Log/Pic 106 New Hampshire

So this spring break I headed up Vermont into Canada to do some kayaking.
For the first time ever I did not get my vehicle completely searched.
Apparently they have a stonehenge too! 

Some strange random house with a witch.

As would have it, all I got was freezing rain and snow.

Lots of it.

So I dropped down into New Hampshire. Here I am at 3rd Conn Lake about a mile from the border. There was only a few feet from shore that was not frozen..somehow I did not  think it would be worth it to put in here.

I stopped in on some cabins a few miles south. This is the one I chose for the week. Spruce Cone Cabins.

The next day I went to 2nd Conn Lake. now this was do-able. The first thing I saw as I was unloading my gear was a moose. I followed it into the woods, but all I saw was tracks.    

It was a great serene paddle.

I was eventually restricted due to ice. After following the ice edge and admitting defeat, I just chilled. Until it began to hail...then rain. A cold, freezing rain that told me the day's paddle was over.

Late that afternoon I went on a walk with an older man from a town in New Hampshire where my dad's cabin is.  I talked about how much I wanted to see a moose...and then we did. The moose stood in front of us about 40 feet on our path. We all looked at each other, and then it too walked into the woods never to be seen again by us.
The next day I didn't get out till later in the afternoon. I put in a midway Lake. Here is a huge beaver lodge (note the logs underwater). But as usual I did not see a beaver. Instead, three otters screamed at me for about 15 minutes. I thought they were more elusive than beaver?

I spotted a Canada Geese sitting on shore. As i got close...nothing happened! It let me pull right up to it.  I wondered if it was injured. But one week later I realized, while kayaking at Burr Pond in CT and experiencing the same thing, that it was time for momma goose to be having babies. 

I floated on Midway Pond until dusk hoping that a moose would come take a drink before turning in for the night. 

The next day I went to 1st Conn Pond. I was also limited to how much i could paddle, but the little island and dozens of geese, and site of a loon, made it very pleasurable. And the fact that there was no rain.

Later that day I kayaked Moose Pond. It was small, but remote enough where I heard absolutely nothing the entire time except the sound of my paddle braking the water, the boat sliding through it, and a cry from a loon as I chased it from one end of the pond to the other.  

Thursday was dedicated to Lake Francis. Or is it Francis Lake?  This was a large lake with plenty of non-frozen water.  

I first paddled the shoreline looking for antlers that has fallen off the moose in the winter. Above is a little snow- covered island I passed while paddling out to meet the ice shelf about half way across the lake. After kayaking for awhile along the edge of the ice, the wind picked up and made it difficult to paddle as well as getting me wet. 

This is me after paddling back to the coast line to get away from the wind.
Below is one of four covered bridges I saw on this trip.

Each evening I would drive from my cabin to the Canada border to try and see moose.
I saw two white rabbits and a fox, but no more moose. I even saw a beaver by it's lodge in the woods near the dump. By the advise of the cabin owner, I waiting there for more than half hour just before dark, Sure enough it came out and was chasing a duck that had landing in the water by it's dam. That beaver chased the duck back and forth over and over-I swear they were friends. 

On Friday I headed over route 26 and then 16-another moose hunt. I saw this airport and thought it was a goof.
I traveled forever on some dirt road looking for kayak places.  I never got close enough to one to launch.

I never did find a pond, but I did see lots of these. So although i put 10 years on my jeep and almost got stuck several times, this trip was worth it.

On the way back to the cabin, I saw this sign near a notch through the mountains, and decided to follow the trail.

I saw this mountain, and decided to conquer it. 

scary, shale, windy, adrenaline, tired, exciting 

One last stop before I head to cabin-Beaver Brook Falls.