Day 29, Aug. 1: The Carry Road

Mileage: 2.5 miles of portaging plus 1.2 miles paddling on Pond in the River

Weather: 70's, sunny

Wildlife: Heron, bald eagle, loons, mink, something poking around our tent at night

Morning at the Cedar Stump campsite along the Rapid River

This day was about portaging. We left the beautiful, pine-studded Cedar Stump campsite after drinking our coffee on the newly reconstructed stairs as the morning mist burned away. Watch a heron fish across the river.  Packed up and pumped water during our very short paddle to the base of the Rapid River rapids. (One could portage straight from the camp sites.) Took our time portaging.

The first part was a carry. Roots and rocks made up the trail to the "road." Carry Road is rocky. We did a variety of things to break up the mileage. Sometimes we were able to wheel the canoe, other times, we walked each carrying a bag and then returned to wheel the canoe with the third bag. Other times I carried the third bag and we lifted the canoe with the wheels strapped on over rough spots. During the morning, a group of kayakers on their way to Smooth Ledge passed us lugging their kayaks over their shoulders. We stopped at the ledge to check them out and stayed for almost two hours watching them surf the waves. We swam, had lunch, picked blueberries and finally left around 2:30 pm. We figured we were about halfway done at that point.

The smooth ledge along the Carry Road, a playground for kayakers

Along the Carry Road

Portaging through the Forest Lodge area

The Winter House of Louise Dickinson Rich's Forest Lodge

Arrived at Forest Home (location of Louise Dickinson Rich's memoir, "We Took To The Woods") around 4:30 pm. The current owner, Aldro French, wasn't around. Joyce and I peeked into the Winter Home (on the National Historic Registry), took a snack break and left a note on behalf of Team Moxie. Paddled on Pond in the River for the short 1.2 mile break from portaging. Beautiful!!! We got to the landing and were greeted by a mink as we heard some rumblings in the sky and the sun was beginning to set. We still had another .7 miles ahead of us before making it to Middle Dam on Lower Richardson. At that point, I suggested we do a little stealth camping. Found a perfect place where our tent fit, went for a quick swim and got dinner going as we watched lightning light up the horizon. Someone got a storm that night, but it passed us. Loons were calling on and off all evening and we had the lake entirely to ourselves.

Something was shuffling around our tent that night and I swear a little nose even pushed into the tent wall by my head. I've found that the best solution to make animals go away is to use ear plugs at night. If I can't hear them, they can't get me!

Dinner: Tomato Sauce with Pasta, vanilla pudding with bakery cookies Joyce had bought in Vermont.