Off to the White Mountains

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

After spending June and July in Vermont and the Adirondacks, our plan is to head to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We have stayed in the area back in August of 2018, but only for several nights on our way from Burlington Vermont to Maine. We knew there is so much to see in this part of New Hampshire that spending a full month would allow us to experience much of the area. Back in January while planning the summer stops, we realized that there were limited campgrounds in the area that both sounded nice and offered a monthly rate. We ended up choosing Moose River Campground in Saint Johnsbury Vermont. While staying in Vermont to see the White Mountains of New Hampshire might sound counterintuitive, it turns out the drive from this campground to Franconia Notch State Park (where most of the local hiking is) takes just under 30 minutes because nearly the whole drive is on Interstate 93. The other campground option we found within New Hampshire and a little closer to the hiking was just over 20 minutes drive time but didn’t sound as nice. So we had reserved Moose River for August 2 thru September 2.

I had mentioned in earlier posts that St Johnsbury had experienced a bad flooding event from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl on July 10 - almost 5 inches in 24 hours. That storm had done no real damage to the campground so we had expected to be in the clear. The only problem was that a couple days before we were to arrive at Moose River, they received another 8 inches of rain in 24 hours. When checking our route from Newport to St Johnsbury, we saw there were quite a few roads closed in the area. We called the campground to confirm they were still open and we could actually drive there and were told what route to take. It is only about a 50 miles drive so it didn’t take us too long to get there.

Greeter at Moose River Campground

As we pulled in, we could immediately see that things were not looking too great. There were several excavators, a skid steer, a dump truck and many piles of dirt. There was still a stream of water running across the main road of the park and the whole area smelled like mud. The campground is not very big with around 50 sites. Half of the sites are right along the edge of the Moose River and it might seem like if there was to be a flooding issue, it would have been to the sites along the river. However, it was pretty clear the flooding had come from a different direction. We saw one motorhome sitting on a site with much of the soil washed away from under it and another it that looked to be heading out. The pull through site we were to be in was still being built back up with gravel and leveled out.

Our Rig Behind Gravel Piles

We would later find out that water from the hills just north of camp across US Route 2 had overwhelmed a culvert and basically poured through the campground and into the river. The campground owner also runs an excavation company so he had the equipment and skills needed to make repairs quickly. Their biggest problem right after the storm was that the town and county had first dibs on getting gravel from the nearest gravel pit in order to repair roads in the area. So the owner had to wait a couple days to get in the fill needed to build up the sites the 12 inches required to get the grade back to normal. We managed to pull in and get setup without sinking into the mud. Most of the rain had fallen between midnight and 4AM, so the people that were here at the time really didn’t have much warning until it was too late. The motorhome we saw heading out had been in the thick of the flow and it apparently had taken many hours to get it out from the spot it was in. I’m just glad we were not here when the rain was coming down. Needing to deal with this flooding at 2 AM would have been very difficult.

Blue = River, X = Our Site, Red = Flood Waters

We adjusted to our new home for the next month and took a day off to meet some of the neighbors and watch the crew trying to recover from the flooding. It happened to be the anniversary of the owners buying this campground so we had some cake and ice cream. Many of the people here have seasonal sites and have been staying here for years. While the river has risen a few times in the past, they had never experienced anything quite like this before.

Our first trip out in the area wouldn’t be for some intense bike ride or hike but instead a visit to the King Arthur Baking Company in Norwich Vermont. It isn’t super close - about an hour drive - but Chris really wanted to check this place out and it is a relatively easy drive south on I-91. Since I’m not a baker or the main grocery shopper, I’m not really sure I even recognized the King Arthur brand and was somewhat skeptical about how there could be a a baking store worth visiting.

King Arthur

When we pulled in, I was amazed at how big the store is. This isn’t the plant where flour is produced but simply a retail store that sells flour and baking products. The parking lot holds nearly 75 cars and it was pretty close to full! There was a large courtyard with picnic tables and chairs and there were quite a few people sitting out. Inside the building was very impressive with tall vaulted ceilings and aisle after aisle of shelves with an amazing array of flours, cake mixes, and all sorts of baking items. They also have some kitchen appliances like mixers and bread machines. If you need a $750 mixer, you’ll find it here.

Courtyard

Inside King Arthur

Specialty Flours

Scone Mixes

Another section of the store has the bakery with all sorts of breads, rolls, muffins, cookies and other baked goods. They looked very good but there was a line of 25 people waiting to get served so we passed on the opportunity to get some sticky buns. There is also an area behind large windows that is the baking school. There wasn’t a class in session, but Chris had earlier looked into their class schedule to determine if there was one she might want to take. Yes, there were some classes of interest, but none of them had any openings for the full month we were in the area.

