Three Ponds
Where: Three Ponds
When: 8/7-8/8/99
With: Andy
When: 8/7-8/8/99
With: Andy
The trip started out on a dark note Saturday morning when I returned from retrieving the newspaper to find Andy standing at the bottom of the porch steps. "Daddy," he asked, "can we please not go camping?" He didn't have any specific reason...he just didn't want to go. It was hard to argue with that, since I've cancelled out on my share of trips too. Still, I thought there might be a chance of changing his mind so we continued to talk while we had breakfast. No change. "Okay," I said, "we don't have to go, but I'm going to pack up anyway, just to see how heavy the pack would be." So while he watched his Saturday morning cartoons, I packed the gear. I reasoned that seeing the packing would change his mind, and having everything packed would enable us to get out quickly when it did. Everything was nearly packed, and there was still no interest. That's when I brought out the big bag of crunchy M&Ms. When Andy found out they were only for camping, he decided he wanted to go after all!
We made arrangements to tape the rest of the cartoons, got Andy into hiking clothes, and were out the door as quickly as we could. It was about 11:00 when we left, later than normal for a typical hike, but not a problem this time. The trail was in the southern part of the White Mountains, so it was only about 2.5 hours drive away. The trail itself was about 2.5 miles long, so I figured on a 2-hour hike. It was still light until 8PM and a late afternoon arrival actually worked out well. When hiking with kids I've found it best to schedule things to avoid long downtimes. Arrive, set up the camp, cook the dinner, have a fire, go to sleep. Long periods of no activity don't work out too well.
The thing I didn't bet on with our late start was hitting the Saturday beach traffic. 495 was fine, but route 93 was a parking lot up through the first 3 exits in NH. Andy got bothered by the pace and heat and wound up getting carsick. I promised him that if it didn't clear out soon we'd go home, but it never came to that. The traffic thinned out, Andy fell asleep, and I was able to cover some miles at last.
About an hour later we made a stop at McDonalds, where a restroom stop and a Happy Meal restored us both to better spirits. By then we were pretty close and it was just a short drive more before we arrived at the trailhead parking at 2:30. The parking lot was nearly full, but I found a place to park. I hoped most of the folks were daytrippers heading up Carr Mountain, whose trail left the Three Ponds trail a short ways in. We packed up pretty quickly and were in the woods a few minutes later.
The trail climbed a bit at first and Andy stopped to "rest" after only 50 yards or so. I got him going and the trail soon leveled off for some easy, pleasant walking. The path was in great shape, thanks to the obviously recent efforts of a trail crew. Several new water bars had been installed in the initial slope and split-log bridges spanned some muddy sections further along. The chips from the chain saws still covered the ground around the work and I wondered if the cars all belonged to a maintenance crew who might be spending the night at the shelter. The work gave me a nice opportunity to explain trail maintenance to Andy.
Andy started asking about the M&Ms and I told him we could stop at a bridge I remembered. I'd taken a picture of Chip, Dave, Seth & myself on the bridge some 11 years earlier and I wanted to retake it with Andy this time around. We passed the Carr Mt. trail and continued on through the woods looking for the bridge. After a bit we came upon a small bridge covering a tiny feeder stream. It wasn't the bridge I meant, but we decided to stop for a snack anyway. A few handfuls of candy later we were on our way again and within minutes we arrived at The Bridge. It wasn't the one from the old picture though. This was a brand new structure, built within the last month I'd guess. No matter. I posed Andy in a sunny patch, set the camera on the same rock I'd used before, and rushed up as the timer slowly wound down. Click!
Just across the bridge the trail joined an old road and swung to the right to follow the stream. We met a trail runner a short ways along, heading back the way we'd come, and then met up with a older couple and their small dog where the trail left the road again to swing closer to the stream. Andy brought out his notebook in this section and began to keep a list of all the nature things he saw. Red mushrooms, trilliums, orange mushrooms, daddy longlegs, etc.. It made for a lot of stopping, but that was fine. We were in no hurry.
