Paddle Log #36: Squam Lake NH with LRCT

Now that we're back from our summer vacation in New Hampshire, I feel safe posting about our activities without broadcasting that our home was vacant.  We had a glorious two weeks up in NH.

The first opportunity we had to get out on the water was for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust's (LRCT) guided paddling excursion on Squam Lake.  I was glad the timing worked out for us to go on this one again.  We went on their first guided paddle on Squam Lake back in 2010 (see Paddle Log #20).

This time only my elder son opted to go with me.  It was pretty darn cold when we left the house.  The car temperature indicated 50F.  Brrr!  By the time we got in the water it had warmed up to about 60F, and it steadily warmed up to the low 70s while we were out on the water.

There were dozens of lily pads and beautiful white lily flowers along the way. 

We spotted a couple of water moccasins sunning themselves on the rocks on our way out, and we spotted a few loons along the way, too.

One loon dove under the water on our left, and we watched him swim through the crystal clear water under all of our kayaks and pop up over on our right side.  (The picture above is him popping up on our right.)

This was our guide, Dave, telling us about one of the LRCT projects going on at Squam Lake. Yes, he's facing backwards and has a wake coming off his bow moving forward.  He's that good.  :-)

We took a similar route to our 2010 trip and enjoyed the view of East Rattlesnake and the five-fingers peninsula (above).

Trip stats at the end and my son's victory "I-made-it" pose.  4.26 miles, 2 hours 31 minutes elapsed.  Like last time, we stopped for an excellent lunch at Walter's Basin in Holderness, NH on our way back.

Paddle Log #27 Newfound Lake

We took a day trip over to visit my wife's aunt and uncle on Newfound Lake.  As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't have my kayak since we flew across country. 

Conveniently enough, the NH Audubon Society rents kayaks at the Paradise Point Nature Center.  The staff there was very friendly and helpful.  The process of renting the kayak was very quick and painless, and the rates they charge are very reasonable - probably the least expensive kayak rental I've ever had (and I've rented kayaks at two places in Pearl Harbor, on Maui, in DC, and Lake Winnipesaukee before this).  Lemme tell ya it was money well spent, because I had a beautiful afternoon on the water!

The rental gear was in good condition.  They set me up in a single-seater Perception kayak.  Like the loaner Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100 I used a few days ago on Lake Winnipesaukee, it was a little on the small side for me, and my knees were sticking up out of the cockpit, but it wasn't bad. 

I paddled out onto the lake and it was pretty darn choppy.  There was 5-10 knots of wind coming out of the south, and the fetch was allowing the wind waves to build up to 2 feet or so.  I paddled south and then west, clockwise around Paradise Point and into the Charles L. Bean sanctuary.  In the picture above, my boys are speeding by in that boat crossing my bow on their way out tubing.  There's also a family of mergansers in the foreground on the left.

Once I entered the shelter of the sanctuary, it was absolutely peaceful and the water was like glass.  I almost felt guilty disturbing the peace as I glided through the lily pads.  I would have loved to just hang out there a while, quietly gliding along the shore.  Unfortunately, the only downside of renting a kayak from the NH Audubon Society is that they all have to be turned in by 4 p.m., and I still had to paddle up-wind to get back to the dock at Paradise Point.  As a result, you'll see in my trip stats that I was moving for 1 hour 11 minutes but only spent 32 seconds not moving.  Even so, it was still money well spent, good exercise, and a beautiful afternoon on the water. 

When I got back, I was pleasantly surprised to find that family of mergansers sitting on the rocks, and they actually cooperated with letting me try to take some pictures as I paddled by.

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2012
• Time In: 2:36 p.m.
  
• Time Out: 4:00 p.m.
• Elapsed:  1 hrs 11 min
• Moving Time (GPS): 1 hours 11 min
• Stopped Time (GPS):  32 seconds
• Mileage (GPS): 2.87 miles
  
• Sea State: 1 on lake, 0 in sanctuary.  There were ~2 foot waves on the lake with a steady wind from the south and plenty of fetch.  Once I paddled into the sanctuary the water was like glass.
• Winds: 5-10 kts SE
• Air Temp:  81F
• Water Temp: 79.4F
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height: 
• Avg Speed (GPS):  2.4 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.5 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazardes?  Not much.  Wake from an occasional passing boat.
  
