Caden and Anton
Lake Francis State Park, New Hampshire
June 2013
Caden and I decided to try out a new park we had spotted last year and that was recommended by a good friend of ours Willy who goes up for at least a week each year and stays there. The park is in the far North-roughly an hour from where we normally go and a few short minutes from the border checkpoint to Quebec in Canada. It is so far up North that there are warning notes from the park service to take your passport in certain areas in case you wander across the board in a remote area then need it to return!
We left our passports at home and planned to know where we were at all times LOLWe left early and arriving at camp our first impression was that we should have checked this place out better last time we were here. Second impression was that it was CLEAN, had great restroom/showers, and everyone in the campground had been there before-most for 10 consecutive years or more! We hit pay dirt with a well kept secret.
Caden setting shiner traps for bait along the shore at camp
The view from our site was perfect!
We set up the pop-up and put together the rest of camp. Our camp site was right on the lake with a small brook between us and the next site!
Caden putting on something to warm up for the evening meal
Caden did most of the cooking at camp including dessert-here he is putting together a cobbler to slow cook over the coals!
Caden tending a pot with some shoes drying overhead after a quick trip out in the canoe!
Getting dinner ready!
Is that Cobbler done yet? I am getting tired...
The next morning we were up bright and early, had breakfast and then hit the water
Mornings were cool. Despite it being Summer and June, we WERE on the Northern border of New Hampshire!
Fog blanketed the lake most days and the views were amazing as the fog burned off the arrival of the heat each morning between 9 and 10. If you look close you notice we are now bringing the big 17' canoe-Caden has grown big enough to help me handle it loading/unloading now so we have been taking it and the trolling motor.
We have never seen so many Grouse as we did during this trip to the North Country. They were everywhere, on every road paved or dirt.
Up near the first Connecticut Lake whch feeds Lake Francis, we ran into some of the Fish and Game Department guys loading float-helicopters to remote-stock some of the harder to reach lake in New Hampshires North country.
Caden took all the pics of this except the ones where he is in them!
Shuttling fish to the Helo
Finally I get my camera back!
Driving in and out of camp on Ice Cream runs down South to Pittsburg, we saw many deer, even on the road into the campsite like here!
And of course, no trip is complete without fishing...
We fished the heck out of the Lake and did not do too well-and not for lack of trying.
The lake was up approximately 10' over normal and the feeder stream was going at a pretty good clip.
I let Caden run the trolling motor for a good hour or so this trip-all smiles!
On the final night, we fished hard in the feed stream-I ran the canoe up into the white stuff with Caden leaning off the bow-he grabbed a fir and tied us off good. From that point we started fishing with shiners and whatever we had. I thought we would get skunked and come home with nothing when Caden announced he got a snag and we would have to untie and drop below to free it. We are looking at his line snagged when the "snag" takes off up the stream into the white stuff.
I have a good video from my phone but it is too large to post here and I am having issues with the software to shrink it so it will have to wait. Here are a couple pics at camp a bit after though-Our first Salmon in the family and Caden drags it into the boat-18" long! I was proud and taking video as Caden was yelling at me to get the net! It even went airborne a couple of times for us.
We had a heck of a time and will be returning for sure-with Maggie and Aurelia if they can handle the extra hour in the car to get up there.
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