The trail rejoined the road and continued along, crossing and recrossing the stream several times. In one woodsy section I noticed what looked like an opening and I followed a vague side trail to check it out. We emerged at the edge of First pond. "We're here," I told Andy. We returned to the main trail, made a few final stream crossings and arrived at Middle Pond. We took note of a campsite there and continued along the pond. A side trail took us up to the shelter, where we looked around a bit. It was bigger, and in better shape than I recalled, and I briefly considered staying there for the night. A pack was there already though and I didn't feel like sharing space, so we wandered around the shelter trails a bit before making our way down to the water and the main trail. We said hello to a young couple there, probably the shelter inhabitants, before continuing on up the pond.
At the end of the pond the trail curved to the right and a trail sign appeared, indicating that we were at the junction with the Donkey Hill Cutoff, which went straight ahead. We took an obscure trail to the left, the continuation of the Three Ponds trail, crossed a beaver dam on some logs and headed toward where I recalled the old campsite was. My hopes for a revisit were dashed though when a big Irish Setter greeted us with a friendly woof. Another couple had established their camp at the site. We went in to say hello, chat a bit, and look around. To be honest, the site didn't look that familiar, though I knew it was the place. I considered our options, including returning back by the shelter, but the couple mentioned that there was another site another 5 minutes along at the next pond.
I decided to check it out, figuring we could always return to one of the sites by the shelter if it didn't pan out. Andy, tired after a long day, grumbled a bit about having to keep walking but I convinced him to hang in there a bit longer. We left the campsite and found ourselves at the edge of Middle Pond, at a viewpoint I recalled from my previous trip. It was the spot where Chip & Dave had beached the leech boat. In the distance was a tall, dead tree I'd photographed, so I knew that this was indeed the old site.
Continuing on, the trail wound through the woods. I recalled it crossing the inlet stream to Middle Pond a short ways along and thought the next campsite would be beyond that, but first we came to a fork in the trail no more than 5 minutes after leaving the other site. The left fork was marked with the yellow blazes of the Three Ponds trail and I started down that way but quickly stopped. The right fork was very well traveled, so it must lead somewhere worth visiting, I figured.
We backtracked, went down the right fork and stepped into one of the most perfect campsites I've ever seen. A circle of trees enclosed a flat grassy area with a well-made fire ring. Next to the fire ring was a large supply of dead tree limbs of a perfect size for a fire. Best of all, just beyond the fire ring was a path leading about 20 feet down to the edge of a beautiful small pond ringed by hills. A mountain in the distance added to the splendor. At the path's end, a set of rocks created an ideal spot to sit and enjoy the view. Even Andy, with his limited experience with camping, understood just how special this place was. We'd found our home for the night.
Andy explored the site a bit while I set up the tent (my Tiros). Once it was up, Andy moved in and quickly took over the space with his books. He also changed into his sweats, having complained of the cold a bit. I followed his lead, zipping the legs onto my pants and pulling on my fleece sweater, then retrieved my cell phone and tried to call Jane to let her know all was well. I couldn't get a connection however, so I moved out to the pond, thinking I might have a better chance out in the open. I stood up on the big rock and tried dialing again, but still no luck.
As I made my third attempt, I heard a noise in the brush about 20 yards away. It sounded like someone trying to push their way through the woods and I thought it might be another hiker making his way to our camp. I turned to greet the visitor but instead of a hiker, a moose emerged from the woods and stepped into the margin of the pond. For a moment we both stood there staring at each other. I desperately hoped my phone call would go through...I would've loved to tell Jane that we were all fine, the campsite was great, and there was a moose standing next to me!...but it didn't. Closing the phone, I called to Andy and told him to get out to the pond as fast as he could, and to bring the camera. The moose stayed put as Andy made his way out, but turned and moved back into the brush just before Andy arrived. We could still hear it making its way through the branches (something that big tends to make a lot of noise), but it was gone from sight.
After I assured Andy that the moose probably wouldn't eat all of our food, we did a little exploring, searching for pitcher plants. I'd told Andy earlier about these cool plants that ate bugs and he wanted to see one. I started looking in the brush next to the rocks and quickly spotted clumps of pitcher plants everywhere. We took some pictures and had a little nature lesson on carnivorous plants, then returned to the campsite. A bit later we returned, this time with paints and paper. Both Andy & I did a little watercolor work. Andy painted a camp scene while I made an attempt to render a view of the pond & hills.