• Kit: Perception rented from NH Audubon Society.  Flop hat, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve swim shirt, swim trunks, Keen Newport sandals.
• Configuration:
• Route:  Put-in at the Paradise Point Nature Center run by the NH Audubon Society.  Paddled clockwise (south then west) around Paradise Point into the Charles L. Bean Sanctuary.  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): 1 adult merganser with 4 juveniles in tow, many ducks, water bugs and water lilies.

Paddle Log #26 Lake Winnipesaukee

Since we flew across country for this vacation, we didn't have our own kayaks with us.  My eldest wanted to go kayaking with me, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed on up to Trexler's Marina to rent a tandem kayak.  I also figured this would be a good opportunity to scout out some of the islands and coves on the other side of the island that I didn't reach on my previous solo paddling excursion.

Time stamp leaving Trexler's



Trexler's rents a few different types of kayaks.  We opted for an Emotion Kayak that was essentially the same as our Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL, but with built-in cupholders.  The staff at Trexler's were very friendly and helpful.  It was expensive though.  The price was the highest I've ever seen for kayak rentals, but I was willing to pay it for one day out on the water with my eldest and for the convenience of it being so close to our condo on the lake.

Lunch Break



From Trexler's, we paddled under the bridge going to Moultonborough Neck bridge to Long Island and on to the east following the shoreline counterclockwise into a small cove.  We stopped to have lunch there in the cove, and found ourselves surrounded by two families of loons.  There were somewhere between 6 and 8 loons, but I couldn't count them all because they kept diving underwater.

Loon off the starboard bow

As we continued our paddle along the shoreline, at one point we startled and were startled by a Great Blue Heron that was standing very close to shore.  We didn't notice him until he sprung up and started flapping his wings to take flight about 15 feet in front of us.  It was spectacular to see, but I wasn't fast enough with my camera to catch it.  

We also saw one adult trailed by 12 juvenile mergansers.  I have yet to get a good photo of the mergansers, but my son took a couple of pics for me while I was paddling.

It was a very nice afternoon on the water, and it was cool to check out some different parts of the lake we hadn't been to before.

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: Saturday, 28 July 2012
• Time In: 11:36 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 2:14 p.m.
• Elapsed:  2 hrs 38 min
• Moving Time (GPS): 2 hours 31 min
• Stopped Time (GPS):  7 1/2 min
• Mileage (GPS): 5.14 miles
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: 5-8 kts E
• Air Temp:  76F climbing to 78F
• Water Temp: 77.8F
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  503.63' (lake full = 504.32'  source)  The Lakes Region has had 6 inches less than average rainfall this year, so the lake level is a little low.
• Avg Speed (GPS):  2.0 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.0 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  Not much.  Wake from an occasional passing boat.
  
• Kit: Emotion Tandemonium rented from Trexler's Marina.  Flop hat, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve swim shirt, swim trunks, Keen Newport sandals.
• Configuration: My eldest son sat in the front seat and I sat in the back seat of this Tandemonium kayak (very similar to our Malibu Two XL at home).
• Route:  Put-in at Trexler's Marina.  Paddled east under the Moultonborough Neck bridge and  counter-clockwise along the shore.  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Many loons, 1 adult merganser with 12 juveniles in tow, many ducks, 1 great blue heron, other smaller birds I couldn't identify.  Lots of dragonflies and waterbugs, water lilies.

Paddle Log #25: Lake Winnipesaukee

We're back in New Hampshire again for a family vacation.  In the 15 years I've been coming here with my wonderful wife, we've only missed coming here two summers - the summer we were in Hawaii (2008) and last summer due to our PCS to Kitsap and my work schedule.  It's good to be back.

Wednesday was what I consider a perfect day for paddling. Between it being a weekday and being overcast, there were few people out on the water.  The air temperature was just right - not hot, not cold.  No wind.  No waves.  Just peaceful, calm water on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Since we flew out here from Seattle, I don't have my kayak here with me, but our next door neighbor graciously allowed me to borrow his kayak.  It's a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100.  It was a little small for me.  With the foot pedals moved all the way forward, I still couldn't quite squeeze my knees into the cockpit.  Even so, it was a glorious day on the water.

