To cap off a few adventurous weeks of October, I take a few days away from home to head up to the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Although I’ve been on a few short trips to or through Franconia Notch and the White Mountains, I have always bypassed the Lakes Region, a vast area of forests, mountain ranges, and crystal-clear waters both large and small. I am especially glad for the chance to disconnect for a few days from the familiar rhythms of daily life, re-connect with my expressive self through exploration and photography, and get back outdoors in a more substantial way (sans baby gear and nap schedule). I invite my old friend Lindsey to join me on a brief foliage and hiking trip, and we agree to meet up midweek after she spends time with family in Massachusetts. Retracing my drive from three autumns ago, I leave Boston on a Tuesday morning, stopping by Indian Lake in Worcester to photograph the colors along the lakeshore before meeting up with Lindsey.
After a pleasant two-hour drive east and then north along 93N, we cross over the New Hampshire state line, pass Manchester and Concord on the highway, and make our way toward the town of Laconia, NH, on the shores of massive Lake Winnipesaukee. Here, we stop for a delicious plant-based lunch at Trillium Farm to Table (soup and grilled cheese, an autumnal quinoa bowl, blueberry soda, and a baklava treat courtesy of Lindsey). Laconia is delightfully empty on this random Tuesday afternoon in the middle of October, its Main Street seemingly abandoned despite a fairly full public parking lot one block over, its old grist mills and lumberyards underscoring the feeling of nostalgia and bygone days. Reminiscing about Bar Harbor (2015), Rehoboth (2016), and Rock Hall (2017-2018), I tell Lindsey how much I enjoy visiting dead, off-season towns because of their ambience, and the ability, in a quiet place, to break away from the sightseeing mindset and feel more connected with one’s surroundings. Lindsey introduces me to Raffi as we discuss Jordan’s musical tastes in the car. Continuing a few minutes north across the channel to Paugus Bay, we arrive at Weirs Beach, where the atmosphere of quiet and lonesomeness is even more accentuated by the lakeside’s completely deserted boardwalk, shuttered arcades, and a pier lined with pizzerias, bars, and stores that are all closed for the season. Lindsey and I stroll on the beach (where a pair of dogs are playing in the sand and in the lake water), and walk back and forth along the boardwalk. The Winnipesaukee Scenic Rail, followed shortly by the M/S Mount Washington cruise ferry, arrive at the dock and disgorge their (elderly-leaning) passengers. As the season’s few remaining cruises are fully booked, we resolve to return and ride the railroad in the distant future - whenever whichever one of us suffers our first hip fracture.
Up a steep hill from the beach, we check into our condo for the next two nights, a perfectly cromulent little place two hundred feet down the road and around the corner from a large chocolate and dessert shop. After throwing down our belongings, we head back out to take two afternoon walks exploring the woods around the southern lake.
To get a feel for the northern deciduous woods, we head first to the Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center - a farm, summer camp, and wildlife center located a few minutes away, in the woodlands at the foot of the Belknap Mountain Range. The farm is inactive for the season, but Lindsey and I pick out a short, one-mile loop through the woods. After poking around the children’s camp in the woods (including one of the more elaborate treehouses I’ve been in), we finally locate the (rather well-hidden behind a dumpster) trailhead and go for a ramble along the Pond Loop Trail. The walk is a casual one, winding along pine-covered dirt paths through upland deciduous stands, which are colorful at this time of year with beautiful yellow birch leaves, rusty oaks, and occasional flashes of iridescent maple. There are a number of stately, old, gnarled trees that I photograph in portraiture; we walk along downhill to Alan’s Overlook (a somewhat underwhelming little view of a boggy pond in the clearing below - thanks, Alan) before circling back uphill past the modern-looking farm building, shedding layers as we go.
Back in the car, we head a few minutes east along Lake Shore Road to reach the trailhead for Lockes Hill, a north-facing prominence on the south shore of Lake Winnipesaukee. Although the skies remain socked in (as they have since our arrival at the lake), conditions are still lovely for a short hillwalk and sunset views, and I am surprised (though not upset) that there are hardly any other cars at the trailhead. Lindsey and I climb through the forest along a well-maintained dirt path (switchbacks - a luxury in the East), arriving at a panoramic overlook that opens from the west to the east across the lake. After continuing to the true summit of the hill (where there is another overlook, albeit a less open and photogenic one), we return to the first overlook to watch sunset colors develop. To the north, a rainstorm envelopes and then dissipates over the mountains across the lake; to the east, the clouds begin to take on mauve and lavender hues as the sun falls lower, imperceptible behind the curtain of high cloud. A family of three comes along and joins us at the overlook before sunset; we trade pictures of each other, and I take a few portraits of Lindsey and telephoto shots of the distant islands in the lake.
As the light fades, we make the quick return downhill, taking a joke-selfie next to a sign that warns hikers to “Wear Blaze Orange for Safety” (Lindsey is wearing all black and I am literally camo green from head to toe) before getting back in the car. After scouting out dinner locations, we drive a few minutes to The Breeze, a restaurant beside the town docks in Glendale. We have a nice dinner (grilled fish, mocktails, some tasty apple pie à la mode) before returning to the condo. We watch a mild amount of TV before I (still on baby schedule) pass out with an early morning ahead of us.
