On the Road: Granite Lake, New Hampshire

This fall, I’m traveling - no home base, all of my belongings in my Toyota 4Runner (including my fold-up kayak and my mountain bike on the back). I’m using this time as a pause - a transition - between past and future, to slow down a little, live in the present for a while, and really experience what it’s like to live in New England in the fall. I picked all of my favorite Airbnbs off of my wishlist and booked them all, traveling from one to the other as I sample living in the Adirondacks, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I’m using this opportunity to take some time and figure out where I’d like my next home base to be.

Granite Lake was the perfect first stop on my New England sampler: One of countless beautiful lakes and ponds in southwestern New Hampshire, interspersed with quintessential New England villages like Harrisville, Nelson, Hancock, and Peterborough. This week, mornings dawned cool and calm, which gave me the perfect opportunity to put my kayak in the lake and row through the mist.

Autumn is coming and I’m so excited to be here for all of the color! Here you can see it starting to appear on my hike up Pitcher Mountain, at the Hancock general store, and in the village of Harrisville.

On of my best kayaking trips yet was on Nubanusit Lake, where we rowed to the small man-made dam (above left) and then portaged a short distance to Spoonwood Pond - a completely isolated body of water, with no road access or motorized boats, just us and the loons.