Upstream of Groveton, NH
Mileage: 8.5-9.5 Miles
Weather: Sunny am/pleasant, storms late afternoon/early evening, unpleasant
Portages: 3
#1: Weston Dam
Short portage around the dam. Carried everything easily to put-in.
#2: Old Wausau Papers Dam
STEEP take out. Brush appears to have been dumped at top of portage adjacent to the road access. Able to get around and on road, but think someone has taken the opportunity to use the "space" for brush disposal. Wheelable on the road for a short distance to put in. I think the put-in might have been a bit steep/rocky too.
#3: Red Dam
VERY STEEP. Have no idea where the idea of a quick take-out/put-in was expected. Put-in past the old dam seemed even steeper than the take-out. We wheeled along 110 past guard rail and put in near a gravel bar, which is where we ended up camping for the night.
Wildlife: Eagles, more wary osprey, another fox
Dinner: Chicken cup of soup, Indian paneer with Uncle Ben's instant brown rice, rehydrated green beans, enjoyed partially covered by the tarp at the edge of the road during a downpour.
It rained during the night, but was clear in the morning. Two trains also rumbled by during the night at the Samuel Benton Campsite. I dreamed that I had to lie very still and very compact so that the train would be able to pass by me without running me over. Linda dreamed that we were being pursued by a carpet van. Even though the train tracks were on the other side of the river, you could feel the ground shake. I looked out when the second train passed in the early morning to see if the river had any ripples on it caused by the passing train. The railroad follows the Connecticut River, actually along most of this Map 7 section.
Continued along the slow moving Connecticut River for another 6 miles or so, saw another fox along the shore and two more eagles. Turned upstream near Groveton to start up the Ammonoosuc. Took a break at the Riverside park in Groveton after the first portage to get water, leaving the canoe and gear tied to a tree under the Hwy 3 bridge. Found the library where we also filled up the water bottles. Looked for a pub, but settled for two cans of Rolling Rock beer while watching the clouds starting to accumulate. (Linda and I are enjoying our afternoon pub breaks.)
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| On the Connecticutt |
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| Groveton covered bridge and kiosk |
Took off heading upstream for two more portages hoping the gathering clouds were still more east of us. They weren't. Got off the third portage and quickly tried to set up the tarp as the winds picked up and the rain started. Hovered under it for a while waiting out the rain and decided to make dinner. We were getting a little cold, so I broke out the instant cup of soup for the first time. It's amazing how good hot processed salt can really hit the spot.
The rain turned into a lighter shower and we packed up and headed down the road with the intention of setting up at the first available camping spot we could find. That would be on the gravel bar after we put back on the water, where another tent was already set up. A campground?!By then the rain had stopped. Felt safe camping out in the open with another body nearby. Hugo, was a bicyclist from Montreal, who had got his tent set up before the storm had it. He was biking through New Hampshire, Maine and back to Canada via Nova Scotia and PEI. Made some tea for all of us, but we didn't have too much more time to talk before the mosquitos came out in force. (Quite a difference than when Beckie and I camped on a sandbar along the Clyde River a few days earlier.) I was a little worried about camping on a gravel bar, in the middle of the river, after a rainstorm, in a mountainous area, even though we were a few feet above the river level, but had stuck some sticks along the water line just to check. I had been watching them for the two or so hours we had been camped there with no change. In the morning, only one of the four showed any sign of rising water and it was minimal. And I'm here to write this.
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| Camping east of the Red Dam |