Bakery Area

Baking Classroom

There is a short walking path next to the store into the woods to walk off the calories if you did get something to eat. We only headed out the trail to find the geocache hidden in the grounds. I’ll admit that I had no idea that a place like this even existed but obviously the demand for baking supplies is quite high and this store should satisfy even the most ardent baker.

Courtyard Still Crowded

After lunch, we head a couple miles over the Connecticut River into Hanover New Hampshire to check out Dartmouth College. We tend to enjoy wandering around college campuses. The only other Ivy League campus we have checked out was in Ithaca New York - Cornell University. In terms of both enrollment and campus size, Dartmouth is around 30% the size of Cornell so it should be easier to see much of the campus in our short visit. We are able to take advantage of a couple of Adventure Labs that provide walking tours of the campus.

Dartmouth Hall

Shiny Artwork

Large Flower

Being a Sunday during the summer, it wasn’t too surprising that the campus was fairly quiet,  it that made getting around much easier. There are some very pretty old buildings on campus and we enjoyed the chance to check it out.

Rollins Chapel

Library

Beautiful Dorm

Wilson Hall

The next day would bring us to the nearby town of Littleton New Hampshire. Only about 15 miles from camp, our goal was to just wander around town and check out some of the sights. Here again, we had two Adventure Labs to help as tour guides for some of the things to see.

Littleton Post Office and Courthouse

We start out heading across a suspension bridge over the Ammonoosuc River. This bridge has a fair amount of sway over its 244 feet length. We had a tricky geocache to find near the middle of the bridge and there were a fair number of pedestrians walking across while we were searching to make it move pretty good.

Approaching Suspension Bridge

Get Ready to Swing

Ammonoosuc River Below

On the other side of the bridge is a recreational trail that we follow over to a newer covered bridge. This 352 foot bridge is only 20 years old and is only for pedestrians and brings us back to the heart of downtown Littleton.

Covered Bridge to Downtown Littleton

Rapids on the River

There are lots of little shops and restaurants in downtown as well as the obligatory courthouse, library, etc. possibly the most interesting place is Chutters Candy Store. Not that we were in the market for candy but this places holds the Guinness World Record for longest candy counter at 112 feet long! It was definitely impressive and had just about any sort of candy you want from jelly beans to candy bars.

Chutters Candy Store

Candy  Anyone?

Jellybean Heaven

One of the consistent themes around town on banners and signs was that of the character Pollyanna from Eleanor Porter’s book of the same name. We managed to get in several miles of walking on our tour and saw lots of places and interesting buildings.

Opera House

Library

Pollyanna Statue

Thayer's Inn

We’ve been here at Moose River for a few days but still haven’t gotten in a proper hike yet. Part of the problem has been less than ideal weather and since we are here for a month, we figured we could wait for a better day to get some hiking in. Tuesday rolled around and the forecast was looking nice so we head over to Franconia Notch State Park. There are a huge number of trail options within the park. Many of the hikes are rather serious ones to some of the many 4000 footers. We aren’t looking for something that intense so we pick a combination of trails that will take us to Lonesome Lake and back. This state park is split down the middle with Interstate 93. There are multiple parking lots at various trailheads but since this is a very popular hiking area, parking can be problematic. Our first choice was a lot near Lafayette Place Campground since this is on the west side of the expressway accessed from only the southbound lanes of the highway. We had not gotten nearly early enough of a start to get one of these coveted spots so we were forced to drive several miles south before we can exit and turn around to the northern end of and get to the much larger lot on the east side of the expressway where we found a fair number of parking spots still available. There is a pedestrian tunnel under the road to get back to our intended trailhead.

Second Parking Lot for Lonesome Lake Hike

Pedestrian Tunnel Under Expressway

As we came through the first parking lot we had tried to park in, there were several cars circling around hoping we were coming back from a hike. We told them that there were plenty of spots across the expressway and gave them the directions on how to get there. The Lonesome Lake Trail starts out going through the campground.

Lonesome Lake Trailhead

Early Section of Trail

Roughly a half mile from the trailhead, we arrive at a split in the trail. Heading straight is the more direct route to Lonesome Lake, while to the right is the Hi Cannon Trail which leads up to Cannon Mountain. We had scoped out the options in advance and saw that we could make this portion of the hike a loop allowing us to see different trails going up and coming down. The Hi Cannon Trail is much steeper and rugged so we opted to take this route up since we find going up steep trails is easier than descending them. It didn’t take us long into this section of the hike to get a feel for just how steep and rocky the route would be.

