Summer Touring by Kayak

The Great North Woods is an amazing resource for winter snowmobiling and is probably most famous for that season and activity. Summer, however, brings out the wildlife that is "hunkering down" in survival mode in the winter months, and allows the visitor to this area a chance to really see some rare scenes of natural beauty.
Northern most New Hampshire is the birthplace of the majestic Connecticut River which meanders all the way down through New England to New York Sound. It's amazing to think that at its point of origin, Fourth Connecticut Lake, you can find a spot where you can actually have one foot on each shoreline of the river as its exits this aquifer. This spot is very close to the Canadian Border is the home of good quantities of bald eagles, moose, deer, coyote's, bear, fisher cats and a rainbow of bird species.
One of the most pleasant ways to "take it all in" is in the cockpit of a kayak exploring the many waterways that traverse this area, as they flow south adding total volume to the Connecticut River aquifer. The four Connecticut Lakes, Lake Francis, Back Lake, Scott Bog, East Inlet, Perry Stream, Indian Stream, Hall Stream are some of the highlights that are readily, and easily taken advantage of in a kayak. The marine explorer can take the easy paddle on the large lakes and have a great experience seeing loons, herons, osprey and occasional glimpses of moose and deer at the water's edge. The larger lakes give you the advantage of seeing the beautiful framing of the Crystal Mountain Range on the horizon.
For the more adventurous paddlers, who don't mind a little work, the rewards are phenomenal natural encounters when you travel up some of the smaller "feeders" of this system, such as East Inlet.
This area is located in the northeast section of Pittsburg and the pond that feeds into Second Connecticut Lake, is famous for being a great spot to see all sorts of animals who reside there. The small pond is easily paddled north reaching the "transition area" where it slowly transforms into a convoluted marsh with endless enticing coves leading to nowhere. The persistent paddler can find the well hidden channel which entices you north through seemingly endless turns and cut-backs that is reminiscent of the everglades. This channel is protected from the wind by dense growth extending high above the water and at many points out over the water, threatening to choke off any forward progress. Persistence through these "pinches" in the channel is rewarded by gorgeous pools, and continuous challenges in maneuvering through tight corners to the next obstacle. At one point its necessary to crowd the shore to "sneak" around the tip of a fallen tree that has left only one boat width to paddle through. Continuing north we reach a long, wide stretch of the channel that leads us into a small pool, which is bordered on the right side by a massive piece of ledge covered with many shades of moss, lichens and growth, and is nothing short of camera food. At the base of this ledge, if you look carefully, you will find a natural spring coming right out of the ledge whose water is so cold that its difficult to keep your hand in it!
Onward the channel is becoming detectably quicker, and an occasional rock must be paddled around, leading us to a sound of rushing water that presents a "fork" in the channel, the top of each tip of the fork is blocked by a formidable beaver dam of impressive width and height. Most people would stop here and turn around, but we paddle up to it, climb onto the dam and one by one pull each kayak over the top into a great pool above. Lining up for a photo we notice a totally ugly dead tree in the background with a very large eagles nest perched atop its peak.
Forging forward again we see lots of evidence of the beavers efforts and finally the great beaver den. Onward again turn, turn, turn and are confronted by a downed tree completely blocking our advance. Again, most people would turn back here but we can see potential for getting beyond this and climb up top and move enough branches to go under it.
Moving again we are moved by the feeling that we are seeing territory that few people bother to reach and are charged to move as far up as we can. Now we reach a narrowing caused by growth, which eliminates the possibility of paddling, so we stow paddles and duck down and reach branches and pull through, hand over hand, finally reaching another pool. we charge on excited by our progress and reach another large tree blocking us and quickly portage around it. Onward we charge with an almost military purpose to our progress. Pools, pinches, hand over hand through the thick growth, finally we reach a point where we can see no obvious progress, and with approaching twilight, we decide to take a wave point to celebrate our achievement, and reverse direction.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment we come through the now familiar obstacles quickly and reach the first fallen tree, passing under it with ease. Progress is rapid now, reaching the beaver dam, which gives us all an opportunity for a little fun paddling quickly and sliding down its face. One by one we back up, paddle quickly to gain momentum, carefully aim our approach and launch over this massive piece of engineering, laughing as we went.
Down we come going through the endless turns at a pace that is almost hypnotic, finally reaching the marsh which is totally different in appearance in the approaching twilight. Crossing the pond we are treated to an eerie goodbye, from a mother loon with a baby that is almost her size fishing in the late day.
This is just a brief description of one possible "off the beaten path" tour by kayak in this area. The possibilities are endless, with a little determination you can reward yourself with seeing some amazing sites. Try it, you'll like it! ..............Pathfinder