I paddled south along the western shore of Long Island and then counter-clockwise around Sandy Island.  I wasn't ready to go home yet then, so I paddled across to Ragged Island and counter-clockwise around Ragged Island.

Even though I've been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee for family vacations for 15 years now, this is only the second time that I've seen a loon.  It still surprises me how big they are.  I keep expecting them to be like the size of a duck, but they're more like the size of a goose.

I was really glad I paddled around Ragged Island.  In addition to the loon, I also saw several other birds and some peaceful coves with lily pads and beautiful water lily blossoms.

Seeing families walking around Ragged Island reminded me of the awesome geocache the boys and I did there a few summers ago.

When I finished paddling around Ragged Island, I was really enjoying myself and didn't want to go home yet.  I wanted to just keep paddling the long way home counter-clockwise around Long Island, but I didn't plan my timing well.  It was half past noon and I was hungry, and I hadn't brought any food with me, so I headed home for lunch. 

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: Thursday, 26 July 2012
• Time In: 10:04 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 12:36 p.m.
• Elapsed:  2 hrs 32 min
• Moving Time (GPS): 2 hours 19 min
• Stopped Time (GPS):  14 min
• Mileage (GPS): 6.0 miles
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: < 5 kts NW
• Air Temp:  65F climbing to 69F
• Water Temp: 75F - Yep, the water was warmer than the air.
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  503.63' (lake full = 504.32'  source)  The Lakes Region has had 6 inches less than average rainfall this year, so the lake level is a little low.
• Avg Speed (GPS):  2.6 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.8 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  Not much.  Wake from an occasional passing boat.
  
• Kit: Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100 and Seaquel paddle borrowed from neighbor on lake.  Ballcap, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve swim shirt, NRS paddling pants, neoprene booties.  I brought my orange rain coat in my small dry bag, but didn't need it.
• Configuration: The Pamlico 100 was a little small for me.  With the foot pedals moved all the way forward, I still had difficulty keeping my knees inside the cockpit.  Also, the owner had a fishing rod mount bolted to the starboard side of the hull.  I knocked the fingers of my right hand against the fishing rod mount about four times during the trip.  The built-in seat was pretty comfortable - no complaints at all from two and a half hours on the water.
• Route:  Put-in at Jonathan's Landing beach on the west side of Long Island.  Paddled south, counter-clockwise around Sandy Island, then east to Ragged Island and counter-clockwise around Ragged Island.  I was tempted to keep going counterclockwise around the rest of Long Island, but I was getting hungry and didn't bring any food with me, so I went back clockwise up the southern then western side of Long Island.  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): 1 loon, 3 mergansers, many ducks, 1 robin, 1 maybe killdeer or semipalmated plover lots of dragonflies and waterbugs, water lilies.  I've been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee for 15 years now, and this is only the second time I've seen a loon.

(Almost) Bald Knob Hike

I've been wanting to go explore some of the trails around the Castle in the Clouds ever since I joined the Lakes Region Conservation Trust and received my waterproof trail map from them a couple of years ago.

I had originally planned to take the boys up to the Castle in the Clouds, park by the pond and hike out to Bald Knob along the Shannon Brook Trail.  However, I failed to take into consideration the business hours of the Castle in the Clouds and the fact that they close the gate down on Rt 171 at 4 p.m.  We got there just after 4 p.m. and just after they had closed the gate.  So instead of parking up at the pond, we parked at the small parking lot at the Shannon Brook trailhead just off of Rt. 171.

Welcome Kiosk and Trail Map
at Shannon Brook Trailhead off Rt. 171



Starting from down at Rt. 171 instead of up at the pond resulted in a shorter but steeper hike toward the top of Bald Knob. 

The trail is well-defined and marked with either paint or plastic markers on the trees.  Plus, they include mileages to the next trail or landmark.

There were some pretty nootka roses along the trail.

My boys and I hiked as far as the Bald Knob geocache, which is at a spot with a beautiful view south over Lake Winnipesaukee, including the Moultonborough Neck and Long Island.  I wanted to keep climbing to the top of Bald Knob, but the kids were tired and it was dinner time (we got started later than I had intended), so we headed back down to dinner.  Even so, it was an enjoyable hike and a good first exposure to the network of trails around the Castle in the Clouds.  I would like to go back and climb Turtleback someday, but I suspect I'll have to do that one without the boys.  Of note, LRCT has a hiker recognition patch you can earn by hiking all of the trails in the Castle in the Clouds property.  I'd like to earn that someday, too.

