NH White Mountains Last Weekend

So both Crystal and I took off last Friday to get an early start on the weekend, we were heading to the Crawford Notch area of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Staying at the Crawford Notch Campground from Friday to Sunday we were looking to find some peace and quiet while getting in some hiking in The White Mountains.

We were off fairly early on Friday morning, Crystal's car was all loaded up. Stopped at Hannaford's in New Hampshire to get some rations, you know S'more's essentials, beer etc. Well Crystal left her license in the car and they wouldn't sell us our 18 beers. Good thing there was a Shaw's right across the street.

Bear in mind last week was the final weekend of "Bike Week" in Laconia, NH. So needless to say there were as many motorcycles on the road as cars all of last weekend. There must have been a Mini Cooper rally going on somewhere as well. Actually I think they did the Mt. Washington Auto Road, because the Mini's were travelling in packs over the weekend.

So we had our campsight all set up by early afternoon and then set off the Arethusa Falls. This is the tallest waterfall in New Hampshire, checking in at roughly 200 feet. The hike to Arethusa was about a mile and half, some pretty good elevation gain and was a moderate hike. We hit Arethusa Falls and were the only people there. What a nice spot, the waterfall was tall and wide and oh so cool. We rock hopped around and got up close and personal with the falls before our hike back down the mountain. During the hike down there was a section with some downed trees that were across the trail. Crystal took a bad leap over one of them and cut up her hand pretty good. I had to play medic and busted the first aid kit out of the backpack. Get out the gauze, try to stop the bleeding, she was cut up pretty well and she was a trooper. I think I might have been more wigged out trying to fix the cut.

We continued down the mountain and were back at the campsight at sundown. Cooked some burned burgers and had a beer or two and called it an early night. The campground was nice and quiet, we were about 75 yards from the Saco River and were quickly lulled to sleep.

On Saturday we got in a quick and easy hike at the Around The Lake Trail behind the AMC Highland Center. After that we were back to the campground, ended up having a couple beersand crashing out for a 4 hour nap. It was 80 degrees and lovely out and Ms. C and I ended up in the tent and took a well deserved long nap.

Sunday we took a 5 mile kayak trip down the Sacon River with Northern Extremes.. I had the best breakfast that I have had in quite some time at Guldie's Rastaurant in North Conway. This omlette must have had 4 to 5 eggs and was chock full of cheddar cheese as well as sausage, bacon and onion. Top notch I tell you. Next we were off to Northern Extremes where we signed up for the 5 hour solo kayak down the Saco River. The guy behind the counter basically tells us that is we aren't on the river with some beers that we are in the minority. Well luckily we were all packed up to head home and still had 6 beers in the freezer. Well I poured the beers into Nalgene bottles, three for me and three for Ms. C. and we were on our way.

The trip down the Saco River was great. I would estimate that we were able to enjoy each others company without anyone else around for 80% of the trip. Stopped at tons of sand bars and little beaches and inlets for as long as we wanted to just chill out or relax. All in all it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Highly recommended!!

I bought a bottle of Stoli Blueberry vodka as well as a bottle of Vox (.75 liters) and I must say I am ripping through the bottle of Stoli Blueberry with the quickness. I think I have had 4 of them this evening, therefore take this post with a grain of salt! HA!

Guldie's Resturant
Crawford Notch Camping
AMC Highland Lodge