Beautiful Lake Umbagog, NH

Errol, New Hampshire

Lake Umbagog State Park

 

 

The drive from Vermont to the far northern corner of New Hampshire was filled with more beautiful fall color, lakes and rivers.  We are looking forward to some kayaking among the color rimmed lake and hopefully spotting a moose.  The border of Maine & Canada are just a few miles away.  The weather has cooled, but no rain.

 

 

 

With a height of just under 13ft, it was a little worrisome going
under this bridge.  The guy in the red truck insisted we go first.
I'm sure he was curious if we'd make it too.

With many signs like this, we were hopeful for a sighting or two

The following pictures are from our campsite.  It's a beautiful, little campground.  Open through November.  A bit pricey for a state park.  $35 for electric and water.  We had a gorgeous lake view.

These next few pictures are of the campground.

 

  

  

These kids were having a great time fishing.

We took a 5 mile drive and crossed into Maine to do some hiking.  The Appalachian Trail runs through the area too.  The AT (Appalachian Trail) runs 2180 miles from Georgia to Maine.  We've hiked small portions of it over the years when the kids were younger on various camping trips.

 

 

  

The colors, the smell of the crisp leaves floating down, the damp earth, made for a wonderful fall hike.  I just love being out in nature like this.  There were very few others on the trails.  Bonus!

  

 

No moose spottings yet.  We were told they are everywhere and just look for the skid marks on the roads.  Apparently those are favorite crossing areas.

 

We passed this cute little roadside stand filled with baked goods.  They are made right on the premises in the little brown building you see behind it, to the right.  It smelled amazing!  Even though this is just a little road in the middle of almost nowhere, almost every car that drove by stopped and bought something, including us. 

 

We had to stick to our rule to try the local eats.  So besides the peach pie, Steve wanted the pumpkin whoopee pie.  We also got one maple syrup cookie.  All were delicious!

 

 

 

This was our favorite hike, Step Falls on the Wight Brook.  It's a cascading horsetail falls managed by the Mahoosuc Land Trust.  It's only an altitude gain of 300 ft and this section of the falls is about 250 ft.  It is surrounded by private property.  The falls empty in to many pools along the way.  The granite makes for a popular place in the hot summer months. 

  

 

 

 

After the days hiking and pie eating, we were out on some 4x4 back roads looking for moose!  Down one of these roads something caught my eye as we went by and I asked Steve to back up.  I didn't notice it on the way in.  There is a small spring at the base of a hill with a little sign and a small pot hanging off the tree.

The sign says, "Mountain Fountain, The water here is cool and clear.  Come have
a little Nipper.  Park your car and rest awhile. But for Christ sake, leave the dipper"

Well, we parked and had us a little nipper.  Hopefully we don't get giardia!  It was tasty!

 

Hey, back up, back up!  I saw a moose!  Down over the edge in the marsh!  She was hard to get a picture of through the trees, but I got it.  The area was so remote feeling, you'd think they'd be all over.  But these roads are heavily used with ATVs, so even though we never saw or heard one, I'm sure the moose go deeper in the woods.

 

 

A few more interesting things along our back road drive.  We came across an old camp.  This one had an interesting out door bathroom.  Not much privacy though.  I was excited to spot this porcupine.  But it turned out he was dead :-(

 

The Androscoggin River flows through here.  It's a popular fishing area.  This guy was trying his luck.

 

We did get out on the water for some paddling.  It was cold, but we were dressed for it.  Another pleasant surprise... a pair of loons!  We were hoping some had stuck around as the weather was getting colder.  We couldn't get any closer, so this picture is the best I could get.  We only got to hear their enchanting call a couple times.  That'll have to do until another trip.

The Haunting Sound of the Loons  (click to hear)

Here is a better picture of a Loon from the internet.

  

Oh the colors and reflections were truly amazing!  I really had to cut my pictures back to these.  No words needed.

 

 

These guys were really enjoying themselves on the lake too.

Oh, looky there!  As we drove back to our campsite, another moose sighting!  Right where the skid marks were.  A cow and her calf.  Sorry, couldn't get them in the same frame.

 

 

It was a foggy start to the morning as we were getting ready to leave and head to southern New Hampshire to spend some time with friends.  The lake took on an eerie feeling.  This really is a special place and we'd come back again.

The fog burned off and it was nice and sunny for our drive south. 

Next Up: Lake Swanzey and RV Friends!