NFCT – Page 5 – Laurie Apgar Chandler

Day 30: Peace of Heaven Bed and Breakfast in Millsfield (after Errol dam portage) to Spaulding Cove, The Narrows (15.8 miles)

Sonja takes hospitality seriously, sharing her phone, scissors to make a fresh pot cozy, and fixing a generous breakfast of fruit, zucchini bread, eggs, bacon, and French toast. That should get me to the Richardson Lakes, my goal for today.

Here is a fascinating fact you surely do not know. Our bed and breakfast (Peace of Heaven) is the official Town Hall for Millsfield, NH, where citizens vote in the bedrooms behind closed doors. In 2014, the Secretary of State visited Sonja to see how it all worked. Check out the ballot box below, which is waiting for the primaries. Look for them on national news in September.

Heavy rain, that made me think of Lake Champlain, pounded the river as I finished the last three miles of the Androscoggin into Umbagog Lake. Fittingly, though, the sun was emerging as I crossed the state line into Maine and continued to where the lake narrows as it approaches the Rapid River.

This section of the wildlife refuge has the feel of a wild, remote river. Happily, I had retrieved my binoculars (missed them too much) and had them close at hand. There, in a dark tangle of branches on a fallen log, something moved. A brown body slid into the water. An otter, I discovered, the first of the trip. It moved around the boat, its glistening periscope head emerging several times to study me, chattering a complaint at my presence.

At the Cedar Stump campsites, any feeling of remoteness quickly vanished: kids in whitewater kayaks, rafters, fishermen…it was a full houseI

PADDLER’S NOTE: I carried the canoe and gear separately for the first half mile. After that, the rest of the Carry Rd.was barely wheelable with much perseverance – rocks, deep soft puddles, and ruts. I used Pond in the River, but think it added extra work.

A couple of miles into the portage, I came upon Sydney’s canoe resting there without gear, wheels, or friends. I soon found them, discouraged and justifiably tired. The new wheels had failed to arrive and the rigors of the Carry Rd. were too much for the old ones. I offered to try to send back a pickup truck to help. Finding no one at Forest Lodge, I went on to the camp at Middle Dam, where they said they would send a truck. I will be anxious to hear how it all worked out!

Forest Lodge, once the home of Louise Dickenson Rich, author of We Took to the Woods, lies along the Carry Rd. and in 2011 was owned by Aldro French, who invited me in for a bountiful breakfast. I had hoped to learn how he was, but no one was home.

“No worries” is an expression much loved by Megan’s generation and a blessing to hear from two generous young women offering to share their campsite. I was quite tired, the first glimpses of lightning had arrived, and all the campsites in The Narrows between the two Richardson Lakes were full. Gratefully, I squeezed my tent into a little area just made for it and ate my backcountry Thanksgiving dinner while they had their chili. I will introduce you tomorrow!

TOTAL MILES: 425.1

Day 29: Androscoggin River campsite to Peace of Heaven Bed and Breakfast in Errol, NH (7.9 miles)

A rainy morning that started with a very early walk along quiet Route 16 to Mollidgewock State Park and the last few miles of the Androscoggin.

Today I became an NFCT Section Paddler, which means I have now completed all of the NFCT in two different years. I’m also almost to Maine, my home state, the state with only 7 miles of upstream trail! Today’s plan of rising very early to walk newly-paved Route 16 without traffic worked like a charm and I was in Errol and finished with the portage around Errol Dam in time for breakfast.

Ricky at The Errol Motel went above and beyond in holding a room and storing my boat until I could get in touch with Mom and Dad. Turns out the motel had been full when Dad called for a reservation, so we are here at the Peace of Heaven B&B enjoying Sonja Sheldon’s friendly hospitality.

Signing in at the Errol kiosk, finished with Map 7.

I ate three delicious meals at the Northern Exposure Restaurant in Errol and their Black Bear Pub, where they let me write for hours.

We all loved Debbie down in the pub, who kept us laughing all evening.

TOTAL MILES: 409.3

Day 28: Cedar Pond Campground to stealth campsite on the Androscoggin River (15.3 miles)

Another upstream river? Are you crazy? Did the Abenaki really go up all these rivers? Well, I like to think so and also that they would approve of my decisions as to when to do a little extra walking, like today.