Hike Stats:  When I'm searching for places to hike with my kids, I appreciate having some basic facts and figures about the hike for me to judge if it's doable with my kids.  With that in mind, I hope other parents considering this hike find the following information useful.

• Date: 25 July 2012 
• Time of Departure: ~4:00 p.m.
  
• Time of Return: ~6:15 p.m.
  
• Elapsed:  2 hours 13 minutes
• Moving Time (GPS):  1 hr 23 minutes 
• Stopped Time (GPS):  50 minutes 
• Mileage (GPS): 2.57 miles (Note this is NOT the total mileage to the top of Bald Knob since we didn't make it all the way to the top.  This is the mileage to the geocache and back.)
• Avg Speed (GPS):  1.8 mph
• Elevation Gain:  1058 feet
• Max Elevation:  1511 feet
  
• Weather:   Sunny but breezy.
• Winds:  According to NH Weather, it was 5-10 mph W, but I didn't really notice even the slightest breeze while we were hiking.
• Air Temp: 75F (from NH Weather)
• Trail:  Well-defined and marked trail.  Hard pack dirt.
• Hazards?  Some poison ivy off the sides of the trails, but not much.
  
• Kit: T-shirts, shorts, boys wore regular sneakers.  I wore my hiking boots, but I would have been fine in sneakers.  We were under the shade of trees most of the time and didn't need sun screen nearly as much as we needed bug spray.  There were a lot of mosquitoes.
• Route:  At the trailhead parking lot on Rt 171 there is a kiosk with a trail map.  You can also buy the waterproof trail map from the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.  We went up the Shannon Brook Trail to the Bald Knob Cutoff Trail, but did not hike all the way to the top of Bald Knob.  There were no facilities available at the trailhead or anywhere along the trails we took.

Frivolous Lawsuits Vol. 5

Okay, instead of "Frivolous" lawsuits, maybe the title of this post should be "Downright Sad Miscarriage of Justice."  Here is yet another example of how pathetic the American legal system is, and this time it's not just costing someone a dollar amount but their livelihood.

We came up to NH for Christmas, and as we drove into town yesterday, just about every house had a "Free Ward Bird" sign on their front lawn.  I had to google it after we arrived and got settled.  Here's the story in a nutshell:

It’s a long story, but in the short– a woman trespassed on Ward’s property and he asked her several times to leave, but she refused. She claimed that Ward came out of his house with a gun, ran down his porch steps pointing it at her. At the time, Ward had only been home 9 days since emergency surgery for a ruptured abdominal aorta. Not only was he in no condition to do what she claims he did, he has always maintained that he never pointed or gestured towards her with the gun. Now he is doing 3 to 6 years in state prison because it was her word against his.

Amazing.  What happened to "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire?  If this had happened in Texas, he could have actually shot her for trespassing and would have been justified in doing it.  I scratched my head and wondered what crime Ward had committed in asking a trespasser to leave his property. 

This article provides a good explanation.  This is the part that really pissed me off:

The key element of the criminal threatening law, for example, appears to be not the state of mind of the person making the threat but the emotional state of the target of the threat. If the person is scared enough, then the person making the threat is guilty.

Unfortunately for Ward, it also comes with a mandatory 3-year minimum prison sentence.  That baffles me.  I could understand some circumstances in which that law might be useful, but the mandatory sentence leaves the judge no room to account for mitigating circumstances.  It seems pretty clear that the punishment didn't fit the "crime" in this case and the courts are enforcing the letter of the law without regard to its intent.  Even the judge himself didn't want to send Ward to jail.  It has the local community here in an uproar.  Now Ward, husband and father of four and Cub Scout den leader is behind bars.

Is it just me, or is our legal system all about making each of us out to be victims of some wrong by somebody else so we can sue them (or in this case send them to prison)?  This case has some similarity to my last Frivolous Lawsuits post. In that case, if you publicly say something bad or embarrassing about somebody, then they can't sue you for slander because what you said was true.  However, they CAN sue you under the invasion of privacy false light tort because what you said made them LOOK BAD and caused them some sort of emotional trauma.  In this case, it doesn't matter if someone is trespassing on your property and you have asked them to leave if the manner in which you ask them to leave causes them some fear or emotional trauma.

