Georges Mill, NH (USA)

I woke up this morning with plans to do some volunteering (for The Prouty) in St. Johnsbury.  Unfortunately, the National Weather Service had told the organizers that the weather would be horrible and dangerous - with this news, they canceled the event.  However, when I looked at my Apple Weather app, things didn't look too bad for other parts of the Upper Valley.  Because I was already prepared to leave town, I redirected my course to Lake Sunapee.  Ever since I moved to New Hampshire, I've been hoping for a day of paddling on this famous body of water but the timing has never worked.  I was determined to change that today! Before kayaking, though, I stopped on the outskirts of New London (at the packed Park & Ride lot) to try to do some hiking.  My target was a trail system that led to Clark Lookout.  Between 0845 and 0930, I walked almost two miles (on the main trail and some old road-beds) in mist, fog and drizzle.  Sadly, the view was NOT the highlight.  Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter some American Chestnut seedling trees.  I've been supporting TACF for several years but this was my first time seeing some of the fruits of labor by that organization.  After getting done with my damp walk in the woods, I drove a short distance to the boat launch in the little village of Georges Mills (arrived at 0945).  This spot, located on the northwestern end of Lake Sunapee, gave me a chance to begin paddling in a relatively sheltered area.  Even so, the water was a bit rough due to a stiff wind coming from the southeast.  I made my way carefully towards the southern end of the bay, hugging the shore and trying not to get swamped by the swells.  Most of the pretty boat houses and vacation homes were quiet (I only saw one person fishing) - wildlife was scarce too.  Eventually, I reached a peninsula with a better view of the rest of Sunapee and realized just how little of the entire lake that I had paddled - there was probably another 90% to go!  There definitely wasn't enough time to finish a full circuit so I decided to cross the lake to visit an interesting light house that had just come into view.  Actually, it was around the same time that I realized I was paddling in the same area that I'd seen from Clark Lookout...  The fog and mist had risen just enough to give me good bearings to the lighthouse and I was glad to be able to also see the boating channel.  Bonus: no motor boat (there were two that I could see) came near me while I was out in the middle of the lake.  After checking out the lighthouse, I paddled around into Herrick's Cove (glassy water there) before heading back towards my car.  I followed the northern shoreline (continuing my counterclockwise circuit) - on this side of the lake, I encountered palatial mansions, an old lake tour boat ("MV Kearsarge"), a bald eagle and a friendly hooded merganser.  One danger that I kept having do dodge was the many glacial erratics that my kayak kept bumping - many were just below the surface.  As I approached the boat launch again, I realized I'd been on the water for nearly two hours (!) - meanwhile, the fog, mist and drizzle had again gotten denser.  This meant that I could no longer see any of the landmarks I'd used to navigate and I felt certain that rain was about to arrive at my location.  This motivated me to speed up my tempo and I arrived back at the Georges Mill boat launch by 1145.  As I was loading Tequila Sunrise on my car, I was visited by one of the "New Hampshire Boating Hosts" - she wanted to know where my kayak has been during the last month.  After several years of checking out various ponds and lakes, I'm used to this type of questioning and she seemed excited to log the information.  Once we finished our discussion, I headed home (arrived at 1215).  Very glad that I ventured out this morning - I look forward to returning to Lake Sunapee for another paddle!