before you rent anything. The Forest Service says maximum RV length varies by campsite and points to Recreation.gov for each one, so the cap on the site you actually get decides how long a motorhome you can bring, and foliage weekends fill quickly. If the open sites keep coming up short, a smaller rig is the answer, and the New Hampshire campervan page covers that trip along with the Franconia Notch day and the quieter parks at Umbagog, Monadnock, Pawtuckaway and Bear Brook.
From Conway the loop turns north to Dolly Copp outside Gorham, where water and electric sites make it the night to refill and recharge. West of there, Twin Mountain holds a run of private parks, among them Twin Mountain / Mt. Washington KOA, The Ammonoosuc Campground and Along the River Campground. Each posts its own site lengths and hookups, and choosing one with a sewer connection or a dump on site resets the tanks after the dry nights on the Kancamagus.
The last night of the loop is the one to book first. Cannon RV Park has seven sites on Echo Lake, with Cannon Mountain and Mount Lafayette standing over the water and three-way hookups from Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day. The state requires a self-contained rig with its own restroom and does not permit pop-ups, which is exactly what a motorhome is built for. As of October 2026 the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway is closed for replacement, so the notch days go to the trails and the lakeshore.
Southwest of the notch, Mascoma Lake and Quechee Gorge make a trip of their own, with private hookup parks on the lake and near the gorge covered on the Lebanon RV page.
Lake Winnipesaukee from Ellacoya State Park
At Ellacoya the day starts on a 600-foot sandy beach, with the Sandwich and Ossipee mountains lined up across Lake Winnipesaukee. This is the week the rig stops moving and the kids wear a path between the site and the sand.
The park's RV campground has 37 reservation-only sites with three-way hookups, so the air conditioning runs through a hot afternoon and nobody keeps a gallon count. Reserve the site before you rent the rig, since the dates you can get at the lake set the dates of everything else.
Hampton Beach State Park on the Atlantic
Down on the seacoast, Hampton Beach is miles of sand along Ocean Boulevard, ocean-front and busy all summer. Days here run on the tide and the boardwalk crowd rather than on a road map.
The state park runs an RV campground with full hookups, so the beach week works like the lake week, with the rig parked and plugged in and the family on the sand. As at Ellacoya, the site comes first and the rig second.
