Nature's gifts in New Hampshire

We were so close to needing to halt our plans to travel north through New Hampshire, which would have been a real bummer. Not only is it our favorite state, especially in the fall, but we would also be repeating history. Back in 2022, we were supposed to be in NH for foliage season, but instead, we were forced to head to Indiana after nature exerted its ferocity on our trailer. We had to cancel bookings at some beautiful places, including Mountain Lake Camping Resort in Lancaster – a sought-after water and mountain view site, no less. This year was redemption time. I jumped on that booking months in advance, even earlier than I had two years ago, to secure another waterfront site. Little did I know back then that we would once again face potentially cancelling this reservation. Our furnace stopped working, and traveling north in NH during the transition into autumn didn't seem like a smart idea. Thankfully, the weather gods smiled upon us and granted us a week of highs in the 80s. Sometimes nature taketh away, but this time, it giveth!

It was a good thing, too, because I had to jump through some hoops to get us the best site possible. A few waterfront sites were available, but my eye was on the last site in the row because it had the views but also had one heck of a pleasure-side yard. Only, the way the online reservation system worked, this site was showing up as unavailable because it wasn't the optimal size for our rig. Usually this happens when the site is too small, but in this case, it was too big! The resort sets their website to eliminate sites that are not the exact length of the rig. This site said it would fit a 36ft rig. We're 28ft, but I say we're 34 because we have a long tongue. I noticed that, before I put the trailer information in, site 80 showed as available. When I added 34ft length, the availability disappeared. I plugged in 36ft for our rig length, and it showed up again. What's a girl to do? I lied and said we were 36ft long. I mean, we're even more than that if we count tongue and patio!

I'd say the finagling paid off...

...but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Once Anthony and I made the decision to continue with our travel plans despite our malfunctioning furnace, we needed a pit stop to kill time on our way up to Lancaster. The resort charges campers for early arrival, and while we wouldn't have minded arriving to this beautiful specimen of a campsite early, we knew we could have a really nice stop somewhere in the White Mountains. It's funny, though, because we had never traveled the Whites with an RV before, so we had the toughest time remembering which parking lots had oversized spots. I needed to satellite view my way up I-93 to see what options were available.

Once you get into the national forest, the typical rest stop doesn't exist. Your best bets are scenic pull-offs and parking lots for the forest attractions and trailheads. We figured we would make our way north, checking every pull-off that looked like it would fit us. If there was parking for our rig, we'd stop. If not, we'd go to the next one.

We didn't have to go far. First stop was Franconia Notch State Park, home of the Flume Gorge, a major tourist attraction. Remember, Anthony wore jeans to hike here in 2013?

But, it wasn't tourist season. Being that we were there in mid-September, the summer vacationers had already left and the leaf-peepers hadn't arrived yet. Also, because it was a Saturday, no school groups were coming in, so the park officials allowed RV parking in the bus spots, which doubled the number of spots we could fit into. As far as pit stops go, this one definitely ranks high for the views.

Given that this parking lot fills up super early during peak times, we were still surprised that more people hadn't come out to enjoy the gorgeous weather. The Flume Gorge recommends advanced ticket purchases but does allow in-person if and only if tickets are still available. We probably could have easily gotten tickets, but been there, done that.

In fact, we've done a lot from this parking lot. In 2021, we took Tanner for a hike up Mt. Pemigewasset, which also leaves from here. Now that's a hike we would do again, but it would have been a bit long and strenuous for what was supposed to be our lunch stop.

Fun fact, actually. This 2021 trip was our "tailgating voyage" with Clyde the Beast! We hadn't gotten his truck cap yet, so we did a scenic drive and had a picnic in the truck bed.

This time, we were looking for something shorter and easier. The Roaring River Memorial Nature Trail was perfect. It leaves from the south end of the parking lot and weaves .3 miles through the woods. Along the way, you get peeps of Mounts Flume and Liberty and the "roaring river," aka the Pemigewasset. It's a discovery trail, so you can grab a pamphlet at the beginning and read about the various trees and other features throughout the trail. 3 years makes a big difference in dog years, so Tanner doesn't hike with us much anymore, but he did join us for this little trek through the woods.