Our society has gone from a "the stupid shall be punished" philosophy to a "the stupid must be protected by the law so we don't emotionally traumatize them" and "what can I sue you for to get rich quick" modus operandi.

My thoughts and prayers are with Ward and his family tonight.  I sincerely hope SOMEBODY with authority in the NH government sees what a miscarriage of justice this is and has the fortitude and integrity to pardon Ward so he can be where he belongs - at home with his family on Christmas.

Ragged Island Hike

The boys and I took the boat over to Ragged Island on Lake Winnipesaukee to search for a geocache there.  We were really glad we went for two reasons.

First, we arrived there and found out it is one of the properties owned and managed by the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT).  There are very nice, well-maintained boat docks at the south end of the island.  There's a welcome kiosk with information about the history of the island.  The best part though was the laminated nature guide you could borrow from the kiosk as you walked the island.  There is a half-mile loop trail around the island with a dozen posts where you stop and read that section of the nature guide, and it explains to you what trees or plants you can see or what types of animals you are likely to encounter around the island.  It was very well done.

Boat Docks at south end of Ragged Island

Welcome Kiosk

Nature Guide

The trail is well-defined hard-pack dirt covered in pine needles.

YB on the Ragged Island shoreline

This used to be the governor of NH's cottage back in the mid-1800s.

Second, the geocache on Ragged Island was AWESOME.  It tied with a geocache in Hawaii for our favorite geocache.  It required a good amount of teamwork between me and the boys.  I never would  have found it without them.

I picked up the nature guide and just followed the guide figuring we would eventually find the geocache as we followed the nature walk.  As it turns out, the nature walk takes you on a clockwise circuit of the island, and the geocache takes you on a counter-clockwise circuit of the island.  We finished the first clockwise loop of the island doing the nature walk and started the geocache hunt going back in the counter-clockwise direction.  Then my wonderful wife called my cell to say there was a thunderstorm coming on the weather radar, so the boys and I got back in the boat and went home for the day.  My eldest son and I returned a few days later in order to finish the geocache, and it basically required a complete loop of the island in the opposite direction as the nature walk.

But that's OKAY because we had a great time BOTH times walking Ragged Island.

Sorry no pics or GPS track for this hike, but I don't want to spoil the hunt for anyone else going to search for the Ragged Island geocache.  Suffice to say, it was awesome and I highly recommend it.  My eldest really enjoyed it, too.  However, I recommend doing the nature guide walk in reverse order so you can do both the nature walk and the geocache at the same time.

Paddle Log #20: Squam Lake with LRCT

In the search for kid-friendly hikes in the Lakes Region of NH, I browsed my way onto the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT) website.  While there, I happened to notice they were offering a guided paddle excursion on Squam Lake to the Butterworth Preserve on Saturday, 21 August.

I like going paddling with groups on the principle of safety in numbers, especially when it is someplace I haven't been paddling before.  I also like having a guide to lead us and tell us about the area and what we're looking at.  The date of this LRCT guided paddle just happened to line up nicely with our family vacation.

Early morning sun = long shadows.

I dragged the boys out of bed at the crack of dawn.  They willingly got dressed in return for the promise of Dunkin Donuts for breakfast on our way to Squam Lake.

It was COLD when we left the house.  It's been a LONG time since I saw 50F on a thermometer!

Thankfully, the sun was out and warmed things up quickly.  It warmed up to around 75F by the time we got out.  Plus, the water temperature was really nice.

We met up at a small public access point along a private road in the northwest side of Squam Lake.  The event organizer from LRCT laid out maps of the area and explained what properties are owned by the Trust and where we would be paddling.

This was 9 year old ES's third time using his Perception Acadia Scout kayak, and he did really well.

Right where we put in the water were some beautiful white water lily flowers.

The waterproof doodle pad was a big hit with both boys today.  Here my youngest son YB (6 years old) drew lily pads and flowers.

YB liked poking the lily pads as we smoothly glided through the water.

The Butterworth Preserve is accessible only by boat because it is surrounded by private property on the landward side.  However, there is a LRCT welcome kiosk with information about the preserve, and there is a well-marked walking trail to follow a loop around the preserve.

