Day 20 (!) – Connecticut River, NH, to West Milan, NH

F-2016-9-9

Start: Samuel Benton Campsite on Connecticut River, NH

End: Cordwell Campsite on the Upper Ammo

On the Way:  Connecticut River, Upper Ammonoosuc River, Stark

Miles: 25.8.  Milepost: 357.9

Map: 7

Every weekend, I forget about what weekends entail.  In this case, it entailed people staying at campsites for fun.  Novel concept.  This bunch has been nice enough, but their party included no fewer than four dogs, all of whom are fond of barking.  Fortunately the dogs went to sleep pretty readily (they have their own 2-man tent).  They brought loads of food and generously offered to share, so I had one of their all-beef hotdogs (those bizarre pink-dyed ones that New Hampshire folk seem to be so fond of), a protein bar, and some pretzels.  One of them is explaining how he tries to espouse minimalism by eating MREs and leaving his ground pad at home when he goes hammock camping in his sleeping bag…and he wonders why his backside gets cold.  Around their camp are no fewer than three coolers.  Campers can be a funny bunch.

That said,”camp culture” is definitely a palpable feeling up here in NH.  Every other building I pass seems to be a little camp shack covered in antlers.  I peer at them as I go by and mentally collect ideas for a little hermit house of my own for the future.  What do they do when they visit?  Hunt?  Ski?  Just hike around?  Spend time fixing up the shack?  We’re about 45 minutes from the White Mountains, so treating these as vacation homes with hiking nearby makes sense.  I dig it, whatever’s the true angle of this culture.

I’m really being quite unfairly biased against NH whenever I sneer at something in my mind, on account of how awful these rivers are at the moment.  Mr. Minimalist said that this is the lowest he’s ever seen the Ammo, period.  It’s pretty bad: I had to portage from Groveton to above Stark, about 5 miles along an undulating 2-lane highway, to get out of the continuous rock garden.  And after that, once I did put in, it was all S-curves and windy piddle streams before this campsite.  There’s not much that’s more demoralizing than taking your last 2 miles of the day at a pitiful, bank-crashing crawl.

The gorgeous little town of Stark, NH, with its landmark covered bridge.  Just a couple of miles down the road was the site of a WWII camp for German POWs.  Via Carol Smith.

Things Learned:

+ Pre-bed DEET application is a real, real important detail.

+ The dam on the Androscoggin releases on Wednesdays!  This should be fun.

+ Lots of Trump supporters out this way, which makes me a little afraid.

Trail Magic:

+ 2 Bald Eagles sighted today!

+ While toting Dieter along the road, a van with two older men pulled over.  Clutched in the hand of the passenger-side gent was the familiar NFCT map!  They were planning a paddle for the weekend and wanted a diagnosis.  I told them to look upstream.