New Hampshire Act 2012 Scene 2

Our campsite

Laurie and I went to New Hampshire from Wednesday night until today Friday night (got home about 7pm).  We had planned on going up a couple weeks ago, but had to postpone the trip due to DJ's finger surgery being scheduled the Friday we would have been gone. So we went up Wednesday night after Laurie got out of work. We did an awful lot in two full days. We saw a bunch of animals, did some hikes and I got to do more fishing than I expected.

Wednesday night:   Left home about 5:15. Found a campsite for dispersed camping when we got there. Had chicken salad sandwiches on bulky rolls for supper. Went to bed listening to a chorus of spring peepers and other frogs.




Thursday:


Stair Falls

Woke up about 6:45. It was cold so we jumped in the car. Our plan was to hike some waterfalls on the other side of Mount Washington. On the way we saw a pair of turkeys.  We went down Dolly Copp Road and found the first trailhead. We hiked out to triple Falls. The hike was only about 10 minutes each way. The falls were not that impressive. We then went further down the road to the next trailhead. Before we got to the next trailhead we found a wildflower meadow. There were so many white flowers clustered together it looked like snow.  Our goal was Hitchcock Fall.

On the way to Hitchcock Fall were two smaller waterfalls. The nicest was called Stair Falls. We made it to Hitchcock Fall. This Fall is pretty big but most of it is blocked by trees. After our hike back to the car we drove to Burger King where I managed to drop $20.


From Burger King we were going to do another waterfall hike, but I was sick of hiking to puny falls, so we changed plans. We were going to hike to Sawyer Pond, but Sawyer River Road was closed so we changed plans again.  Laurie let me fish Saco Lake for a little While. I fished about 45 minutes. There were a lot of trout, I got four or five with many more hits. While at Saco Lake we watched a fox cross the road and walk down some railroad tracks for over three minutes.

Trout at Saco Lake

Then we went to Chutters. This is a candy store with the worlds longest candy counter ( 112 feet). We spent about a half hour in the store and Laurie bought some fudge. Now that Laurie had fudge, I was free to do anything I wanted. I fished Echo Lake in Franconia Notch, while Laurie walked down to the Old Man of the Mountain Memorial. I didn't get anything in Echo, s I headed to Profile.

My maiden voyage in the float tube
I'm smiling, but I hated it!

Echo was almost glass calm, however Profile was windy, so is the nature of the Notch. I used my float tube for the first time. Laurie used the kayak, and it was her first time. We both were nervous in our new vessels at first. Laurie enjoyed the kayak, much more than I enjoyed the float tube. I did manage to catch four trout though. After fishing and kayaking, we went back to camp where I cooked up some mac and cheese. We then went to bed listening to a chorus of spring peepers and other frogs.



Laurie's maiden voyage in the kayak

Friday:

 Got up this morning a little later than yesterday and packed the tent. We were on the road, by 8am. We went down to the Waterville Valley exit. I took Laurie down Sandwich Notch Road. We went to Upper Hall Pond. I put the kayak in while Laurie got some sun. I caught 6 very small brook trout. One cool thing about Upper Hall, its loaded with newts. After about ninety minutes, I came in and Laurie went out in the kayak while I sat at the waters edge enjoying the view. Laurie saw the newts and we heard a loon call twice. I love that sound.

We put the kayak on the car when Laurie came in and headed south down Sandwich Notch Road, I was talking about the bear that had crossed the Cape cod Canal earlier in the week and we turned a corner on the road to see a HUGE male black bear. It was beautiful. It bounded down the road a few paces before it went into the woods. We got good looks at it. It was Laurie's first bear.



Beede Falls

Then we went to Kiah Pond. We got pictures of frogs and tadpoles. I caught 2 shiners in the five minutes I fished. We ate a quick lunch. We saw a lot of shiners in the water also. Tons of butterflies were around.

On out way off of Sandwich Notch Road on a whim we stopped at the trailhead for Beede Falls. It was a short walk to the Falls. It was a pleasant surprise. The falls is about 25 feet tall and there is a large pool at the bottom. I really enjoyed it, especially compared to the disappointing waterfalls from 24 hours earlier. I'm glad we stopped


Then we drove to West Rattlesnake Hill. The view from the top is amazing. There is an overlook facing Squam Lake ( Golden Pond). Its a steep but short hike to the top. Well worth the effort. We came home after our hike. We got stuck in traffic on the way home, but oh well it was a hell of a two days. 

Summary:

We packed a lot into two days in New Hampshire. We hiked to three waterfalls and to a view of Squam Lake. In not to much fishing I caught 14 trout all on the fly rod. We saw a ton of animals

2 turkeys, fox, black bear, newts, frogs, butterflies, brook trout, shiners, tadpoles

View from West Rattlesnake Hill