Many through paddlers extend the official portage between the Ammo and the Andro by walking farther to Pontook Reservoir, avoiding these rapids.

Susan and Gordon…did you move back to New Hampshire and not tell us?

The Androscoggin River was broad and beautiful, except for when it was rushing and shallow and full of rapids. The mile and a half above the reservoir was incredibly slow and difficult, with strands of slippery green algae covering the rounded river rocks.

I want to tell you the story of day’s end. After the 4-mile walk and the easy paddling and the horrible 1.5 miles and some more easy paddling and a short portage around Seven Islands Bridge. The day was supposed to end with a long walk to a state park to camp and be poised to meet Mom and Dad tomorrow in Errol.

Here is another critical trail skill – creative problem solving. I had passed the bridge, had the boat perfectly balanced on the wheels, and was ready to walk as long as it took to get to the state park. Not to be. Route 16 is being repaved and has CLIFFS at the edge and tons of traffic.

So back to the river I went, somewhat reluctantly, but paddling strong until I passed the group of young adults unloading canoes at Osprey and a couple of fly fisherman drifting in a rowboat. Now I could collapse. The site I picked was perfect, except for the fact it was so close to the road that I had to wait until dusk to put up my tent. In the meantime, I cooked pasta and salmon and looked for bears. As soon as the tent was finally up, I was sound asleep!

TOTAL MILES: 401.4

Day 27: Upper Ammonoosuc campsite to Cedar Pond Campground (9.8 miles)

Woke at 5:15, to find it even cooler than when I groped for my warm hat in the night. After apple oatmeal and coffee, the sun gradually warmed the air, as ravens croaked and flying loons called, perhaps also feeling the welcoming spirit of this place and time. My soul longed to rest a while and so I did, eventually departing mid-morning.

This was the view mile after mile, slow paddling through a blue and gold and green world. I think i saw a coyote this morning and will confirm by checking my photos of its tracks.

Even an uncovered railroad bridge makes a valuable motivational landmark after hours of paddling – one and a half miles to go.

Many of those following my adventure may want to consider joining the Northern Forest Canoe Trail and supporting all of their essential work (like the Cordwell campsite steps and privy). Although I didn’t stay here, I appreciated all of the hard work of trail maintainers such as “Excelsior.”

PADDLER’S NOTE: Gord, whose store is located at the end of the Upper Ammonoosuc River, and Cedar Pond Campground, along the portage route to the Androscoggin River, come highly recommended. Gord found me a place to charge my phone while I ate one of his FRESH roast beef sandwiches. And Cedar Pond’s tenting area is perfectly set up. I especially enjoyed the phone charging station and nice hot shower with a drawing of how to work the “pointer” to get hot water. Am I the only one who has trouble figuring out how to operate a new shower?

TOTAL MILES: 386.1

TOTAL MILES: 9.8

Day 26: Danforth home (stopped at Weston Dam) to stealth campsite on the Upper Ammonoosuc River (14.1 miles)

Our home for a day in Shelburne, NH, where Ray and Hildy Danforth are celebrating their 48th anniversary today… wishing you many more contented and adventurous years together!

Not my best look, but wanted you to see new friends Ray and Hildy…just don’t focus on my shirt!

The overnight rain was clearing by the time we left Ray and Hildy’s, filled to bursting with scrambled eggs, bacon, English muffins, homemade jam, and fruit. That should power me for a while up the Upper Ammonoosuc River today!

The NFCT goes under this covered bridge in Groveton, in the midst of 3 consecutive dam portages. Utilizing Ray and Hildy’s local knowledge, I walked after the third dam (Red Dam) for 2.7 miles, adding to the portage length due to shallow water conditions.

PADDLER’S NOTE: Good decision to continue portaging past Red Dam on 110 and Emerson Rd. At the Emerson Rd. bridge, there is a great put-in on river right, downstream, where a wheelable “road” goes down from the far end of the guardrail. From this bridge, it was a half hour struggle to get past Nash Stream and out of sight of the bridge, but then an easy 2 miles.