Steep and Rocky Hi Cannon Trail

Trail Obstacle

The climb is only about another half mile before we get to the Dodge Cutoff Trail. As Chris started across this trail, I realized that there was a geocache just a few hundred feet beyond the cutoff and it was one that had not been found yet even though it was hidden over 2 years ago! Fortunately I had cell service and texted her to come back and help look for this one. It was an interesting area with lots of hiding places in a partially uprooted tree. After 15 minutes of searching, we gave up and became the ninth geocacher to have failed in the last 2 years.

Red Newt

Is There a Geocache Here???

Back to the cutoff trail and found this one to be much easier since there is practically no elevation change in the third mile before arriving at the eastern end of Lonesome Lake. It isn’t a huge lake - maybe 12 acres or so and no more than a quarter mile across.

Mossy

Colorful Mushroom

Made it to Lonesome Lake

Dock and Hut Across Lake

A trail circles the lake and our plan is to complete the loop after heading to the Lonesome Lake AMC Hut on the opposite side of the lake. We can see the roofline of the hut from here and decide to head the shorter way around in a clockwise direction. It is extremely busy with other hikers. And much of the path around is through some very wet areas with thick wooden planks to stay dry. It isn’t too bad until someone is going the other way and we need to alternate who is walking the planks.

Walk the Plank

Mushroom

Lake Outlet

There is a small dock at the edge of the lake just below the hut and we decide to take advantage of an open spot to enjoy the view and have our lunch. We also had a cache to find near this spot and we were patiently waiting for a few less people in order to go make the find without drawing attention to what we were doing. There were a few low, wispy clouds hugging what likely is Cannon Mountain in the distance.

Low Clouds on Cannon Mountain

After lunch, we decided to see what is the deal with this hut. We had seen some huts during hikes in Colorado a couple years ago, so had an idea of what to expect, but this one was much more elaborate than those. It is quite large with plenty of indoor seating (or sleeping) space and also has a full kitchen with a couple of volunteers acting as chefs. The dinner of the day was enchiladas with soup, salad and dinner rolls. Maybe we should have checked this out before eating our PB&J sandwiches! They even had souvenir t-shirts for sale.

Huge Hut

The Kitchen was Serving

Lonesome Lake Hut T-Shirt

We leave the hut and start our way along the trail on the north side of the lake. This section of trail was in much worse shape than its counterpart we took to the hut. There was more planks across the water and mud but many of the boards were in pretty bad shape but we made it safely around without slipping into the muck.

Duck Along Shore of Lake

Haphazard Planks Over Muck

Balance Beam Skills Tested

When we made it back to the far side of the lake, we skip the turn onto Dodge Cutoff and head to the Lonesome Lake Trail. We found this trail was in much better shape then the Hi Cannon Trail we had hiked up and we had no issues getting back to the trailhead and under the expressway to our car.

Better Trail Conditions Coming Down

We Were Up There Somewhere

The hike ended up being between 4 to 5 miles and had just over 1200 feet of elevation gain. We made it to the car by midafternoon and realized we still had time to go check out the White Mountains Visitor Center about 8 miles to the south in North Woodstock New Hampshire. They had a neat 3D map of the mountains in the area that gave a birds eye view of the peaks, trails and roads. There is no lack of hiking in this area. The ranger was able to provide a lot of advice as to which trails we might want to consider given how long we are to be in the region. I’m sure we have more hiking picked out than our bodies will handle!

White Mountains Visitor Center

Mountain Model

Northeast Kingdom VT Part 3

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

We only have 4 days left of our 2 week stay in Newport Vermont. When we had first reserved our spot here, we were not positive there were 14 days of “things” to do in the area. Well it turns out that we have had no problems finding fun things to see and do here. We likely would have been able to take a few more day trips into Canada as well. A monthlong stay probably would have been about right, but we have other reservations after Newport, so we will make do with what we have.

After the hike up to Wheeler Mountain the other day, we took a rest day before heading out for another hike. This time we would be right back to the Lake Willoughby area where we had tackled the Mount Pisgah hike on the eastern side of side of the lake. This time the goal was to hike the Herbert Hawkes Trail which is on the opposite side of the lake. The trailhead for this hike is not out of the same parking area as Mt Pisgah, but instead has us drive up a gravel road for almost two miles. The advantage of driving this far not only saves distance for the hike, but also gets us 800 feet further up the mountain before we start hiking. AllTrails lists this hike at 3 miles and 859 feet of elevation gain. The parking area has enough room for maybe 8 vehicles. We weren’t the only people here but at least there was room for us and we start up the trail.

