thursday sep 14th vermont
drove up the “back way” to Somerset
Google Maps always tells me to get on i-91 south , after going West on rt 2 through Massachussets. Normally I ignore it and go i91 north, with Vermont being above Mass, because it seems so odd to drive south, even if it's just for a few miles. Well, Google was kind of right. The back way was more scenic, just as quick. you pop out onto 100 North heading into Wilmington Vermont. I guess it'll depend on what I'm in the mood for in the future.
anyway drove to the Somerset reservoir first. chit chatted with a young man less than half my age (23, almost 24). Just shooting the sh!t.
Anyhoo, once I finally got on the water it was an interesting paddle. just like last time, the winds whipped around like a toilet bowl. the wind doesn’t stay in the same direction, so you get headwind and tailwind shifts. One section was so rough going into it, the waves filled the legwell area of my surfski kayak as I paddled. Heading back in that same stretch, the water seemed eerily calm, because I was staying on top of the waves surfing and it was a super easy paddle. Weird. I even stopped in the middle to turn around to see if the wind/conditions had changed. Nope it was just as brutal I so love the surfski. it's kind of why I struggle to finish the dory sailboat. Which reminds me I did see a small sailboat cruising around, and it did give me a pang about not having finished mine yet.
Anyway, after paddling 8 miles, I got back to the truck. It's nice having the Joolca mounted shower on the GFC (go fast camper). When I first went out I had to pee anyway, so I changed in the porta potty. but there's very little room in there, and it's a porta potty. People are nasty. The joolca is about 1 meter square inside to stand in, and unless I'm in the wind, it doesn't need to be staked out. So easy to deploy and put away vs the freestanding Joolca shower tent, I'm using the attached one more. Before getting the attached shower, I used to just do a quick change throwing on an old lab coat first and opening doors to block the view. I think the Joolca is less likely to get me arrested, lol.
After changing back into camp clothes and putting the surfski back on top fo the truck, I started to drive back to the Somerset campground area to meet up with Jeff. Along the way, I picked up some firewood from a local hobby farm. The Harbor Freight aluminum hitch cargo carrier worked well getting it to the Somerset airfield camp area, and the rollercam straps cinched down sooooo much better than before. When I got to the airfield, Jeff was already there. we were the only ones there around 4p.m. After sunset, 1 guy showed up and burned a huge bonfire, but he wasn’t there when we woke up, so not sure he stayed overnight. He may have just slept in his car and left at dawn.
Friday...
Today we drove up a back road on the other side of the brook running behind the airfield. The firewood hitch rack made it tough for me to drive through the shallow dips on that rougher road. I learned to go over the dips in a S turn manuever and that helped a lot to keep the hitch from dragging when I exited the dips. I drove much slower than Jeff though. I like to go 5mph on the rough roads, he wants to go 10-15mph and drive like a Baja racer. If my truck was empty sure, but not with my bike, kayak, and firewood hitch on the truck. So I just lagged behind, not a big deal.
Along the wayI did get to use my new winch stuff to pull a fallen tree out of the road. took some photos of my gear. There's a youtube video here https://youtu.be/p3HaTY_IhF0
cool stuff, worked great, and this time it was easy to get the stuff from behind the passenger seat. Didn’t have to move my water jugs. Packing things
at one point it was getting too tough for me to keep going with the firewood hitch, so I parked my truck and just rode with Jeff in his van. We saw this old abandoned bus
people have been putting beer cans on the windows and using it as a shooting range.
at the end of the road there was this cool pond. saw some Moose tracks in the mud.
we doubled back to the truck and on the way out we found a promising campsite, and we’ll hang out here a couple days probably.
the tent symbol off the 325 road.
Saturday,
I decided to bike up to the pond Jeff drove us to the day before. It was 2.25 miles from our camp. On the way, I saw the clearing we’d seen the day before, but being slower on the bike I saw how to get to it by foot. I couldn’t walk on it though, like quicksand under my weight. The footprints were from someone much lighter than me.
At the end I took this obligatory celebration shot. I love how the helmet hides my balding, lol. The bike did great btw, I love the new 29x3” tires, vs the 26x 4.8” fat bike tires. Easier to spin and keep the momentum going. But normal mt bike tires are 2.2-2.6” bead to bead, so the 3” tires give a bit more cushion, useful on the rocky road. They’re called 29+ tires, I love them. In the future, there's a loop I could bike here. the 325road, connects via a short narrow trail to fr 83, tofr 71, down to the airfield, and then back up the 325 road.. 12-13 miles. but at least half of it would be slow going, like 2-3 mph.
