Whoa. Luxury car camping!
Why luxury? There is Wifi at this campground in Camden State Park, Maine. This was my first time having Wifi at campground in the U.S. It was a suprise, although I don't really need Wifi, and in fact camping is the best way to be away from devices. However it is exciting to know that a campground with Wifi exists in the U.S.
Not only Wifi, there is hot shower in the rest room. It is individual small room, no coins are needed to get hot water without time limit. Wow. What a campground.
The only thing it could be challenging in this campground is first-come, first-served. For us living in Boston, going to Maine in early morning is hard. We can't beat local Maine residents. Luckily we got a one second to the last available site around 11 a.m. Yay.
We set up a tent and went for hiking. It was a short hike starting from campground. Just a quick climb, we were able to see nice Maine coast along the ocean. My ocean is always Pacific (I am from an island on the Pacific), but Atlantic is pretty too. In fact all oceans are connected.
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| Maine Coast |
The line of Maine coast is pretty. It is soft and worm. The line is not sharp, so it gives me the impression of sweetness and relaxed pace.
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| Rocky coast |
East coast is known for rocky coast, but this side of ocean is not really rocky. After we came back to the campground, we went to the different side of coast. Now this one was very rocky. We sat on rocks and enjoyed looking at ocean for a while.
Then we went back to our campsite and started campfire. Campfire is a must, especially during car camping. Even if car camping, I love to forage. A bunch of firewood were sold at the entrance. I dislike to buy those. I LOVE to forage. Each bunch was $7! There are so many trees everywhere, and tons of dead logs are just on the ground on the campground. Why not foraging?
Forage-lover is not only me. Mr.N's uncle, Mr.B2 is a foraging junkie.
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| BBQ |
Over the fire, we had BBQ. Chicken and corns were delicious. Then we continued fire. While we were having cups of tea, neighboring campers came and gave us some firewoods for us. He said that his truck has a full of woods and wanted to get rid of some. I think that he was just nice, not really need to get rid of woods. Probably he is a local Maine person and he can bring woods back home. It was very nice of him.
Next morning, I started a morning fire (yah, I LOVE fire SOOOOOO MUCH. Because I used all the logs I gathered the previous night, I started collecting some woods on the ground between our site and next site. A couple was camping at the next site (probably local people in their 50 or 60's). The female saw me foraging and said to us, "Do you guys need woods? We are done and there are some here". Mr.N and I said, "Oh thank you." Then we visited their site.
Mr.N said, "Are you sure you don't want to bring back home?"
The woman said, "No, we are done, and we just go home now."
The guy also said, "Take as much as you want :)"
Wow Maine people are so nice!
Two neighbors gave us firewoods! Maybe they all saw us foraging and it was weird for them, because Maine people should have firewoods at home for winter. Anyway after getting woods gift both Saturday and Sunday, I was happy and love Maine people.
On Sunday we had a plan to kayak on the nearby lake. We arrived at the lake and got concerned, because it was very windy. Probably due to the strong winds, nobody was kayaking there. It is always better safe than sorry. So we decided to go hiking to the trail nearby instead. This trail goes up to the lake we had planned to kayak.
I didn't have a high expectation, but the view was fantastic. Many small islands were floating on the lake. Blue sky reflects the lake and the contrast with green was pretty. From the hills, I could tell how windy by seeing waves on the lake. It was a good choice to hike up this time. Next time it would be nice to kayak on a calm day. The lake looks very good for kayaking.
While we were enjoying the view, we saw a man and woman in their 60's hiking together. Their dog was adorable. He came to me and enjoyed being pet. The each eye color is different (blue and green, I don't remember clearly though). After I pet for a while, I started walking, but the dog followed me instead of staying with his owner. The owner laughed. Soooooo cute. I wish he could follow me more!
The guy and a female were talking while we pet the dog. Actually only the woman talked how he broke up her ex-husband and the guy was just listening. Obviously she was interested in the guy, but since the guy didn't say a word, I was not sure he was interested in her as well. He was only laughed when the doggie started following me. In-te-resting.
