Having a Wonderful Time and Then . . .

August 6-25, 2024                                         Most Recent Posts:
Moose River Campground                          Parker Pond, Pie & Littleton, N.H.
St.  Johnsbury Vermont                               Last Days Before the Second Flood

Apparently 2 floods aren’t enough for this summer in northern Vermont.  But before I got to the additional not fun part, I was having a great time. 

LAKE HARVEY

On Tuesday August 6 I paddled on Lake Harvey with lovely reflections, water lilies and loons.

                 Ohmmmmmmmmmmm

This was my favorite of the private home docks.   I know you can guess why.

Now that’s a BIG LOON.
Is it fantastic or what??    I want one!    And a lake to use it on.

This would be my choice of home on Lake Harvey.  It seems to be the only one not right next door to someone else.  

AND it would be particularly wonderful if these were the sounds around me.  Take a listen with this link.

Later in the morning I managed to get these shots of the whole  loon family.

Definitely a loon chick threat.

RELAXING AT MOOSE RIVER

I spent my “off days” enjoying the Moose River and its little falls from my hammock.  Great spot for reading.   You can see the flood damage in all of these shots.

MARTIN’S POND

On Thursday August 8th, I spent the morning at Martin’s Pond with their loon family.

The adolescent.

I watched the Loon Family doing their thing for quite a while.  If you’d like to see how loons spend their time, take a look in this short video.

Imagine you own this sweet spot and you can sit out on the water and read to your heart’s content. 

I thought a totem pole was pretty unusually for this lake side spot.

Adolescent resting.  I love this picture.

GROTON STATE FOREST

On Sunday August 11th, I was hoping the trails had dried up enough that I could go hiking without slogging through the mud so I went over to Groton State Forest mostly around Osmore Pond.   Osmore has no easy access for kayaking unless you have a partner to help you portage your kayak or canoe.  It does have a really nice trail around it too.

After the rains the fungi were out and it felt like fairy land.

The forest floor was littered with orange and yellow mushrooms.  Look closely to see how many.

Glad for the boardwalk as things got muddier.

There were window views of the lake all the way around.

And then it got muddier still with not much help.

The very next day, after this lovely hike, during which I had felt wonderful and hiked over 6 miles,  I had a fever of 101 and was totally exhausted.  For the first time in 4 years.  I had COVID.

Turns out I was not the only one in the campground who had it.
My symptoms only lasted 4 days but it was 12 days before I finally had a negative test.

Next post will finish out my time in Vermont and take me back to Virginia.  Thanks for sharing my days with me.