After our mini-hike, we had some lunch and then set out towards Mountain Lake Campground. This is where we found the people enjoying the beautiful weekend. In fact, the temperatures were so warm that the campground decided to re-open their pool that was supposed to already be closed for the season! In addition to the pool, there were tons of events and amenities. We always wonder, when a campground calls itself a "resort," if it will actually live up to the standard of one, and Mountain Lake most definitely does. As soon as we checked in, we got put on a text chain that alerted us to all the activities and events that were coming up. As we were unpacking, we got a text that the wagon ride was starting. The unpacking could wait!

After our ride, we did our exploratory walk, where we checked out the rest of the amenities. First off, we might need to give this campground the award for nicest playground. Not pictured is the wooden pirate ship.

Bathrooms and laundry were above average. It looked like a second building was under construction, that will soon house a rec and game room. As if the pool wasn't enough, there is also a beach area where you can rent boats for the pond. There is a dog run on top of the hill near the entrance to the campground, and a 1-mile nature path off the back. It's no secret that we love a good hiking trail that leaves right from camp. We walked the path almost every morning.

We love unique amenities almost as much as we love the nature trails, and Mountain Lake offers made-to-order muffins in the mornings. You place your order by 6PM the day before, and at 9AM the next morning, they have your muffins, freshly baked on-site, waiting for you. We thought this was the coolest thing and made a point to have Monday morning muffins to start our work week. Naturally, we ate on our patio, because who doesn't want these views at breakfast?!

After a summer filled with unbearable heat and humidity, we finally felt like we had hit our stride with summer weather. The 80-degree days were a little warm, but we put our sunshade up and even made a makeshift side-shade with one of our spare curtains. The high temps only lasted a short while each day. Most of the time, temps were in the 70s and nights dropped to the 40s and 50s. A working furnace would have been nice, but could we really complain? We were finally at Mountain Lake after waiting patiently for two years, and it was exceeding all our expectations.

Muffin Monday marked the start of a very quiet week. Our weekending neighbs all packed up and left, and for the rest of our stay, we had no one in the site next to us, or the site next to that. We had a very busy work week, and somewhere else I could have gotten really stressed out because I was in the middle of a huge project launch. To be able to convert the patio into an outdoor office was wonderfully calming.

As you can see, our site backed up to the west, so our sunsets were pretty spectacular, but they weren't the only skylit wonders of our week. The full Harvest supermoon was upon us, and along with it would be a partial lunar eclipse. Every night, the moon was radiant, glistening through the pine trees.

With that level of brightness, one can only assume it would shroud any chances of seeing anything else that might be lingering in the atmosphere. So, when we started seeing posts about a geomagnetic storm, we yawned and played our tiny fiddles. If we couldn't see the northern lights when they were basically a sure thing, we aren't going to see them now. Puh-lease.

But then on Muffin Monday, Anthony was on his weekly 9:30PM work call with Hong Kong, and my aurora alert pinged. The KP index was getting high, and if the skies were clear, there was a small chance of seeing the northern lights. Besides the supermoon, the skies were clear. I decided to grab my phone and walk to the top of the hill at the campground.

My test shot showed nothing but stars. Beautiful, actually, but not what I was looking for.

Test shot #2 had the mark of a distinct glow, one I typically attribute to light pollution. But this time, we weren't near any cities. Downtown Lancaster was in that direction, but my gut told me something else might be happening.

Anthony finished his call and joined me outside. Then, I broached the subject I promised to never bring up again. I asked Anthony if he wanted to go for a drive. We weren't going to go far, though. In preparation for a possible aurora chase, Anthony found a pull-off just a couple miles up the road. We would just go there.