I really liked the lake and glad we went there.
One weekend in August we went car camping in Vermont. This time we invited Mr.C and Ms.M2. They have camped a couple of times before, but not backpacked. So this time we did car camping.
Mr.N suggested leaving Boston 8 a.m. on Saturday, but Ms.M2 suggested 9 a.m. since she is a night owl.
Mr.N and me in one car, Mr.C and Ms.M2 in another car, we separately headed for the Moosalamoo campground, even though we live only a couple of miles apart. The reason? There is no reason. It looks like Mr.M2 doesn't like to carpool.
A little before noon, we arrived at the campground and ate lunch at the picnic table. The site was very spacious. There was a plenty of space for setting up tents, a set of picnic table, and a big fire pit.
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| Viewpoint |
After lunch we went out for hiking. The trail starts in the campground, which is convenient and nice. We hiked up to the Mt.Moosalamoo. It was gentle and easy climb and we didn't take long to the viewpoint. Ms.M2 said that it was not difficult. So we decided not to go back from the viewpoint, but continue to another viewpoint and make a loop to go back to the campground. It was an easy hike of 8 miles.
At night we had BBQ. Mr.M2 and Mr.C brought skewers of meat and veges. We grilled over the fire. We also grilled corns. It was really tasty!
After dinner we chatted around fire. Ms.M2 got freaked out several times due to spiders.
As night went by, we got sleepy. Now time to go into sleeping bag. Because Mr.C and Ms.M2 didn't bring light source, I loaned my headlamp to Ms.M2. Mr.C and Ms.M2 went to the outhouse with the headlamp.
Mr.N and I were near the tent and ready to go to sleep once they came back and return my headlamp.
They came back but at the tent I heard a lot of curse words. There were spiders in their tent. Mr.N and I laughed and waited the spider drama will be gone. Then they went into the tent. Hmmmm. My head lamp... after a while there was no hint of it coming back.
I sent Mr.N to get my head lamp back, because I am shy to ask to return stuff. I needed it in case I want to search something in the tent and to go to the restroom in the middle of the night, which happens once in a while.
OK. We went to bed.
Zzzzzz....
I woke up with voices of Ms.M2 in the middle of the night. I heard some F words.
I thought, "OK. They had spiders again"
I tried to go back to sleep, but their cursing and noise didn't stop.
Mr.N asked from our tent, "Are you okay?"
Ms.M2 screamed, "No!"
What's going on?
After a while, Mr.N went outside and asked if they needed help.
I stayed in the tent, but from the noise I figured out that Ms.M2 vomited in the tent.
OMG. We loaned the tent, and sleeping pads.
Mr.C went to the toilet and got toilet paper and wiped inside. After the mess for an hour at 4 a.m., Mr.M2 went into the car and lay down until 7 a.m. Mr.C slept back in the tent.
After such scene, I couldn't sleep deep. It was getting light soon after, so body didn't seem to want to go back to deep sleep. Due to that I had a headache in the morning.
We planned to kayak Sunday morning, but Mr.C and Ms.M2 went home straight in the morning, because Ms.M2 was still feeling sick.
What was the cause? Most likely meat. However, only 1 person got food poisoning. Maybe one specific piece she ate was bad?
Ms.M2 said, "I don't know, but anything could happen after such exhausting hike." At this point, Mr.N and I noticed that Saturday's short hike was too much for her. A lot of times when Mr.N plans hiking for a hiking club, some people who participate in them hate him, because hikes are much tougher than the statement Mr.N describes. He say, "moderate", but for some people it is "extremely challenging and exhausting".
Mr.C and Mr.M2 returned the tent and sleeping pads with X!@#S.
We paid for the campsite and We washed the tent and sleeping pad at home.
<Japanese version is after English: 日本語は英語の後にあります>
Beginning of June weekend we went car camping and kayaked.
Usually we prefer to go backpacking rather than kayaking, but this time we decided to car camp and kayak on the lake. The reason is that I had a neck pain (story for neck pain will come soon).