Starting Up Herbert Hawkes Trail

The trail was in excellent shape and turns out to be a very pleasant walk in the woods. We had been noticing some small toads on other hikes in the area but this trail seemed to have a lot more of them. They were about the size of a quarter to half dollar and blended into the leaf debris quite well. In fact, if they wouldn’t have kept jumping every time we walked along the trail, I doubt we would have even realized they were there. With each step we took, we would often see a dozen of these guys jump. They were difficult to get a decent picture of and we were never sure if these were young ones that would get bigger, or if these were adults and just a very small variety. In any event, they kept us amused as we made the hike up the trail. We also had one geocache on the way up to look for.

Nice Trail in the Woods

One of the Many Small Toads

At roughly 2/3 miles up the trail we had made it to the ridge. There was an intersection with a choice to be made. We head left first to check out something called Summit Vista 0.3 miles away. Along the way, we see a side trail that is marked but rather faint. Given the signage, we suspect there are cross country skiing or snowshoeing trails up here as well. The one labeled “The Deep End” didn’t look to be a very good hiking trail so we continued to the overlook. The view from here was to the south and we could not see Lake Willoughby from here but there were a dozen or so wind turbines in the distance.

Rocky Section

Ski or Snowshoe Trail?

View from Summit Vista

We turn around and to retrace our route back to the intersection and head next to the East Lookout. There is a short spur trail down to a vista point with a nice view of Lake Willoughby and the beach area at the southern end of end of the lake. we also had a geocache hidden near this overlook and it worked out well that we found it prior to having a couple other hikers wander by.

Approaching East Lookout

Lake Willoughby Below

Beach on the Lake

Mt Pisgah

Not much further up the trail is the last viewpoint called the North Lookout. By now, it was about 12:30 so we decided this looked like a great spot to have our lunch. As we were sitting there, I could occasionally see people on the mountain across the lake. That one is Mt Pisgah and I was eventually able to determine where we had eaten our lunch exactly one week ago while doing that hike. It isn’t quite a mile across and our current location might be a bit higher in elevation. I am able to just make out some people sitting at the same spot and circle them on the photo below.

North Lookout

View from North Lookout

Red Circle Marks Last Week's Lunch Spot

We have a pleasant hike back to the car and there seemed to be more hikers coming up in the afternoon than we had seen in the morning. We still had the population of toads to get thru. It all in all this was a very nice hike - not too strenuous and with beautiful views. We tried to stop at the beach area again as we drove past but the parking lot was completely full again. The water is a very popular destination that we will have to miss. There was one waterfall on the side of the road coming off of Mt Pisgah that we stopped to check out before heading home.

Falls from Mt Pisgah

We took a couple of easy days with a walk around some of the campground area we hadn’t gotten to yet. For some reason, we often tend to ignore or skip some of the areas that are right near where we are camping. But we saw that there were a several geocaches hidden nearby so we took a leisurely walk around and enjoyed Prouty Beach.

For our last day, we head a little further from camp and towards the southwest near the town of Eden. Our goal was to check out a place called Devil’s Gulch. We had done a few other Devil themed hikes in the past year or two. There was Devils Golf Course out in Death Valley California, Devils Creek near Ridge Manor Florida, and Devils Nose and Devils Pond in Martinsburg West Virginia. So it only seemed fitting we should go for this one. The hike is listed a 4.6 mile loop with almost 1000 feet of elevation gain. There were also four geocaches to add to our incentive. The loop portion of the hike consists of two trails. The Babcock Trail and the Long Trail are both accessed from the same parking area with the former trail being more to the west of the other. And yes, this is the same Long Trail that we hiked several sections of during our stay further south in the Green Mountains.

From the parking lot, technically, we take the Babcock Extension Trail for the first half mile before crossing a road and finding the real Babcock trail. We can tell this portion gets pretty wet but it wasn’t too wet or muddy, we did have a decent size snapping turtle on the trail.

Large Snapping Turtle

Planks Through Wet Section

Official Start of Babcock Trail

About a mile into the hike, we can start to see a pond to our left. The woods are fairly thick most of the time so we don’t get a decent view until near the southern end of Big Muddy Pond - as it’s called. There appeared to be a beaver dam at the outlet end but is seemed to be too big of a body of water to be completely created by beaver.

