Weather: Hot, humid, threat of thundershowers
Portages: 0
Wildlife: Birds
Dinner: East Side Bar and Restaurant
Was very happy to give Canoe & Co. business today. After walking around Masonville in the morning, checking out the chasm and falls, stopping at the Owl's Head bakery for a most excellent croissant, and popping in to see a quilt show as part of a weeklong art tour on exhibit (where there was a fabulous fanciful quilted bra silent auction benefitting breast cancer research), we met Francois at the our campsite and took his shuttle over Chemin Peabody to Perkin's Landing. We very much enjoyed the ride. It is a beautiful road and we appreciated it from the car. Paid $10 Canadian to have the canoe washed to get our boat permitted to launch on Lake Memphamegog. Then we waited several hours for the wind to die down. Spent the time in the picnic area reading, writing and beading.
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| Perkins Landing |
Around 3 pm-ish, we put on the water and paddled the 8 miles to Prouty Beach Campground in Newport. Wind was mixed. Sometimes awesome tailwind, other times side or head winds, but much more manageable than what it was when we arrived in mid-morning.
No one was at Prouty Beach when we arrived (ticket booth or campground host), so we set up in a vacant site closest to the canoe, which was still up a big hill behind the beach. Talked to some of the neighboring RVers about what we should do, then went to take a shower. That's when the campground "hostess" showed up. In the bathroom. Starting telling us we were in an occupied site while we were in the shower. It was all very strange. Turns out we weren't. I told her we were thru-paddlers and that the campground was on the map and asked what we should have done. She seemed to know nothing about that. (Side note: Happen to run into Andy from the Newport City Park Department the next morning at the marina, who told us that we were should have been allowed, ney, encouraged to camp closer to the water, near the pavillion. He was exceptionally helpful and said he is working to do more with the NFCT. So, future thru-paddlers, you should be treated a little more decently AND be able to camp much closer to the water. The campground is run by the city, not by the campground host!)
Would have liked to paddle to the East Side Restaurant for dinner, but the storm finally was materializing. We asked and received a ride instead from a very helpful Ultimate Frisbee playing woman, had a lovely beer on the deck of the restaurant and then headed inside as we saw the wall of rain descending. Waited out the storm by ordering dessert and then found a ride back to the campground. Got back in the tent as a second storm unleashed. Our little tent stayed dry the whole time amidst the village of walled RVs. Still working on how to tackle the next leg and meet up with Beckie's ride and my leg 3 person, Linda.