It was starting to get late, so I began dinner preparations. The stove was set up and I got a coffeepot of water heating up for the macaroni & cheese. While the water was heating, Andy & I started gathering wood for the night's fire. The limbs in the woods next to the fire ring proved to be the perfect size and nicely dry, so wood gathering mostly amounted to breaking the limbs down to size. I never could figure out whether the limbs had been placed in the woods or if they had just fallen there, but I was grateful for them in any case.
The water started boiling pretty quickly and dinner was soon ready. We grabbed all of our dinner supplies and headed down to the rock to eat at the water's edge. Big dragonflies flitted about and a duck of some sort was diving for its dinner (fish? frogs?) out on the pond while we dined. The temperature was comfortable and the bugs minimal, so it was all very pleasant. The only sour note was the cloud cover that had moved in, apparently cutting off chances for a view of the stars that night. Too bad, since it was an ideal viewing area.
Desert was more M&Ms and conversation until 8:00, when we moved back to the campsite to light the fire. We got it going quickly and soon had a solid little blaze going. I was a bit concerned about sparks starting a fire in the woods so I filled the coffeepot with water from the pond and placed it nearby. As evidenced by the dry wood we used, there hadn't been much rain lately and the forest was pretty dry. There was never a major ember escape though, and the emergency water wasn't needed after all.
We spent about an hour at the fire, feeding & adjusting it and making use of its warmth and light. We started to read from a book of ghost stories, but Andy got a little spooked and we switched to some lighter reading. Around 8:45 Andy had had enough and headed to the tent. I watched the fire die down, dowsed it with a few pots of water, and then went to join him. I was a little worried about animals getting to the food we had left, so I placed it in my backpack and hung that on a branch in a tree before I crawled in to the tent.
It was a mild night, temperature-wise, so I left the rainfly openings open, hoping for a little breeze through the screens. It was too hot to use my sleeping bag and I started the night sleeping on top. Andy, on the other hand, was burrowed down into his bag and asked me to close up the back screen opening. He was more concerned about security than airflow, and I zipped it up most of the way.
Within a fairly short time Andy was asleep, for which I was grateful. As usual, I stayed awake for awhile, listening to the woods. It was odd, but there was almost no sound at all. No wind, no peepers, no birds, nothing. The distant rumble of a jet was actually somewhat welcome for it gave my straining ears something to focus on. I continued to listen as I drifted in and out of sleep.
Around midnight I was awakened by the sound of rain on the tent. It was just a light sprinkle, but I decided to get my pack under cover and close up the rain fly. While I was out getting the pack I checked out the sky and was surprised to see stars peeking through the clouds. Just a passing sprinkle, I figured as I climbed back into the tent, but we continued to have showers pass over for the rest of the night. Each time, the sound would wake me up. One of the times, around 3 or so, I heard another sound and realized that the moose had returned. It was apparently down by the rocks, moving along the shore and making its way through the moss mat and bushes. After a bit the sound of splashing water and cracking branches faded away.
At 5:00 or so the rain began again and this time it turned steady. I needed to pee but didn't want to get my clothes wet, so I stripped to my watch and glasses and went out in my birthday suit. The temperature was a little chilly but not too bad, and I even made a short visit to the rock to bid the pond good morning before I returned to the tent. Nature boy!
Back in the warmth of my clothes and sleeping bag, I listened to the rain drumming on the fly as I continued to doze and watch Andy sleep. He'd awakened a few times during the night, but just for a few moments each time before falling right back to sleep. All in all he got a full night's sleep before finally waking for good at 6. About the same time the rain let up, so we decided to have breakfast down on the rock. Everything was damp of course, but the pond looked very pretty, with a little mist rising off the water and out of the surrounding woods.
