Our dock as a dining table.
Somebody’s been dining on our dock!
I found two sets of crayfish (crawfish? crawdad?) claws on my dock last evening, the leftovers from somebody’s feast. Perhaps an eagle or osprey? Raccoon? Fisher? Mink? I’m not sure what can catch and eat crayfish.
The beauty of sculling on the river.
Last summer when I moved to Switzerland I was, despite the excitement of the new adventures I’d encounter there, sad to be leaving New Hampshire during the prime season for rowing (sculling) on the river. So I was, this summer, looking forward to returning to the river to resume rowing in late July. The first few weeks were wonderful, as I slowly built up my strength and re-tuned my skills for rowing on the Connecticut River where it flows beside our home. It was not to last.
A beautiful day for a drive.
It’s been over six years since I was last at the Mount Washington Hotel, one of my favorite places in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Today was a beautiful day, in fall foliage season, so Pam and I decided to drive up there for lunch and a chance to enjoy the views along the way.
Northern New England has been suffering through an extended drought, ending yesterday with a very welcome and drenching rainfall. I’d guess we were two weeks too late for the peak colors at this latitude and elevation, the peak coming about 3-5 weeks ahead of schedule due to the drought. Although the colors were a bit muted today, it was still a beautiful drive.
The Mount Washington Hotel is one of the last great Grand Hotels from the early 20th century, and still carries much of its grandeur despite a thorough renovation and several recent expansions. We found a table on the patio looking out at Mount Washington and the Presidential Range, its granite ridgeline gray above the rust-colored fall foliage on the valley slopes below.
There were quite a few other people there, although it was mid-week, enjoying the clear mountain air and the warm days of early fall weather.
Fortunately, last weekend I explored the back roads of Lyme during what may have been its peak-colors day, and took many photos. I hope to post them soon.
I meet a patient red fox in the Lyme graveyard.
I’ve not been blogging lately, but I have been getting out. Several sightings of a bald eagle soon after our return to Lyme (New Hampshire) had me excited to visit its favorite perches with my long lens, hoping for an opportunity for some great photos. Despite many evening walks and morning paddles, he was never home when I came knocking.
Nonetheless, in the two months we’ve been home I have seen an amazing variety of wildlife within two miles of our house – black bear, red fox, white-tailed deer, red-tailed hawk, bald eagle, blue heron, mallard duck, canada goose, kingfisher, hummingbird, beaver, osprey, loon, and my first ever sighting of a bobcat. I just never seem to have my camera handy when they come by. Until today! Read on.
A picnic Freshman Trip at the Lodge.
Dartmouth has a tradition of “Freshman Trips” (now “DOC Trips”) going back almost a hundred years. Before the new first-year students begin life on campus, they spend three days in the New Hampshire wilderness backpacking, biking, canoeing, etc., in small groups. On the last night they converge on Moosilauke Ravine Lodge for a grand evening of dining, dancing, and stories. It is a truly special program, and every year more than 90% of incoming students participate, along with hundreds of upper-class leaders and staff. Totally student run, totally amazing way to begin the Dartmouth experience.
This year, of course, is different. My son Andy is entering Dartmouth as a freshman – but this year, there are no traditional Freshman Trips. So Andy and I walked up to Moosilauke Ravine Lodge for a picnic dinner at sunset. Mara ’22 was the Loj Croo 
. It was a beautiful evening.
Amazingly great customer service from thinkTANK photo.
Close readers may recall that, several miles into my day-long hike along the Aletsch Glacier, back in Switzerland, that my backpack’s hip-belt suddenly failed – the padded belt portion simply became un-sewed from the body of the pack. Today I received the most amazing example of Customer Service I’ve ever seen…
Continue reading “Customer service”A morning hike on a sunny day.