We stopped at the pull-off, shut off all our lights and sat for a while. Nothing seemed to be happening in the sky. My aurora app was oscillating between a 2 and 3% chance of seeing the northern lights, but I crosschecked sightings on social media, and some people were seeing them in Maine, at lower latitudes than we were. We decided to drive a little further.

We turned down US 2, which follows the Presidential Range. For most of the drive, we were facing south, and so once we got away from street lights, we pulled off at a trailhead. Still, nothing. I took a couple test shots, but they both came up empty. We had the choice to continue on route 2 or to just turn around. Neither of us had any desire to aimlessly chase the northern lights. We were beyond cynical after 3 failed chases over the years, and the particularly painful sting of this past May. We headed back to Lancaster.

Of course, I kept my eyes peeled just in case, as we were now facing north. Then, just before we got to town, I thought I saw a faint green wisp in the sky. We were driving past a pull-off, and I told Anthony we needed to turn around. A few minutes later, we parked in the pull-off facing north, turned off the lights, and waited. We still had to contend with the moon, but at least it was behind us. We did, however, need to contend with the bright yellow atrocity that is the Roger's Campground and Motel sign across the street.

Then, Anthony asked if he was seeing something, and he pointed out the windshield. I set my camera up on the dashboard and snapped a photo. For the first time ever, I could actually respond with a definitive "yes." This was what we were waiting for since our first chase back in 2013. Even back in May, there were a few times we thought we might be seeing something, but there was so much doubt. This time, there was no doubt. Here is my test shot through the windshield, unedited.

It was strange, because in a lot of ways, this was a defining moment of our lives, but we took the sighting in stride. I think we just wanted to soak up the experience. I didn't have my good camera, so I made do with my phone. I didn't even care. The auroras were faint, but visible with the naked eye. At times we saw a slight ribbon effect, but the rest of the time they just emitted a glow on the horizon.

After our disappointment in May, I consoled myself by saying that, when we do see the lights, it will be somewhere special, where we can really immerse ourselves in them. A crowded beach on Lake Michigan? That experience wasn't meant for us. A quiet night in New Hampshire? Kismet.

The KP index kept getting higher, and the geomagnetic storm reached a 4. That combination is what's needed to get a decent show this far south in the eastern part of the country. My aurora app never gave a chance higher than 3%, but the percentage didn't seem to update along with the forecast. With a KP of over 7 and the strong geomagnetic storm, we had a recipe for success.

We made our way back to our original pull-off, first stopping at an intersection to take beauty shots of Clyde under the display.

Oh, but not everything is as it seems! With a little photographic magic, one cannot tell that Clyde was actually parked in a construction zone!

I'm convinced the northern lights make any scenery look better.

Then, back at our pull-off, we saw a faint glow above the trees, but the ribbons and layering had disappeared. They seemed to wax and wane throughout the night, so they probably reappeared, but we felt more than satisfied with our excursion. New Hampshire delivers us happiness in big ways, and whenever we return, we're reminded why this is our soul-state. This was an extra special reminder.

The aurora sighting made me extra excited to capture more astronomical wonders the next night. This time, I got out my good camera and set up my camping chair to watch the partial lunar eclipse from our yard. I took some shots with my camera and some with my phone. Nothing fancy, but I used it as an opportunity to test some settings. I had never taken lunar eclipse photography before, which is weird considering I have now taken photos of solar eclipses twice in the past year!

Our nature-focused week wouldn't be complete without a good hike, and thankfully the end of our stay at Mountain Lake ushered in some cooler weather. We took this opportunity to hike one of the state's 48 4000-footers, a list we're slowly but surely accomplishing over many, many years. The trailhead to Mounts Starr King and Waumbek were only a 15-minute drive away, and so we peak bagged them on a 7-mile out-and-back.

Our muscles definitely needed a few days to recover after that trek, but soon we'd be heading out of the Whites and venturing to our next destination, where instead of prioritizing hikes, we planned on prioritizing peace and quiet. The fall equinox was coming, and we wanted nothing more than to welcome it in a tranquil lakeside setting. Time to venture to a part of NH we've never set foot before: The Great North Woods!