Day 25: Samuel Benton campsite on the Connecticut River to the home of Ray and Hildy Danforth (10.1 miles)

Peaceful, sunny morning to finish the Connecticut River and start up the Ammonoosuc as far as Groveton, NH.

Recipe for hospitality for NFCT through-paddlers:

1. Pick up paddlers and countless pieces of gear and equipment, filling vehicle to bursting.

2. Drive the long way home (who cares about gas), visiting covered bridges, ski jumps, logging boom relics, and towering mountains.

3. Also scout rivers ahead, sharing river conditions, portaging suggestions and other valuable wisdom.

4. Stop at grocery store.

5. Bring smelly, tired, famished paddlers and afore-mentioned gear, also smelly (and wet), into your home.

6. Provide tea, homegrown peas and hummus, showers, beds, laundry facilities, home cooked supper, well water, grease (for wheels), band aids, coffee packets, more time poring over maps, and warm, caring hearts.

Thank you, Ray and Hildy, for sharing your home, with its comfortable country cottage atmosphere, and making Sydney, Marji, and I a part of your family for a day. Hope we will paddle together one day!

TOTAL MILES: 362.2

Marji, Ray, Hildy, and Sydney by the recently-restored covered bridge in Stark, NH, which lies about 8 and 1/2 miles up the Ammonoosuc River from Groveton. This calendar-worthy village is named for John Stark, a French and Indian War hero whose words “Live free or die” appear on the state’s license plate.

For my friends at the Bremen Union Church, praying me safely along the way…here is the picturesque Stark Union Church, which reminded me of all of you.

4 thoughts on “Day 25: Samuel Benton campsite on the Connecticut River to the home of Ray and Hildy Danforth (10.1 miles)”

You must be halfway! You’ve probably said so and I missed it, or you are very close. Love the photos and you are a fabulous writer. Glad you continue to have good weather. I’m so proud of you.

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lachandler22 says:

July 15, 2015 at 11:19 am

Hi Sheryl and the rest of the Daiute clan. Yes, somewhere on the Ammo, as they call it, will be halfway. Yesterday the trip total surpassed the 2011 trip. Glad you’re reading along…

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Hi Laurie,
So funny, as I, too, have been enjoying your fabulous writing skills and was about to say so when Sheryl beat me to it! I continue to be impressed by your courage, sense of adventure, independence, and appreciation for all things great and small. Onward!

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