November | 2013 | Kayaking in New Hampshire Seacoast

Date traveled – April 20, 2012
length of trip – 2.0 miles
weather -Partly cloudy, about 60 degrees.
Time on the water-44 minutes

It was time to start a new season kayaking. I had just spent the last two hours kayaking Greenwood pond. Great pond was only a few mile away and it seemed like a good place to complement the day. Most people know this lake as the lake Kingston State park is on. I have kayaked this pond before letting my kayak in at the state park. This called for carrying the kayak a good 75 yards from the parking lot to the water. I did this when the park was open but not collecting entrance fees yet. This time I went to the southern part of the lake. Here they had a landing place where one can drive the car up to the water and park close by. That is what I did. The water was calm.

As I went around the lake I notice that the houses here upscale. in between the houses were a number of camps. Beside the state park I remember seeing 3 camps with beaches docks etc.. The houses were good size. There was two 3 story houses with a walkway between the two houses. I did not see much wildlife. Just a few birds.

There was an eventful time. As I reached the northern part of the lake the wind picked up from the south. The waves picked up and was large enough that water from the waves were close to entering the boat. I realize that I must quickly get back to my car before the wind pick up any more and swamp my kayak. As I got closer to the car the waves got smaller so the worry about the kayak filling up with water went away. As I was nearing the end my arms felt tired from spending the last half hour going against the wind.

All in all it was a good day kayaking. I took some pictures and could not find them. I might go around the lake again taking a new set of pictures. I will do that gladly.

Date traveled – August 11, 2011
length of trip – 7.4 miles
weather – sunny, about 70 degrees.
Time on the water-2 hours 47 minutes

Gilmore park in Exeter is a good place for a picnic, a walk in the woods, a baseball game and more. There is two 16th century cannons owned by the federal government and lent to Exeter. It also has a place where one can launch their boat on the Exeter river. Looking back I would have taken my GPS equipment with me for there is about a dozen geocache sites that can only be reached from the water. I launched the boat and went to the town. I could only go as far as the bridge for route 111. The dam leading to squamscot river was immediately downstream of the bridge and getting caught up by the current to the dam would have been disastrous. From there I went upstream exploring as many inlets as I could. I went under a foot bridge that Phillip Exeter students use to cross the river. There were many turtles along the shore sunning themselves on rocks and logs. They say there are fish there. I saw no evidence. There was an unusual looking rock. When I poked at it, I found that it was a snapping turtle floating in the water and sunning itself. On the other side , there was a rope hanging from a tree where people swung and jumped into the water.The journey began with the river being wide and stayed wide until the first right and then became narrow. At that turn straight ahead is a swamp. Going up the river there was a campground on the left. I could smell the campfires. I finally reached the end at a fallen tree going across the river. I could have made landfall and went around the tree. I was ready to go back. There is a place I can get into the water upstream to continue my journey. I turned around and finally made it back. I totally enjoyed the trip.