The trail has taught me, not only to look on the bright side, but also to appreciate the gentle times, without worrying too much about what lies ahead. For two miles, I searched for moose and delighted in the songs of the thrushes and cheered on the bit of blue sky that peeked through the clouds.

My goal was that lovely village of Stark, but first the river grew increasingly troublesome…with faster current and shallow sand and gravel bars. As the hours and miles go by, legs tire, rocks seem more slippery, and one must rely more on determination and mental attitude. It is then that I try to be more analytical…what could go wrong and how can I stay safest? I guess I succeeded, as eventually the covered bridge appeared. (The last section from the Frizzell campsite took 80 minutes to go 1.3 miles.)

The village of Stark was even more alluring after finishing the most difficult miles of the Upper Ammonoosuc River.

Continued by portaging a one-mile boulder field above Stark, where the river truly relaxed, at least as far as this perfect stealth site. After getting everything, including my canoe, up a wicked steep bank , the world held all I could hope for for a peaceful night and lingering morning.

TOTAL MILES: 376.3

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.

Day 24: VRC site East Branch Nulhegan to the Samuel Benton campsite on the Connecticut River (16.6 miles)

I woke to the pleasant sound of the gurgling stream and none of the predicted rain. The weather has just been beautiful, day after day after day. I feel so badly for Peter, who did most of the NFCT in the rain in 2013!

I had considered returning to the water for the last couple miles of the Nulhegan, but the access down the East Branch by my campsite was just too shallow and rocky.

The East Branch of the Nulhegan near my tent

Instead, I walked again, rewarded with cool morning air, a picturesque barn to photograph, a deer, and a cemetery. There were Wheelers (my mother’s maiden name) buried there, but also many with French names. The inscription on the stone below was actually written in French.

Bloomfield, VT and North Stratford, NH mark the end of Map 6 (official photo below) and the start of a much-anticipated 20-mile paddle down the wide, speedy, straight, glorious Connecticut River. So after a very long time in Claudette and Dean’s Place, fueling up and writing, the distant rumble of thunder sent me scurrying to get started.

There are nothing like towering clouds and a single bolt of lightning to keep you moving along. Past a sulphurous spring that the Abenaki and early settlers believed had healing powers. Past a bald eagle wheeling against an angry gray sky. On flowed the wide Connecticut with occasional rips or easy rapids, toward the first possible campsite near the granite foundation of an old railroad trestle.

Safely arrived, there was a very familiar green canoe…Sydney and Marji had taken a shuttle from Island Pond to Bloomfield after their new wheels failed to arrive. They reported that this campsite was dismal, making the decision to go on another 6 miles an easy one. The storms passed and we set up camp at this site with a sandy beach, new composting toilet, and lots of flat tent space at the edge of a hayfield. Tonight I had mosquitoes for company instead of black flies, so it was a quick swim and avocado, tortillas, fruit salad, and tea for supper.

TOTAL MILES: 352.1

Late evening on the Connecticut, weary and hoping that the next campsite will be more attractive.

Sunset gilds the sky and my tent…and I feel thankful for generous landowners like this farmer who allow camping on their property.

Day 23: Brighton State Park to Vermont River Conservancy campsite on East Branch Nulhegan River (16.0 miles )

“A canoe with wheels. A canoe with wheels. Look, Daddy, a canoe with wheels.” A sight this adorable little boy at Brighton State Park had evidently never seen… my canoe parked in front of my campsite, where I was enjoying the morning and letting my wet-smelling tent dry thoroughly.

This family, camped in the adjacent site, happily agreed to let me launch from there, rather than walking all the way back to the beach. First we visited while I ate the remainder of an apple pie and two glasses of orange juice. The world is full of friends we are just about to meet. (And I forgot all of your names except Colleen’s…could you please email me?)

Spectacle Pond, home to the state park, lies on the new and lovely portage route to enter the Nulhegan River. The NFCT is continually working to improve and add campsites and portage routes and each year completes a number of work trips, doing such things as building steps or privies or maintaining trails.