We munched on cereal and fruit bars, washed down with coffee (me) and milk (Andy), and looked for signs of the moose I’d heard during the night. There was fresh track in the mud on the shore and signs of its travel through the moss & low berry bushes along the shore. The ducks were back out on the water, and every so often something made a splash (fish or frog?), but it was still remarkably quiet. On a hunch I tried out the echo in the area and found it to be a good one. The word "Andy" seemed to work best. When called out, an extraordinarily clear echo came back from a spot directly across the pond, followed a few seconds later by an equally clear second echo from the hills on the left.
We played with the echoes and continued to eat until the rain started again at 7:00. We retreated to the tent to finish eating and to pack up. The rain showed no sign of letting up again and we resigned ourselves to a wet walk back to the car. Luckily I'd packed a light parka for Andy that turned out to be somewhat waterproof. I had no raingear myself, but I wasn't too concerned. It was a short walk back out and the temperature was fairly mild. I figured that hypothermia wouldn't be too much of a danger during the walk, but I did take steps to ensure we'd have dry clothes for the ride home. My fleece sweater and Andy's sweats both went into my pack, protected from the rain but loaded near the top where we could get to them fast once we got back to the car.
The rest of the gear was packed as much as possible while we were still in a dry place. I even dismantled the tent itself from the inside, leaving us sitting on the ground cloth under the rainfly, which was still stretched over the tent poles. Finally, there was nothing left to do but go. Andy put his coat on and I stood him in a somewhat dry spot under a tree while I took down the poles and fly and packed them away. Once last check of the site and we were on our way.
I elected to keep my pant legs zipped on, to act (I hoped) as gaiters to prevent rain from going down in my boots. That and my hat constituted the only rain protection I had. The pack kept my back a bit dry, but I really didn't care either way. I've always enjoyed walking in the rain.
As I had done the previous day, I let Andy be the hike leader. That way he sets the pace and gains some experience in trail following. He's become quite good at keeping track of trail markings. We arrived back at the other campsite quickly, where we were greeted once again by the dog. Its owners were making their breakfast under the protection of a rain fly. We said hello again and I thanked them for the tip about our campsite before we continued on our way.
The log crossing at the beaver dam proved to be less of a problem than I'd expected, despite the slippery logs, and soon we were making our way back toward the shelter. We didn't go up to check, but I heard no sound up there as we passed. Either the occupants were still asleep or they'd already departed. We just kept going, bade the pond goodbye, and made our way down the trail.
Because of the rain, we didn't do much stopping on the hike out. Instead we just kept up a steady pace as we retraced our route back out. We paused once to take a picture of a beaver dam, but otherwise we just walked. Soon enough we were back across the bridge and nearing the end. The rain continued throughout, steady but not a downpour, so it was never really a problem. In fact, I used the weather as an opportunity to give Andy a little lesson on hypothermia and preparedness. We discussed the fact that I really should've brought a rain coat and why, and went over some things I could've done if I'd really wanted to stay dry (wrap up in the ground cloth or rain fly, for example).
At last we passed the Carr Mt. trail and began the final descent to the parking lot. I noted that the new waterbars were probably going to see some action and cautioned Andy about the need to be extra careful at this point. Tired legs and journey's imminent end often added up to accidents due to carelessness, I said. Just then I stepped across a waterbar onto some soft, muddy soil, and fell hard. I banged up my left arm and muddied my pants a bit, but otherwise I was okay. One way to make a point, I guess.
A few yards further we emerged from the woods, at 9:20. As expected, the hike out had gone faster than the hike in. The wet gear went into a pile in the back seat and the dry clothes were hauled from the pack. A quick clothing change and we were on our way back home, where we arrived around noon.
Andy’s Nature List (his spellings): trillium, red mushroom, orange mushroom, white mushroom, big mushroom, huge mushroom, white leaf, yellow mushroom, moth, beaver dam, red leaf, wood fungus, crystal rock, black leaf, daddy long legs, mud, trees, pitcher plants, logs, rocks, dragon flys, black berrys, sticks, blackish red leaf, lily pads, water, bugs, birds, moose, maybe fish, leaf, frogs, bevers, orange metal, mountains, ponds, rivers clouds, sticks stuk in mud, plants in water, plants, tall grass, mushroom on wood, bridges, fires, tents, back packs.