New Hampshire has been an extremely popular destination for hikers during the pandemic, attracting in-staters as well as many from Massachussetts and other parts of southern New England. As a result, my aim is to hike lesser-known trails, to hike on weekdays, and to hike early in the morning. Today I headed up to Franconia Notch (often an extremely crowded destination) and was almost the first car to arrive at the trailhead. I was soon on the trail to Mt. Pemigewasset, a tiny bump between the deep valley of Franconia Notch and the 4000-foot peaks to its west. I’d never been here before, dismissing this little destination as unworthy. But it has a wonderful view, and it makes for a pleasant 3.6-mile round-trip morning walk.
In the photo above you can see Mount Moosilauke – my hike from two weeks ago – in the distance to the left above my head. I had passed a father-daughter pair coming down just before I arrived at the summit – darn, I’d intended to be here an hour earlier – but otherwise saw no other hikers on the way up.
In the south-looking photo above you can again see Moosilauke in the distance. On the way down, however, there were several large parties coming up, mostly family groups, several with children or dogs.
In the photo above you see the Kinsman ridge, which John and I traversed a few years ago. I was back at the car by 9:30am and home by 11am, ready to get back to work. Nice way to start the day!
Visiting an old friend.
It will come as no surprise to those of you who know me, that I was back out on the trail early on my second morning out of quarantine. Not long after sunrise, I drove north along the Connecticut River and then hanging a right through the morning fog toward Moosilauke, my spiritual home in the White Mountains. This route takes me from the town of Lyme north through Orford and northeast to Warren, past the barns and pastures of riverbottom farmland, past the B&B Inns and historic sites that normally draw tourists, past the auto-body shops and driveways filled with pickup trucks. Today it was also striking to drive left to right through the political spectrum, beginning with the Black Lives Matter signs in Lyme and transitioning to the Trump-Pence campaign signs in Orford and eventually to the Trump 2020: No more bullshit sign in Warren.
I arrived early and parked at the satellite parking area – the road is gated because Moosilauke Ravine Lodge is closed due to the pandemic. Sigh; this adds a mile-and-a-half to the round-trip distance. Still, the sky was brilliant blue and the morning air was cool. I made quick time, up Snapper to Carriage Road, pausing to visit South Peak, and then on to the main summit. Only then did I see another person – after two hours and almost four miles of hiking. A light breeze blew across the summit, while the cool morning air forced clouds to form and then dissipate as the breeze passed over the higher peaks to the northeast. Four other hikers were already at the summit, sitting suitably far apart.
I didn’t stay long, and headed down the Gorge Brook Trail – thus completing the classic circuit in the opposite direction from my normal pattern. As expected, I encountered many more hikers on my way down. All were kind enough to step aside, or would thank me after I stepped aside; about a third would pop on a mask while passing by. (Personally, I don’t see a need for a mask while hiking outdoors, in a breeze, when the contact time is less than 10 seconds, and only make an effort to keep distance during passing.)
The terrain here is so different than Switzerland, but so beautiful in its own way, and so full of memories. A wonderful day.
We’ve finally finished two weeks of self-quarantine.
We have finally completed our fourteen days of state-mandated at-home self-quarantine. (All visitors arriving from anywhere outside New England are required to self-quarantine for two weeks.) Although the policy is eminently reasonable, given the low prevalence of COVID-19 here relative to many other countries and regions of the US, it has certainly been a difficult adjustment for the three of us; we were quite used to hopping on a tram or train to visit a favorite restaurant or trail. It was especially tricky for us, because our daughter (and her friend) were already living in the house, so we’ve had to wear masks and maintain social distance while inside the home. (On the other hand, they were very helpful in keeping the house stocked with groceries!)
I miss my ‘morning walk’ up the steep streets of Zürichberg; now I’m faced with the flat and sparse terrain along River Road.
Actually, I can’t complain. It’s not all that bad. Read on!
Continue reading “Quarantine”The arrival of a visible comet encourages me to learn astrophotography.
This is my first blog post in a week, and the first since our return from Switzerland. I envisioned writing a reflective piece about transatlantic travel in the time of coronavirus or about the re-entry into US culture, but we’re stuck halfway through a two-week in-home quarantine and there is a far more photogenic topic to describe first. Read on, and check out the gallery.
David Kotz 