On Saturday we kayaked on the Second Connecticut Lake. Although it is named Connecticut, it is in the state of New Hampshire. Actually it is almost Canada (very close to the border). This lake is in the town of Pittsburg in New Hampshire. It is confusing! The famous Pittsburgh is in Philadelphia, but this is Pittsburg in New Hampshire. Please note the spelling is different.
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| Second Connecticut Lake |
Going to the lake is via unpaved road. In the parking there are two cars, and they are fishing on the shore next to the parking lot. Those a couple of fishing people are the only humans at the lake.
On the water, nobody but us. We kayaked the shore of the lake. It took a couple of hours. The entire kayaking, it was very remote. It is nice to be on the peaceful water.
On the lake we saw loons and geese. Looks like loons were fishing. They are very good at catching fish. Loons sometimes went into the lake for a while. They seem to be able to hold breath for a long time. Then they show up with fish in sometimes 50 meters away. They swim very fast!
The left two picture are the moment the loon went into the water (upper picture) and the came out on the water (the bottom picture).
Mr.N told me that they can swim but they can't walk on the ground. Interesting.
After kayaking, we camped at the campground in Lake Francis State Park. A thing you can do at car campground but not backpacking is BBQ. This time we cooked beef and corn over the fire. Delicious!
The next day we kayaked on the Lake Francis. There are many people on the lake and everyone was fishing. It looked like there are many fish. Ummm. Meat over the campfire is good, but I thought it would be nice to have fish just caught cook over the fire. It made me think about getting fishing license. However I thought twice and I have to go fishing a lot to get worth of fishing permit fee.
OK. Probably it is easier to buy fish at grocery stores.
Fishing people were staying on the same spot, so only us paddling and moving on the lake. We explored the inlets and outlets. It was always nice to be on the water. Again we saw loons.
After satisfied with kayaking, we headed back to home.
６月最初の週末はカーキャンピングとカヤック。
バックパッキングの方がカーキャンピングよりも好きなのだが、５月半ばから首がずっと痛かったので今回は大事をとってカーキャンピング。首を痛めたのはバックパッキングが原因なのだが。。。その話はまたそのうちブログに書く予定。
土曜日は第二コネカット湖でカヤック。コネチカット湖という名前だが実際にはニューハンプシャー州にある。ニューハンプシャー州の一番北で、カナダがすぐそこにあるのだ。このコネチカット湖があるのはピッツバーグという街。ピッツバーグといえばフィラデルフィアにある大きな市が有名だが、ニューハンプシャー州にもピッツバーグが。。。しかしスペルが一文字だけ違う。ぎゃー。ややこしいな。
湖に行く道は未舗装道路。駐車場には２台の車が止まっていて何人かが湖岸で釣りをしていたが、湖に出ているカヤックやカヌーはない。
我々が湖を独り占め。湖はとっても静か。
ルーンを何羽か見た。時々水の中に潜って魚を取っていた。潜ると必ず捕まえている。さらにかなり長い時間潜っている。息、かなり長く止められるようだ。しかもかなり離れたところに現れるので泳ぐのも上手なようだ。最初の３枚の写真が第二コネチカット湖の様子＋ルーン。ルーンの写真は水に潜ったところと水から出てきたところ。
そして近くのレイクフランシス州立公園のキャンプグラウンドへ。
ディナーは肉！とトウモロコシ。キャンプファイアーで調理。
やっぱりキャンプファイアーで焼いたものはなんでも美味しい。バックパッキングではコーンなど持っていけないので（重すぎ）、たまにはカーキャンピングも良いなぁと思った。
次の日はキャンプグランドのそばにあるレイクフランシスでカヤック。カヌーやモーターボートで釣りをしている人が何組かいたが、普通にカヤックやカヌーしている人はいなかった。釣り人は湖に出ても同じ場所に佇んでいるので動いているのは我々だけだった（笑
川が湖に注ぎ込んでいるところを見たり（２つの異なる川が違う場所から流れてきていてこの湖ができている）、ルーンを見たりして午前中のカヤックを楽しんだ。
そして午後、帰路へと着いたのだった。