Notes & thoughts:
Not much to add. This was a great little hike. Perfect distance, perfect terrain, perfect location, perfect campsite, and even a moose. I even liked the rain. If only there had been stars!
Another time, I'd like to combine an overnight here with a hike up Mt. Carr. It used to have a fire tower on top and supposedly has some nice views. It would be a simple thing to drop the packs back at the car and then retrace the path the half-mile back to the Mt. Carr trail. From there it's about 2.5 miles to the summit. It might make for a nice second day's activity.
More pictures
We made arrangements to tape the rest of the cartoons, got Andy into hiking clothes, and were out the door as quickly as we could. It was about 11:00 when we left, later than normal for a typical hike, but not a problem this time. The trail was in the southern part of the White Mountains, so it was only about 2.5 hours drive away. The trail itself was about 2.5 miles long, so I figured on a 2-hour hike. It was still light until 8PM and a late afternoon arrival actually worked out well. When hiking with kids I've found it best to schedule things to avoid long downtimes. Arrive, set up the camp, cook the dinner, have a fire, go to sleep. Long periods of no activity don't work out too well.
The thing I didn't bet on with our late start was hitting the Saturday beach traffic. 495 was fine, but route 93 was a parking lot up through the first 3 exits in NH. Andy got bothered by the pace and heat and wound up getting carsick. I promised him that if it didn't clear out soon we'd go home, but it never came to that. The traffic thinned out, Andy fell asleep, and I was able to cover some miles at last.
About an hour later we made a stop at McDonalds, where a restroom stop and a Happy Meal restored us both to better spirits. By then we were pretty close and it was just a short drive more before we arrived at the trailhead parking at 2:30. The parking lot was nearly full, but I found a place to park. I hoped most of the folks were daytrippers heading up Carr Mountain, whose trail left the Three Ponds trail a short ways in. We packed up pretty quickly and were in the woods a few minutes later.
The trail climbed a bit at first and Andy stopped to "rest" after only 50 yards or so. I got him going and the trail soon leveled off for some easy, pleasant walking. The path was in great shape, thanks to the obviously recent efforts of a trail crew. Several new water bars had been installed in the initial slope and split-log bridges spanned some muddy sections further along. The chips from the chain saws still covered the ground around the work and I wondered if the cars all belonged to a maintenance crew who might be spending the night at the shelter. The work gave me a nice opportunity to explain trail maintenance to Andy.
Andy started asking about the M&Ms and I told him we could stop at a bridge I remembered. I'd taken a picture of Chip, Dave, Seth & myself on the bridge some 11 years earlier and I wanted to retake it with Andy this time around. We passed the Carr Mt. trail and continued on through the woods looking for the bridge. After a bit we came upon a small bridge covering a tiny feeder stream. It wasn't the bridge I meant, but we decided to stop for a snack anyway. A few handfuls of candy later we were on our way again and within minutes we arrived at The Bridge. It wasn't the one from the old picture though. This was a brand new structure, built within the last month I'd guess. No matter. I posed Andy in a sunny patch, set the camera on the same rock I'd used before, and rushed up as the timer slowly wound down. Click!
Just across the bridge the trail joined an old road and swung to the right to follow the stream. We met a trail runner a short ways along, heading back the way we'd come, and then met up with a older couple and their small dog where the trail left the road again to swing closer to the stream. Andy brought out his notebook in this section and began to keep a list of all the nature things he saw. Red mushrooms, trilliums, orange mushrooms, daddy longlegs, etc.. It made for a lot of stopping, but that was fine. We were in no hurry.
The trail rejoined the road and continued along, crossing and recrossing the stream several times. In one woodsy section I noticed what looked like an opening and I followed a vague side trail to check it out. We emerged at the edge of First pond. "We're here," I told Andy. We returned to the main trail, made a few final stream crossings and arrived at Middle Pond. We took note of a campsite there and continued along the pond. A side trail took us up to the shelter, where we looked around a bit. It was bigger, and in better shape than I recalled, and I briefly considered staying there for the night. A pack was there already though and I didn't feel like sharing space, so we wandered around the shelter trails a bit before making our way down to the water and the main trail. We said hello to a young couple there, probably the shelter inhabitants, before continuing on up the pond.
