campton

Sometimes you just need to take the afternoon off.

Even if it’s a Thursday afternoon.

And find a secret place to mess around in the water.

Don’t park your car on a steep slant and leave it in 4th gear. It won’t be where you left it when you want to go home.

Disclaimer: this happened to the neighbor living down the street from us and thankfully, no one was hurt.

Of course, spending a little time at home after being on the road is nice too…

This afternoon we took the dogs up Beebe River Road to that wonderful meadow. Fletcher practiced his superior frisbee skills and fun was had by all.

We stopped on the historic Bump bridge for a quick photo with Ruby Jean.

On the way home, we spotted an interesting trail. We unloaded and started to explore it as as a future XC skiing option, but due to recent logging projects, it’s been closed.

While exploring Sandwich Notch Rd in Sweet Ruby Jean today, we found a fantastic off-the-map road that takes you to one of the coolest potential primitive camping sites we’ve seen.

The campsite is accessible from the South at the gate at the end of the drivable part of Algonquin Rd.:

The road is labeled w/ a sign that says U17:

After driving down U17 for 20 minutes or so, you come to a parking circle:

Head down the path, and there’s a fantastic primitive campsite:

The site has trails coming off, which I think probably takes you to Upper and Lower Hall Ponds. If there’s a way to get here during ski season, this would be an amazing backcountry ski!

As fall begins, we’re starting to explore the Beebe river in Campton. Eastern Corner road is one of several ways to get there, and there are numerous opportunities for hiking and XC skiing. The road in is pretty rough, so it also offers some light (but fun!) jeeping.

Heading down Eastern Corner road and taking the first left fork after you leave civilization brings you to a trailhead reserved for non-motorized activities. So, we parked Ruby Jean and explored on foot.

Our hike ended at a lovely meadow, but the trail continued on toward Algonquin road:

This is a great place with possibilities for hiking, swimming, XC skiing, and even a little Jeeping.

Here’s a description from Waterville Valley Athletics and Improvement Association (quite a name!):

This is an EASY trail that leads to a popular swimming hole just 40 minutes from Route 49. It also offers a long but gradual route up to Sandwich Dome[3980 ft.]

The trail begins at the southwestern end of the Smarts Brook parking lot, on your left as you head out of Waterville Valley on Route 49, just after Upper Mad River Road crosses the river on your right. From the parking lot, cross the brook on the road. On the other side of the brook, the trail turns left and enters the woods on some log steps, joining with an old roadbed. Soon a X-C ski trail with a blue marker bears to the left. Stay right and follow the trail through a stand of hemlocks until you join with a logging road. Here, the Tri-Town Trail continues straight ahead. To remain on the Smarts Brook Trail, turn left at the intersection on the logging road. After a while, the brook will come alongside the roadbed on your left; and soon after that, you will come to a forest protection area, where there is a popular swimming hole [40 min.], and therefore camping and fires are prohibited. The upper trailhead of the Tri-Town trail enters 10 minutes up from the pool. The Yellow Jacket Trail diverges left shortly after that on a wooden bridge crossing over Smart’s Brook. Continuing up the Smarts Brook Trail, you soon see a beaver pond on your right. After this, the logging road diminishes and becomes more of a trail as it continues gradually up the valley, past several big boulders, staying alongside the brook for most of its length, until it finally connects with the Sandwich Mountain Trail near the summit.

Here is a great set of pictures of the place in the winter, and here is a great description by the person who took them of a nice ski loop there. Can’t wait to ski there! And for a full description of the ski trails available around here, go here.

As for Jeeping — just before the Smarts Brook parking lot, there’s a logging road entrance that’s a national forest route with no markings, so it appears to be Jeep-able. Haven’t tried it yet, though. The road is definitely used for hiking (it’s part of several of the hikes/skis above), but it looks like it’s driven on fairly often.

We had a great trip with the dogs here at the very end of summer.