Director’s Report

Fall Colors at Camp

Natives report that 2019 featured the most brilliant fall colors they can ever recall.  As luck would have it, Alice, Mike and I were visitors from afar who managed to touch down just as the colors reached their glorious peak.  Captions to the photos tell the story.

Here’s the view from our cottage looking towards the Council Fire.
Because we had several weddings on the grounds, there is still plenty of work to do to before the winter freezes set in. All cabins stayed open, for example.
Mike Fusco, Bryan Frank, Spanky, Stephanie and Rob have been maintaining a fantastic trim to the camp property…
and they have plenty of good ideas for improvements for 2020. Including dislodging this tennis ball from the crotch of a tree on Pines Field. Anybody know the story?
None of us could take our eyes off Lake Tarleton, which offered diverse color combinations with each passing cloud.
Afternoon colors by the lakeside were the best, due to the angle of the sun.
You can guess who had his lunch in that red chair every day!
The seed pods on those rose bushes turned a bright red. So glad Andy Luther and Rob Horne did not have their pod-picking/tossing battles last summer, second session.
Sara has trained her papa to keep a keen eye for any reflections across the lake…
but my efforts dull in contrast to her skills. She is winding up her last personal yearbook/collage projects as this report goes out.
Purple Mountain Majesty — (bluish-purple, perhaps)
Rob and Mike went for a long day hike, approaching Moosilauke from the seldom used northwestern direction…
via the Tunnel Brook and Benton Trails, which converge on the Beaver Brook Trail just beneath the summit. Both agreed that Kingswood needs to add this approach to our Moosilauke playbook.  Gorgeous photo, eh?
The next day, Rob and Mike joined their dad for some trailblazing across the lake.
We paddled to the Rope Swing…
pausing long enough to admire the view back to camp…
before venturing along the lakeside trail we call “Bears’ Den” due to many rocky ledges with deep caverns. Memorize this tree. We dubbed it “Metro Center” as this is the spot where marshes and thick bogs require the trail to turn north by northwest away from Tarleton and towards the Old Charlestown Road trail a mile or so through pretty but hilly woods. It proved to be the tough hiking we expected.
Staying on high ground, and placing streamers every so often, it took us two hours to find the road.  This old man required a water break at what we called “Sitting Log” where a whole bunch of boys could plop down for a spell. Note we wore loud colors, as October is bow & arrow hunting season.
Rob employed a phone app with map/compass to direct us to within 30 yards of the target — an ancient cemetery where the Lund family of the 1800’s is buried. I found the names of those interred.  Note the ages — life must have been tough in those times.
Lund Cemetery in Old Charleston, Warren New Hampshire, near Warren – Piermont Town-Line.
LUND, Hosea W., born February 2, 1843, died January 30, 1851, 7 years 7 months.
LUND, Mary, born June 1845, died January 29, 1851, 5 years 7 months.
LUND, Alvira A., born April 1831, died November 13, 1831, 7 months.
LUND, Stephen, born May 1830, died February 3, 1843, 12 years 7 months.
LUND, Joseph, born (chipped off), died (chipped off) 1829, eleven years.
LUND, Infant, born June 30, 1822, died July 1, 1822, 1 day old.
LUND, Avery, born ——, died May 29, 1839.

 

Many of the grave stones are still legible.
From the Lund Cemetery back to camp, we followed our streamers and it took only 30 minutes to get back to the Rope Swing. Next year we will push the trail to the summit of Mt. Aloha, where we are certain of finding good overnight camp spots.
We had glorious weather throughout and I could not resist this sunrise photo as we loaded our rental car for the trip to Manchester and the end of a great camp visit.

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