At the end of the pond the trail curved to the right and a trail sign appeared, indicating that we were at the junction with the Donkey Hill Cutoff, which went straight ahead. We took an obscure trail to the left, the continuation of the Three Ponds trail, crossed a beaver dam on some logs and headed toward where I recalled the old campsite was. My hopes for a revisit were dashed though when a big Irish Setter greeted us with a friendly woof. Another couple had established their camp at the site. We went in to say hello, chat a bit, and look around. To be honest, the site didn't look that familiar, though I knew it was the place. I considered our options, including returning back by the shelter, but the couple mentioned that there was another site another 5 minutes along at the next pond.
I decided to check it out, figuring we could always return to one of the sites by the shelter if it didn't pan out. Andy, tired after a long day, grumbled a bit about having to keep walking but I convinced him to hang in there a bit longer. We left the campsite and found ourselves at the edge of Middle Pond, at a viewpoint I recalled from my previous trip. It was the spot where Chip & Dave had beached the leech boat. In the distance was a tall, dead tree I'd photographed, so I knew that this was indeed the old site.
Continuing on, the trail wound through the woods. I recalled it crossing the inlet stream to Middle Pond a short ways along and thought the next campsite would be beyond that, but first we came to a fork in the trail no more than 5 minutes after leaving the other site. The left fork was marked with the yellow blazes of the Three Ponds trail and I started down that way but quickly stopped. The right fork was very well traveled, so it must lead somewhere worth visiting, I figured.
We backtracked, went down the right fork and stepped into one of the most perfect campsites I've ever seen. A circle of trees enclosed a flat grassy area with a well-made fire ring. Next to the fire ring was a large supply of dead tree limbs of a perfect size for a fire. Best of all, just beyond the fire ring was a path leading about 20 feet down to the edge of a beautiful small pond ringed by hills. A mountain in the distance added to the splendor. At the path's end, a set of rocks created an ideal spot to sit and enjoy the view. Even Andy, with his limited experience with camping, understood just how special this place was. We'd found our home for the night.
Andy explored the site a bit while I set up the tent (my Tiros). Once it was up, Andy moved in and quickly took over the space with his books. He also changed into his sweats, having complained of the cold a bit. I followed his lead, zipping the legs onto my pants and pulling on my fleece sweater, then retrieved my cell phone and tried to call Jane to let her know all was well. I couldn't get a connection however, so I moved out to the pond, thinking I might have a better chance out in the open. I stood up on the big rock and tried dialing again, but still no luck.
As I made my third attempt, I heard a noise in the brush about 20 yards away. It sounded like someone trying to push their way through the woods and I thought it might be another hiker making his way to our camp. I turned to greet the visitor but instead of a hiker, a moose emerged from the woods and stepped into the margin of the pond. For a moment we both stood there staring at each other. I desperately hoped my phone call would go through...I would've loved to tell Jane that we were all fine, the campsite was great, and there was a moose standing next to me!...but it didn't. Closing the phone, I called to Andy and told him to get out to the pond as fast as he could, and to bring the camera. The moose stayed put as Andy made his way out, but turned and moved back into the brush just before Andy arrived. We could still hear it making its way through the branches (something that big tends to make a lot of noise), but it was gone from sight.
After I assured Andy that the moose probably wouldn't eat all of our food, we did a little exploring, searching for pitcher plants. I'd told Andy earlier about these cool plants that ate bugs and he wanted to see one. I started looking in the brush next to the rocks and quickly spotted clumps of pitcher plants everywhere. We took some pictures and had a little nature lesson on carnivorous plants, then returned to the campsite. A bit later we returned, this time with paints and paper. Both Andy & I did a little watercolor work. Andy painted a camp scene while I made an attempt to render a view of the pond & hills.
It was starting to get late, so I began dinner preparations. The stove was set up and I got a coffeepot of water heating up for the macaroni & cheese. While the water was heating, Andy & I started gathering wood for the night's fire. The limbs in the woods next to the fire ring proved to be the perfect size and nicely dry, so wood gathering mostly amounted to breaking the limbs down to size. I never could figure out whether the limbs had been placed in the woods or if they had just fallen there, but I was grateful for them in any case.
