Winnipesaukee is a BIG lake (approximately the same surface area as Cayuga Lake) located just south of the White Mountains in NH. It's a little over an hour from Manchester when the traffic is cooperating. We (Tina, Brian, and I) stayed over at Chris's condo on Long Island (not the famous one), which stick out into the middle of the lake.
The kayaking portion:
Date: Saturday, July 3rd
On Saturday morning I got up at the ungodly hour of 5am (ok, it was 5:30 when I was done snoozing) for a 6am launch. Due to a lack of sea kayaks (or more likely morale at 6am), I embarked on this journey alone.
The lake felt very different from the Finger Lakes for a number of reasons:
I made it back feeling pretty tuckered out (slightly sore in the shoulders/abs), but I'm starting to have hope that I can paddle the length of Cayuga -- if we kept up the same rate (and the weather was perfect, etc...) it would take about 12 hours, which is an hour less than the hours of daylight in Ithaca in September...
The non-kayaking portion:
On Sunday morning the four of us got up "early" (9am, ha!) for a hike (Tina's first!) to the top of Red Hill, which sits between Squam and Winnipesaukee. On the dirt road to the trail head, a tiny black bear cub jumped into the road and scrambled across right in front of my car. We watched it run into the woods and join its mother and sibling 100 yards away!
It was a little under 2 miles to the peak (2,030 ft). The views from the fire tower at the top were incredible. We had a 360 degree view of both lakes, the Whites, and a number of other mountain ranges nearby.
We spent the rest of the weekend swimming, hanging out on the boat, basking in the sun (but not getting burned!), enjoying good food, and reading.
The kayaking portion:
Date: Saturday, July 3rd
Distance: 15 miles
Time: 4.5 hours including breaksOn Saturday morning I got up at the ungodly hour of 5am (ok, it was 5:30 when I was done snoozing) for a 6am launch. Due to a lack of sea kayaks (or more likely morale at 6am), I embarked on this journey alone.
The lake felt very different from the Finger Lakes for a number of reasons:
- It's not long and skinny, so you never know what's just around the corner!
- Island hopping!!
- More motor boats... more chop (hence the 6am launch)
- Beautiful mountains on every horizon
Around 8am I met up with a loon family (two adults and two chicks). Here's a picture & movie of them!
The non-kayaking portion:
On Sunday morning the four of us got up "early" (9am, ha!) for a hike (Tina's first!) to the top of Red Hill, which sits between Squam and Winnipesaukee. On the dirt road to the trail head, a tiny black bear cub jumped into the road and scrambled across right in front of my car. We watched it run into the woods and join its mother and sibling 100 yards away!
It was a little under 2 miles to the peak (2,030 ft). The views from the fire tower at the top were incredible. We had a 360 degree view of both lakes, the Whites, and a number of other mountain ranges nearby.
We spent the rest of the weekend swimming, hanging out on the boat, basking in the sun (but not getting burned!), enjoying good food, and reading.
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