Paddle Log #37: Cow Island and Ragged Island

This is the first summer I've been able to use the Paddle Maps that were published by the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT).  They made this nice booklet of waterproof maps with instructions how to find and where to paddle to five different LRCT properties around Lake Winnipesaukee.

I headed over to Harilla's Landing on the east side of Long Island.  I put-in there, paddled over to the gap between Little Bear Island and Cow Island, paddled around Cow Island and Ragged Island, and back to Harilla's Landing again.

A note about parking:  If you try to go to Harilla's on a weekend during the summer, there will be MANY cars parked along both sides of the roadway leading to Harilla's.  I think it's mostly people who have put their boats in at Harilla's to drive over to Little Bear or Cow Island.  There are a bunch of Cow Island mailboxes along the road there.  So you may have to drop your boat off and drive a quarter to a half mile up Long Island Road to find a place to park and walk back down to your kayak.  I went on a weekday, so there were only about a dozen cars or so.

Time stamp leaving Harilla's Landing

It was overcast and lightly raining off and on, so I put my Kokotat kayaking jacket and pants to use.  They're just a shell to keep water off.  Temps were in the mid 70s, so I didn't need anything else for warmth.  Water temp was 73F, which sounds warm but felt a little chilly.

I took this picture on the northeast side of Cow Island after paddling through the gap between Little Bear and Cow Islands.  Off in the distance, those hills are all in the Castle in the Clouds property, which is also managed by LRCT.  The left-most peak which is just slightly to the left of my bow is Mount Roberts that my eldest son and I climbed on Monday.  Someday I'm going to climb all of the peaks in the Castle in the Clouds area.  I'll try to knock out one or two per summer.

Around each of the islands, there are several small inlets like this where the water is still and decorated with lilies and other flowers, and the air seems alive with dragonflies and birds chirping in the trees.

I continue to be amazed at the divine perfection and symmetry in these white lily flowers.

I love the way this family decorated their boat dock to make the end pilings look like the lake buoys.  Our family loves to take our boat over to a certain cove on the north western side of Cow Island, anchor out, have picnics, and go swimming.  This was the first time I've seen the eastern side of Cow Island, and I was surprised how many more houses there are on that side.  I would have thought people would want to build their houses on the west side in order to have shade from the bright morning sun and in order to be able to enjoy the spectacular sunsets over Lake Winnipesaukee.  I'm curious why there are so many more houses on the east side of Cow Island.

As I rounded the southern end of Cow Island, the broad area of Lake Winnipesaukee opened before me and I had this wonderful view of Rattlesnake Island (on the left) and the Belknap peaks (on the right).

I wrote a previous post about visiting Ragged Island with my boys.  There's an excellent multi-stage geocache on that island - one of my favorites, actually.  I didn't actually get out on Ragged Island this time around, but for those of you who are considering a trip to Ragged Island using the LRCT paddle map, I hope this post provides you some idea what to expect on the water.  You can click on the link to the previous post to see what it's like actually walking around Ragged Island.

The LRCT Paddle Map was very useful to me.  Yes, they are waterproof.  Yes, I put mine in a waterproof map case anyway to try and protect it from getting torn or wrinkled or otherwise damaged.  I found it pretty useful to have on the deck in front of me as I paddled around Cow Island to figure out which were inlets and which passages actually went through between the islands.

Paddle Log #36 trip stats:  7.6 miles, 2 hours 44 minutes, 2.8 mph average speed

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 #31 - Cockermouth River with LRCT

I'm a big fan of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT) in New Hampshire.  They preserve a lot of natural lands around Lake Winnipesaukee and make the property available to the public through walking trails and provide information on kiosks at the trailheads.  They also conduct organized hiking and paddling excursions.  Back in 2010, the boys and I went on the LRCT guided-paddle on Squam Lake (see Paddle Log #20) and had a great time.

This summer, our vacation week coincidentally lined up with a LRCT guided paddle on the Cockermouth River and Newfound Lake.  Now, my wife's aunt and uncle live right on Newfound Lake just around the bend from the Cockermouth River, so twice before I've paddled up the river on my own (see Paddle Log #19 and #27).  I enjoyed going this time with a guide who was able to teach me something about the local plants and animals along the river.

We met up at the site of an old marina that's been gone for some time.  We had a safety brief and an introduction to the history and ecology of the area here before we got out on the water.

Getting underway.  YB decided to stay home for this one, so just ES and I took the Emotion Tandemonium out for her second voyage.

There were almost 20 boats in our group.  That's our guide, Rick, on the left.

Rick explained the significance of a white oak being here in the wetlands.

Rick used his paddle to show how deep and what type of bottom there was, and what that told him about the river.

We saw several turtles and lots of small birds along the way.  There was quite a temperature difference between the lake and the river, too.  It was 62.5F on the river, but 74.8F in the lake.

ES relaxing.

Father & Son photo.

Near the end of the trip when the group stopped for lunch on the beach and then planned to go back up the river to the marina, ES and I just paddled around the Paradise Point Nature Preserve back to my wife's aunt and uncle's house.  We went back to get the car a little while later.  

Overall, we paddled 3.1 miles in about 2 hours and 45 minutes.  It was a little slow and boring for ES, but I thought it was very informative.  I was glad we went, and I look forward to joining LRCT on future guided excursions when we can make it back up to NH again.