PADDLER’S NOTE – The total walking distance for this portage was longer than expected. Yesterday’s 0.4 miles had a short, steep uphill barely wheelable to the RR tracks. Then the pond paddling. Then the walk from Spectacle Pond to the put-in to Nulhegan Pond was 2.1 miles. The far side of the bridge was a simpler put-in than where the sign was.

Anyway, on to the Nulhegan, where I would paddle 7 miles and then walk 8 miles (due to technical whitewater.) Like the Clyde, curve followed curve, this time going with the current, in places so narrow and choked with alder that my paddle would have room for only a single stroke. This was a world apart, where beaver rule and their dams are frequent tollbooths. Only those who persevere, I thought, will ever pass this way.

An impressive beaver dam…one of maybe forty or fifty on this section of the Nulhegan, spme of which could be run in the canoe or scrambled over with a certain wiggle and scoot.

A tiny treasure discovered along the river.

Next came the walking, which was enlivened by the search for moose in the wildlife sanctuary I was traversing. Well, I never did spot a moose, but enjoyed a snack in an elaborate moose watching platform along the way. No camping is allowed in the wildlife sanctuary, so I continued on to a Vermont River Conservancy campsite on the East Branch of the Nulhegan. Very buggy, but I discovered to my delight that I could immerse myself in the rushing stream and THEY COULDN’T GET ME.

TOTAL MILES: 335.5

Day 22: Ten Mile Square farmstand to Brighton State Park on Spectacle Pond (12.8 miles)

I would call this a momentous day of achievement and landmarks… successfully navigating the Fen (after a time), paddling through “the tubes,” persevering all the way to Island Pond, and paddling under a hotel to arrive!

After exploring the Fen together, Sydney and Marji decided to take to the highway from Five Mile Square Rd., where the route was still muddled and the obstacles many. In Island Pond we met up again, only to say farewell, as they will need to wait for a set of replacement wheels to arrive on Monday. Having companions for a few days along the way has been a bright spot in my solitary adventure.

Marji and Sydney navigating the Fen, which constantly recreates its routes making for a lot of backtracking and bushwhacking.

A NFCT informational display at the farmstand detailed the plants of the Fen. Although I failed to spot any of its three carnivorous plants, I did enjoy the swamp roses and sedges of this unique bog ecosystem.

Time to paddle through “the tubes” at Five Mile Square Road…yes, there was enough room.

The site of dam ruins that must be portaged during the last stretch of the Clyde River. I enjoyed this narrow clear section where you could see every trout that passed among the waving green tendrils.

Onward to find my home for the night. After paddling a short way on Island Pond and beginning the portage (which will eventually start me DOWN the Nulhegan River), I arrived at Brighton State Park, where the ranger tucked me into the overflow site in his over full campground. Goodnight!

TOTAL MILES: 319.5

Day 21: NFCT Great Falls campsite to Ten Mile Square Rd. farmstand (11.1 miles)

Thanks to Chris at Clyde River Recreation I was able to charge my phone in order to take pictures today.

Thankfully, the Clyde River today held nothing as dramatic as yesterday. When I asked Chris about current water levels, he told me that dam releases keep this section fairly constant and I found it returned to quiet, flower-filled curves.

While waiting for my phone to charge, I was reading on Map 6 that a lake once filled the river valley here. The Abenaki who lived along its shores must have been astounded when a 1775 earthquake destroyed the natural rock dam in West Charleston and drained its waters.

Typical Clyde River scene, repeated over many miles.

Not so typical Clyde River landmark, guaranteed to make you pause for a photo.

Over halfway into today’s paddle, I rounded a bend to see Sydney and Marji, who had made it to Pensioner Pond last night after all, bypassing Charleston Pond. We navigated downed trees, a beaver dam and the occasional confusion of the remainder of the river to the NFCT Farmstand at 10 Mile Square Road.

Run by Pat and Bill, this place is a mandatory stop, with ICE CREAM and the ultimate trail supporters. Deepest thanks to both Pat and Bill for allowing us to camp right in the farmstand yard by the picnic tables and water and for selling us fresh garden lettuce for a salad. (A healthier supper than last night.)