Saturday, July 8, 2017

New Hampshire...Where the R's are in the Wrong Place!

Lincoln, NH
It's been a busy couple of months here in New Hampshire. We're really enjoying our volunteer job working for the White Mountain National Forest. We're working 3 days a week in return for a full hookup campsite at Russell Pond Campground. There are 3 other couples working with us performing the Roving Caretaker responsibilities. 2 couples work Sun - Tues; the other 2 work Thur - Sat. Two routes have been developed through the National Forest; each one approximately 120 miles long with about 2 dozen stops along each route. The stops are a combination of designated individual campsites; overlooks and hiking trailheads. About half of the overlooks and trailheads have restrooms. Our jobs are to check each stop, picking up litter, emptying trash cans and cleaning/restocking restrooms. It usually takes somewhere between 6 - 8 hours to complete each route.

The north route includes about 20 miles of the Kancamagus Hwy, one of the premiere scenic drives in New England.  As great as the views are now, we can hardly wait until the autumn color arrives. Our days off include lots of driving throughout the area to check things out. Our wildlife sightings include:

- 3 moose (no pics as they don't stick around for us to get out the cameras)

- 4 bear (pics of 2)









 - 2 fox


- 1 porcupine (he didn't stick around for pics either )
- 1 rabbit (two days ago about 20 minutes after Joan made the comment she hadn't seen any rabbits!)
- numerous deer
- several skunks





- 2 snakes








- 1 crazy guy on a zip line (yeah that's me)





Joan has been taking lots of pics of churches. Many of them are quite spectacular




















We've been checking out many of the covered bridges.....






We ventured across Hurricane Hill into Maine ( you don't see this every day)

















A motley crew if I've ever seen one!
7 volunteer campsites, including ours are located in a secluded area near the forest campground. The 4 Roving Caretaker couples and some volunteer trail stewards are all located here. We have started getting together weekly as a group for Happy Hour; sometimes at one of our campsites and other times we meet at a local establishment for supper and drinks.





Joan and I had our first ever lobster boil! As you can see Dinner #1 is ready while Dinner #2 is preparing in the pot.















And you just never know what you may see as you travel throughout the area. The signage includes......."Local Grown, Gluten Free" and "No articficial growth hormones"










Tractor Henge?












Think about it..........









We took an overnight trip north to Pittsburg, NH......hoping to see moose and take a little drive into Canada. Didn't see any moose here but had a great time and found a really nice place to stop over....
view from our room














The Glen at Bear Tree






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We took a hike to Arethusa Falls....only 3 miles round trip, but it was straight up!
The trail
The falls




















Joan and I celebrated our Wedding Anniversary  6/24
Overheard almost everywhere......."Lobstah" and "New Hampshah"  The R's are definitely missing in action! Don't hate us if we sound different next time we see you.

All in All we're having a great time.

Well That's it for Now. Stay Tuned. More to Come!