Big Muddy Pond

Beaver Dam?

Bright Mushrooms

Almost 2 miles into the hike, we intersect with the Long Trail again. While we could have simply headed back north up the Long Trail, we would have missed the real reason for the hike - to see Devils Gulch. In another 1/3 mile, the trail gets quite interesting with large rock outcroppings and even a ladder. We weren’t positive where the named Gulch was or if we were already in it.

On the Long Trail Heading to Devils Gulch

Indian Pipe in Bloom

A Ladder on the Way to Devils Gulch

But we decide to continue south since some of the descriptions we had read about Devils Gulch made it sound to be rather unique and while what we were seeing was interesting, we were anticipating more. We didn’t have to go much further before we were greeted with an official sign designating Devils Gulch. It starts out from this direction with a pair of large boulders leaning together much like an upside down letter V. The only way to continue is to go through the tunnel. It was tall enough that we could walk through only needing to crouch down for the 15 foot length of the thing. We stopped to get the pictures that felt obligatory.

Made it to Devils Gulch

Tunnel

Chris Poses

Jack at Tunnel

Beyond this point, we could tell we were in a fairly narrow gorge with high walls. It definitely isn’t narrow like a slot canyon but it still feels confining. It was almost rainforest-like in here with wet and muddy trails and lots of ferns and other very lush green plants. There were a fair number of rocks to crawl over and around and the wet moss didn’t help with our footing. It was probably only a tenth of a mile long but it took us some time to navigate it safely.

Starting Through Gulch

Lots of Rocks Along Trail

Ladder Near Far End of Gulch

One rather steep and slippery rock had wooden ladder anchored in which was greatly appreciated to get up the thick moss. Once up there, we noticed a corresponding sign telling the northbound hikers they were entering Devils Gulch. We were hoping to find a place to sit and have lunch, but wet conditions didn’t provide for any dry surface to sit on so we were forced to eat while standing there looking back over the gulch.

Chris Climbs Final Section of Gulch

Opposite Side of Devils Gulch

It was just as challenging to turn around and climb over all the slippery rocks in the other direction. It’s not like we had gained some newfound wisdom that made the return trip any easier. But with our slow and methodical hiking, we safely made it back to the tunnel and passed through it one last time.

Rocks to Crawl Down

Chris Back at Tunnel

This was a really special section of the Long Trail and definitely worth the visit. We still had the two and a half miles back to the car and by taking the Long Trail back, we knew there was one very steep section that required climbing up nearly 500 vertical feet in about a half mile.

Rocks and Roots

Small Falls

Mushrooms

There appeared to be a different pond down below us. We could hear lots of voices and it sounded like kids playing in the water. We realized that there had to be another way to Ritterbush Pond and sure enough, seeing a car below us proved these people had not hiked here. We contemplated trying to get down to the pond, but there was no obvious trail and if we went down, we would just need to turn around and come back up. The trail continued up for another quarter mile or so but at a much less steep grade. The advantage of coming this way around the loop was that the last mile of the hike back to the car was a gradual downhill. This was definitely a fun hike.

Stairs on the Long Trail

Fresh Mushrooms

So far this summer, there have been quite a few nights where there was a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Being this far north in the country should be a real advantage, but it seemed like on the nights the chances were to be good, we would be experiencing heavy cloud cover. On our last night in Newport, there was a slight chance of seeing them and we actually had minimal cloud cover. I headed out and tried to get some shots but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I did get a few interesting shots of Newport lit up from across the lake and my one Northern Light shot that didn't look very impressive.

St Mary Church Lit Up

You'll Need to Click on Image to See the Stars Above Newport

No Real Northern Lights to See

Well, the two weeks in Newport Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom went by fast. It’s an area of Vermont that was never really on our radar, but by taking a chance, we discovered a wonderful part of the state. Our next stop will be back to the south. We plan to spend a month exploring the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When we were looking for campgrounds with monthly rates, we were having trouble finding one that sounded good in that area of New Hampshire so we actually picked one that is about 7 miles outside of state in St Johnsbury Vermont. I had mentioned a few blog posts ago about that area getting hit with some bad flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryll on July 10. They received almost 5 inches of rain in 24 hours. The campground we plan on staying at didn’t have much damage. But just a couple days ago on July 30, they had another strong storm that dumped 8 inches of rain in 24 hours and this time the campground we were planning on staying at had some significant damage. More on that in the next post.