The water started boiling pretty quickly and dinner was soon ready. We grabbed all of our dinner supplies and headed down to the rock to eat at the water's edge. Big dragonflies flitted about and a duck of some sort was diving for its dinner (fish? frogs?) out on the pond while we dined. The temperature was comfortable and the bugs minimal, so it was all very pleasant. The only sour note was the cloud cover that had moved in, apparently cutting off chances for a view of the stars that night. Too bad, since it was an ideal viewing area.
Desert was more M&Ms and conversation until 8:00, when we moved back to the campsite to light the fire. We got it going quickly and soon had a solid little blaze going. I was a bit concerned about sparks starting a fire in the woods so I filled the coffeepot with water from the pond and placed it nearby. As evidenced by the dry wood we used, there hadn't been much rain lately and the forest was pretty dry. There was never a major ember escape though, and the emergency water wasn't needed after all.
We spent about an hour at the fire, feeding & adjusting it and making use of its warmth and light. We started to read from a book of ghost stories, but Andy got a little spooked and we switched to some lighter reading. Around 8:45 Andy had had enough and headed to the tent. I watched the fire die down, dowsed it with a few pots of water, and then went to join him. I was a little worried about animals getting to the food we had left, so I placed it in my backpack and hung that on a branch in a tree before I crawled in to the tent.
It was a mild night, temperature-wise, so I left the rainfly openings open, hoping for a little breeze through the screens. It was too hot to use my sleeping bag and I started the night sleeping on top. Andy, on the other hand, was burrowed down into his bag and asked me to close up the back screen opening. He was more concerned about security than airflow, and I zipped it up most of the way.
Within a fairly short time Andy was asleep, for which I was grateful. As usual, I stayed awake for awhile, listening to the woods. It was odd, but there was almost no sound at all. No wind, no peepers, no birds, nothing. The distant rumble of a jet was actually somewhat welcome for it gave my straining ears something to focus on. I continued to listen as I drifted in and out of sleep.
Around midnight I was awakened by the sound of rain on the tent. It was just a light sprinkle, but I decided to get my pack under cover and close up the rain fly. While I was out getting the pack I checked out the sky and was surprised to see stars peeking through the clouds. Just a passing sprinkle, I figured as I climbed back into the tent, but we continued to have showers pass over for the rest of the night. Each time, the sound would wake me up. One of the times, around 3 or so, I heard another sound and realized that the moose had returned. It was apparently down by the rocks, moving along the shore and making its way through the moss mat and bushes. After a bit the sound of splashing water and cracking branches faded away.
At 5:00 or so the rain began again and this time it turned steady. I needed to pee but didn't want to get my clothes wet, so I stripped to my watch and glasses and went out in my birthday suit. The temperature was a little chilly but not too bad, and I even made a short visit to the rock to bid the pond good morning before I returned to the tent. Nature boy!
Back in the warmth of my clothes and sleeping bag, I listened to the rain drumming on the fly as I continued to doze and watch Andy sleep. He'd awakened a few times during the night, but just for a few moments each time before falling right back to sleep. All in all he got a full night's sleep before finally waking for good at 6. About the same time the rain let up, so we decided to have breakfast down on the rock. Everything was damp of course, but the pond looked very pretty, with a little mist rising off the water and out of the surrounding woods.
We munched on cereal and fruit bars, washed down with coffee (me) and milk (Andy), and looked for signs of the moose I’d heard during the night. There was fresh track in the mud on the shore and signs of its travel through the moss & low berry bushes along the shore. The ducks were back out on the water, and every so often something made a splash (fish or frog?), but it was still remarkably quiet. On a hunch I tried out the echo in the area and found it to be a good one. The word "Andy" seemed to work best. When called out, an extraordinarily clear echo came back from a spot directly across the pond, followed a few seconds later by an equally clear second echo from the hills on the left.