Ribbit!
Frog on the shore of the Butterworth Preserve

From the Butterworth Preserve, we paddled across Rattlesnake Cove and clockwise (south/southwest) around the Five Fingers peninsula at the base of East Rattlesnake Mountain.  We ended up stopping at a beach in the Five Fingers to stretch our legs and have a snack.

Pit Stop

Stretching our legs on a beach in the Five Fingers peninsula.

Croak!

 Toad on the shore in the Five Fingers area.

The boys took turns alternating between using the camera and using the waterproof doodle pad.  From the time that my eldest had the camera, I have lots of pictures of my back and the tow line between our two kayaks, plus some pretty nice self-portraits.

My Eldest Son's perspective

Like Father Like Son

Meanwhile, back in our boat, my youngest drew this picture of our adventure.  It's a kayaker with both ends of his paddle int he water.  Then he drew the sun and clouds in the sky.  Then he drew the trees on either side and birds sitting on the branches of the trees.

During the times that my youngest had the camera, I ended up with dozens of photos of the underside of the boat and the camera's floating strap dangling in the water.  

He also tried his own variation of the self-portrait.  He kept trying to hold the camera underwater and take a picture of himself up in the boat.

We saw one family of mergansers and a handful of pretty white birds diving into the water.  I think the diving birds might have been terns, but I couldn't tell from a distance.  

Toward the end of our trip, we passed a sign that gave me some hope we might see a loon.  

Sure enough, this majestic loon came paddling right by two of the kayaks in our group and kept diving below the surface. He didn't stay on the surface for very long, so I kept my camera pointed toward where I thought he might pop up in hopes of capturing a good picture.  He kept popping up in drastically different locations from what I expected though.

Here's the loon in between dives.  I was surprised how big he was.  I always thought they were probably about the same size as a duck.  You don't get the sense of it from this picture, but he seemed about twice as big as a mallard duck - more like the size of a goose or a swan.


Many thanks and kudos to Kristen from the Lakes Region Conservation Trust for organizing and leading us on this wonderful day on the water!  I am so glad the boys agreed to go with me on this trip.  After we got out of the water and were loading up the car, the boys made my day when, without prompting, they both told me that the had fun.

Stats for the paddle log:  (Note: The stats on Garmin Connect are inaccurate because I forgot to click "stop" on my Forerunner.  The Garmin Connect data includes the first stretch of road we drove in the car until my Forerunner beeped at me to tell me we had finished another mile.  Doh!  Quick!  Turn it off!)

• Date: 21 August 2010
• Time In: 8:39 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 12:17 p.m.
  
• Elapsed:  3 hours 38 minutes
• Moving Time (GPS):  3 hrs 5 minutes 
• Stopped Time (GPS):  33 minutes
• Mileage: 5.1 miles by GPS
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: Negligible
• Air Temp:  50F warming up to 75F
• Water Temp: 75.8F digital
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  Lake level is about a foot or two below normal.
• Avg Speed (GPS):  1.7 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.1 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  None.
  
• Kit: Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL. Flop hat, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve shirt, swim trunks, Keen sandals.  Because it was initially so cold in the morning, I brought my Kokotat jacket & NRS pants, and I brought the boys' rain pants and windbreakers, but we didn't end up needing them.
• Configuration: 6 year old YB rode in the front seat and I rode in the middle seat of our Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL.  9 year old ES rode in his own Perception Acadia Scout.
• Route:  Put-in from a public access point along a private road in the northwest end of Squam Lake.  [Note: If you are reading this in Google Reader, then you will not see the Garmin Connect map here for some reason.  You actually have to come to my blog to see the map of where we went from the GPS.]   

• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Mergansers, loon, frog, toad, diving birds (terns?).

Similar to when we finished our West Rattlesnake Mountain hike, we got in the car and I did a search in our car navigation system for the nearest restaurant.  Again, Walter's Basin in Holderness was still the closest.  However, Holderness wasn't exactly on the way back to home, so we started driving back toward Moultonborough and searching for something else.

We ended up stopping at the Corner House Inn in Sandwich, NH.  It seemed kinda fancy for us in swim trunks and t-shirts, but they had a pub upstairs and said we were welcome to have lunch there.  Lunch was AWESOME.  I just like saying, "I had an awesome sandwich in Sandwich."