I’m writing a few days earlier than expected.  I’m an hour’s drive from cell phone reception, but the Loptstick Lodge on New Hampshire’s First Connecticut Lake has wi-fi, so here I am.  By the way, Lopstick has very nice cabins and I definitely recommend them if you decide to make a trip up here to the headwaters of the Connecticut River.

Dairy Farm in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

On the drive up on Thursday I was able to make a picture I’ve been hoping to capture for a while – a panoramic view of the Presidential Range in New Hamsphire’s White Mountains from a dairy farm in Jefferson.  The clouds and cows happened to be cooperating as I drove by.  There is even a dusting of snow on Mt. Washington.  This shot is a composite of four images that I stitched together using the Photomerge option in Phototshop CS2.  This farm is in the Israel River valley, which is part of the Connecticut River Valley.  Fertile farmland is one of the defining characteristics of most of the 400 mile-long Connecticut River Valley.

 
Very Young bull moose in a bog along the Connecticut River in Pittsburg, NH.

Fall has definitely arrived up here near the Quebec border.  The maples are turning red and orange, and though it is still several days from peak, there is plenty of good color to use for making some nice photos.  I’ve spent most of my time yesterday and Thursday afternoon looking for moose without much success.  Just one scrawny little yearling bull in mediocre light.  Moose are easy to find along US 3 at dawn and dusk, but I’m still searching for moose in more natural environments with good light.  With showers moving in for a couple of days though, I may need to shift my focus to shooting more intimate forest and foliage scenes.

 
Big Brook Bog, Pittsburg, NH.

One challenge of shooting up here is the lack of hiking trails.  It’s easy to access the woods via an extensive system of logging roads, but I find it hard to get inspired spending the day driving through cut up forests.  There is some great paddling on the lakes and some smaller remote ponds, but the breezy weather yesterday made it challenging for me to maneuver my 16 foot Old Town Camper solo canoe.  With today’s drizzly weather, I may just find a good forest stream and do a little bushwacking in search of falls and cascades bordered by stunning fall foliage.  We’ll see what happens.

Logging Roads, Pittsburg, NH.

Until next time...
-Jerry