We played with the echoes and continued to eat until the rain started again at 7:00. We retreated to the tent to finish eating and to pack up. The rain showed no sign of letting up again and we resigned ourselves to a wet walk back to the car. Luckily I'd packed a light parka for Andy that turned out to be somewhat waterproof. I had no raingear myself, but I wasn't too concerned. It was a short walk back out and the temperature was fairly mild. I figured that hypothermia wouldn't be too much of a danger during the walk, but I did take steps to ensure we'd have dry clothes for the ride home. My fleece sweater and Andy's sweats both went into my pack, protected from the rain but loaded near the top where we could get to them fast once we got back to the car.
The rest of the gear was packed as much as possible while we were still in a dry place. I even dismantled the tent itself from the inside, leaving us sitting on the ground cloth under the rainfly, which was still stretched over the tent poles. Finally, there was nothing left to do but go. Andy put his coat on and I stood him in a somewhat dry spot under a tree while I took down the poles and fly and packed them away. Once last check of the site and we were on our way.
I elected to keep my pant legs zipped on, to act (I hoped) as gaiters to prevent rain from going down in my boots. That and my hat constituted the only rain protection I had. The pack kept my back a bit dry, but I really didn't care either way. I've always enjoyed walking in the rain.
As I had done the previous day, I let Andy be the hike leader. That way he sets the pace and gains some experience in trail following. He's become quite good at keeping track of trail markings. We arrived back at the other campsite quickly, where we were greeted once again by the dog. Its owners were making their breakfast under the protection of a rain fly. We said hello again and I thanked them for the tip about our campsite before we continued on our way.
The log crossing at the beaver dam proved to be less of a problem than I'd expected, despite the slippery logs, and soon we were making our way back toward the shelter. We didn't go up to check, but I heard no sound up there as we passed. Either the occupants were still asleep or they'd already departed. We just kept going, bade the pond goodbye, and made our way down the trail.
Because of the rain, we didn't do much stopping on the hike out. Instead we just kept up a steady pace as we retraced our route back out. We paused once to take a picture of a beaver dam, but otherwise we just walked. Soon enough we were back across the bridge and nearing the end. The rain continued throughout, steady but not a downpour, so it was never really a problem. In fact, I used the weather as an opportunity to give Andy a little lesson on hypothermia and preparedness. We discussed the fact that I really should've brought a rain coat and why, and went over some things I could've done if I'd really wanted to stay dry (wrap up in the ground cloth or rain fly, for example).
At last we passed the Carr Mt. trail and began the final descent to the parking lot. I noted that the new waterbars were probably going to see some action and cautioned Andy about the need to be extra careful at this point. Tired legs and journey's imminent end often added up to accidents due to carelessness, I said. Just then I stepped across a waterbar onto some soft, muddy soil, and fell hard. I banged up my left arm and muddied my pants a bit, but otherwise I was okay. One way to make a point, I guess.
A few yards further we emerged from the woods, at 9:20. As expected, the hike out had gone faster than the hike in. The wet gear went into a pile in the back seat and the dry clothes were hauled from the pack. A quick clothing change and we were on our way back home, where we arrived around noon.
Andy’s Nature List (his spellings): trillium, red mushroom, orange mushroom, white mushroom, big mushroom, huge mushroom, white leaf, yellow mushroom, moth, beaver dam, red leaf, wood fungus, crystal rock, black leaf, daddy long legs, mud, trees, pitcher plants, logs, rocks, dragon flys, black berrys, sticks, blackish red leaf, lily pads, water, bugs, birds, moose, maybe fish, leaf, frogs, bevers, orange metal, mountains, ponds, rivers clouds, sticks stuk in mud, plants in water, plants, tall grass, mushroom on wood, bridges, fires, tents, back packs.
Notes & thoughts:
Not much to add. This was a great little hike. Perfect distance, perfect terrain, perfect location, perfect campsite, and even a moose. I even liked the rain. If only there had been stars!
Another time, I'd like to combine an overnight here with a hike up Mt. Carr. It used to have a fire tower on top and supposedly has some nice views. It would be a simple thing to drop the packs back at the car and then retrace the path the half-mile back to the Mt. Carr trail. From there it's about 2.5 miles to the summit. It might make for a nice second day's activity.
More pictures
