Blogs from White Mountains, New Hampshire, United States, North America - page 7

So it has been a long and arduous journey UP the clyde river which is very labryinthine and swampy and beaverish and slow moving. You definitely get to see a lot of river birds (we saw some hawks, ospreys, and a bald eagle) and it is kind of easy to get turned around, but after a long day of oxbows, reeds, blowdowns (lots of trees in front of the river), lillypads and rain we made it twenty miles up the Clyde to Island Pond! It was late and Brett and I decided to grab an all you can eat Seafood platter for 9.95 at the Clyde River Motel (formely the infamous Zoo). We met up with a nice fellow named Al Goulet who put us up in a nice little room with a couple of beds ... read more

Dear Friends & Family to the west of us (that's a lot of territory!), although we are now in the beautiful White Mts. of New Hampshire, I must take you all back a few days...been busy, no wi-fi, no electricity, and looking at new vistas . From Niagara (not Viagra) Falls we drove on the NY Thruway 90 (our 1st toll road) to arrive in Syracuse, NY in time for Donna Cappellano's crosscountry meet. First we took a lovely hike on a tow path at Weedport. Try to imagine the commerce of the time needing canals to transport goods to factories by mules. I kept looking for Sal. Donna and her team emerged from the bus and she invited us to walk the course with them as a warm up (for them) and a good stretch ... read more

We’ve been in Boston for 3 months now and after exploring a lot of places near Boston and Rhode Island, we were itching to head further north. The Labor Day weekend was just the opportunity we were waiting for. So we decided to drive up to the White Mountains Region in New Hampshire. Its a little over 2 hrs away from Boston, and for a first-timer we highly recommend spending at least 2 days ( we still have a lot of places to see in the region which we’ve chalked up for next time) From Boston, you basically get on to I-93 and keep going straight for 135 miles (or 217 km). It could have been an incredibly monotonous journey save for the fact that New Hampshire really is a lush green and beautiful state. Franconia ... read more

Saturday, September 1st, 2007. Along the Nulhegan River, New Hampshire. After Friday’s exhausting riverbed dragging, Darrin started the day with a new resolve. He left his campsite on the Nulhegan, portaged back to the East Fork of the Nulhegan, and then portaged over to the Connecticut River. The Connecticut was most likely to have a runnable water level. His decision was clearly validated when he reached the Connecticut. The river was big with a fast, strong current. Thanks to a steady tailwind, he zoomed along, accomplishing a solid 20 miles by noon. For the first time in a long, long while, he experienced the elation of having everything go just right. Forgotten were the resistant upstream currents, the long, heavy portages, and the pain of cuts and bruises. From the Connecticut, he began his way upstream ... read more

Friday, August 31st, 2007, Island Pond, Vermont. Darrin awoke to wind and a cloudy sky. He began the day by crossing Island Pond, and portaging three miles over a height of land to Nulhegan Pond. From there, he paddled into the Nulhegan River, where he would start an eagerly anticipated stint of downriver paddling. It was immediately apparent that “River” was an overstatement. That particular stretch of the Nulhegan turned out to be little more than a canoe-width wide. The River also passed through long stretches of alder thickets, which gave Darrin the chance to meet hundreds of big gray spiders. Their webs ended up draped across his face and body as his canoe parted the vegetation. Besides tons of spiders, Darrin also saw lots of beavers, whom he startled as he made his way around ... read more