Northern New Hampshire
29 August 2023
Less than 50 miles
After breakfast of fried eggs and toast, we took down the tent – it rained overnight, and we were hoping that the sun would come out and dry everything a little. We had a tiny bit of sunshine, but thankfully, no more rain. We were very leisurely about cleaning up but managed to get out of the park around 10:30. To the right is a picture of Diamond Pond – it really is as beautiful as it looks!
We headed into Colebrook (nearest town), and from there traveled the additional 1/2 mile into Vermont. We drove into Canaan, Vermont and found this great little local grocer. We bought sausage and honey BBQ pork loin, as well as rice and beans. We made our way back to New Hampshire and stopped at the IGA (nice supermarket) for wine and bread – what more do we need?! After sending text messages to everybody in our circle (no cell service or Wi-Fi at Coleman), we returned to the park.
It is truly amazing – there are 30 sites here in Coleman, and as near as we can tell, there is only one other couple staying in one of the cabins – no one else around at all. It’s like having the whole place to ourselves – correction, we have the whole place to ourselves (no like about it!)! We got back to our campsite around 1:30 and made coffee. Then we prepped both our sausage (with onions and peppers) and pork to go on the grate over the fire this evening. It took close to an hour, but we have several meals prepared and we can always run back to Solomon’s or the IGA if needed!
30 August 2023
92 miles
It was forecast to rain most of the day and it pretty much did! We were up around 7:30 and had a bit of a dry spell – at least enough for coffee! We cleaned up the camp site and headed to town for breakfast. We went through the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru since the lobby / inside was closed (no idea why?). We each got a breakfast sandwich and a coffee to share – which was so blistering hot that it was at least an hour before we could drink it. We stopped at Beaver Brook Falls to eat our sandwiches. It was raining but the view was still pretty.
We continued on State Route 145 to Pittsburgh where we merged on to US Route 3. We drove for about 25 miles, passing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Connecticut Lakes along the way. The facilities at each of the lakes (dams) are really nice. Boat ramps and picnic areas are free to use. If we had thought about it, we could have brought our camp stove and hung out for the day.
Once back at the campground, we heated some Tuscan bean soup and enjoyed our late lunch in the sun! Unfortunately, the clear skies did not last and before 6:00, it had started to rain again. Fortunately, we got a few sunset pictures before it got too bad.
We stuck it out – intermittent drizzle – until 8:00 when we started to pack up everything for the night. We weren’t expecting the rain to last, so we hunkered down in the truck and fell asleep! When we woke up around 10:00, we briefly considered cooking dinner, immediately discarded the idea, grabbed some nuts for a snack, and went back to sleep.
We woke up four times during the night in order to start the heat in the truck – temperatures were in the 40’s overnight. Surprisingly, we slept well with the seats reclined and we woke up feeling rested.
Footnote: Forgot to mention that we saw a small deer, just outside of Colebrook. We have seen a lot of turkeys and numerous chipmunks and squirrels at the campground, but no larger mammals.
31 August 2023
< 25 miles
As I said, yesterday, we woke up this morning feeling pretty good. The skies were looking bright, and as the day wore on, the sun was brighter and brighter, and the clouds cleared.
We had a leisurely morning and cooked last night’s dinner, which was pork with asparagus and rice, for breakfast. We were so hungry! It was still fairly cold, so Markus started a fire, and we used the time to reorganize/rearrange the truck for tomorrow’s departure.
We left the campground around 12:30 PM to head into Colebrook for a few supplies, and after brief stops at Dollar Tree and IGA, we were back by 2:15 PM. We took down our auxiliary tent and put the tarp in the sun to dry. We repacked most of our remaining stuff – it is amazing how much you need to camp! – except for our stove, sleeping bags, and pillows. We are all ready to hit the road in the morning. We are having sausage and peppers/onions with leftover asparagus and rice for dinner. Our cooler is now reasonably bare – just butter and cream cheese that we brought from home.
Footnote: last night (Thursday), there were five campers and two cabins occupied at Coleman. There were a lot of arrivals during the day. The park is completely sold out for the Labor Day holiday weekend.