After getting back to camp, I took a shower, and put things away. I left my llbean chair out and step stool. Figure it's better to leave out a couple easy to steal items, so they leave the good stuff alone. I didn't close up the GFC tent, and left the surfski on the stands on the ground locked to my rock rails. I did put the solostove inside the truck camper though.
That’s a downside of the solo stove, having to put it away, so it doesn’t get stolen. Jeff has a heavy duty rivet thing I may borrow. I’m thinking if I riveted a d ring to the side, I could lock it to a tree. If someone has boltcutters, a cordless drill, or a cordless angle grinder they could easily steal it, but I just want to stop the snatch and grab thieves.
After showering I put on fresh clothes and Jeff drove us back to the airfield. Along the way we saw some very cool toyota overlanding rigs. The toyota land cruiser had an alu-cab roof top tent and the toyota tacoma had a GFC like mine. Both vehicles had aftermarket bumpers and winches like mine too. They were very impressed Jeff got his van back there. We also passed a couple of twenty something, female bikers. I bet they were doing that loop I mentioned earlier.
Jeff drove us back to the airfield campground area, then north up FR 71, through Stratton ski resort to rt 30 north in Rawsonville. After a half mile we turned left/West onto a national forest road almost right in town. We didn’t get very far though. Came to this washout. Only side by sides or atvs could cross that. Maybe a souped up Jeep could too. I wouldn’t have tried it in my truck; although, I think some shoveling would have smoothed out the left side quick. Just not sure I’d trust those branches.
After doubling back we drove to Londonderry to see how bad the flooding had been, but there wasn’t much to see. We got some beer from the grocery store and headed north to one last road Jeff wanted to check out. It was a bit of bust, not many camping spots, but Jeff likes driving his van around.
We got back to camp around 6:30p.m. and everything was where I’d left it.
We decided just to do a regular campfire using the stone ring at the camp. It was a good call. The Solo stove was super smoky the night before. I normally have a envio log to start things, but it’s off season and they were pricey. It needs a good basefire to burn anything wet, and we didn’t have anything dry. So instead jeff got his mini fan out and I use some fatwood starter stickers, and we got things going. Regular campfires are nice because you can watch the coals in the heart of the fire, but you use a lot more wood than the solo stove. Wasn’t a problem, I’d cut up way more than we needed.
Sunday
We went for a quick walk to see if the nicer camp by the brook was actually occupied and it was! we ‘d seen someone left a tent, but sometimes people just do that and aren’t really camping. Just trying to claim dibs while they’re off working.
After getting back to camp, I packed up and headed off to Brattleboro to paddle before heading home. Jeff stayed. He was going to enjoy the site during the afternoon, and then drive to the airfield to overnight there. He also gets cell reception there too. It was a Good call. It rained a lot. Safer to be off that rough road; although he has the gear to manage everything except a big tree fall. His winch is stronger than mine.
At Brattleborough I put in across from Retreat Farm. if you ever paddle there, go across the big stretch of water, than hug the shoreline to get out to the rivers. I tried that middle stretch on the way back, and it was too shallow. It was too mucky to stand and walk across the shallow bits too, so I had to straddle the surfski, try to stand, pull the ski forward while squatting over it, and sit down before my feet sank in too much.
I did manage to tour the bridges though. First up West River to the i-91 bridge, then doubled back towards the Connecticut River up to the rt 9 bridge to New Hampshire. A bunch of boats passed at high speed when I got near the rt9 bridge, I think they were disappointed I didn’t mind the waves the threw my way.
It was a good paddle, I couldn’t go too hard on the West River, because there are sunken trees and rocks to avoid, but I didn’t hit anything. I’d go back for the Ct river portion. I liked that more, and it’d be even nicer if I went during the week when it’s not as busy.
After getting back to the truck, I used the Nemo foot pump water sprayer thing (aka water pig) to clean off the sand/muck from the surfski before putting the bag on. And I decided to shower using the Joolca before driving home. The truck blocked people’s view of me, and the shower enclosure would keep things private if they walked around to snoop. I didn’t use soap being so close to the water, but I had a nice view of the water over the bushes. Kind of a weird experience showering in public, but it worked well. Only downside was the truck was parked on a bit of a slope, so it was like standing on a hillside, but I managed. It was nice to drive home not smelling like river muck.
After showering and changing, I ate a quick dinner of smoked meat and cheese from the Dometic fridge while sitting on the tailgate. Was tempted to have a beer but thought better of it. I was too tired for a beer, and didn't want any cop hassles. On the drive home Google directed me to first go a little south of Rt 2 east, to Rt 10, and then a backroad, but eventually getting back on Rt2 east around Erving. Guessing there was traffic to avoid with it being around 5p.m. Sunday. The rest of the drive was uneventful.
double click on any of the photos below to start a slideshow
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