I went to Sawyer Pond for an overnight last week up in the White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire. The area was beautiful and very hammock friendly - crystal clear pond, great tasting cold water, 6 unattended sites that include platforms and fire rings as well as a relatively new shelter right at water's edge. The six campsites are each about 30 yards off the water's edge, each with a small pond access area. There's a single composting privy and that's about it.
I went up with my HH Expedition UL, an OES Deluxe SpinnUL tarp, a MacEntyre IX UQ and Arrowhead Equipment Owyhee TQ. Temperatures were 75 during the day, 55 at night.
The parking area is 22 miles from the intersection of Rt93 and the Kangamangus Highway just south of the Franconia area in New Hampshire. You'll need a White Mountains overnight parking permit...that would be $3 to the iron ranger in the parking area or $20 for a 1 year use pass.
There are two primary trail entries to get to Sawyer...one off the Kangamangus that results in a 4.5 mile hike to the pond through the forest with about a 1,500 foot total elevation gain. At my leisurely (and post sprained ankle) pace, that took about 2:15. You have to cross the Swift River about 50 yards from the parking lot...the river is usually fine to cross in the summer (about calf deep) but I've heard it can be a bear in the Spring. There is a second route to Sawyer from the north at Rt 302 that only takes 45 minutes so I'm told, mostly used by people coming to visit the pond for dailight hours.
After the Swift River crossing the trail is fairly uneventful - it's fairly level for the first hour, most of the climb is in the second hour. Firewood is scarce at the campground due to fairly high use on the weekends, so I recommend two things: go on a weekday, at least up until September, and start collecting firewood in the last 20 minutes of the hike up so you have something to burn that night if you intend to have a fire. A small saw would be helpful for sure, I use a 15" Sawvivor.
The night I was there was a couple in the shelter and me over at site #6. Almost perfect silence except for the coyote calls in the middle of the night and the sound of loon calls in the morning. I set up at site #6 which is a great hammock setup - there are two trees on either side of a small tent platform ... just enough spacing to hang. Site #3 also had some good tree spacing for hanging in the formal site area, though you could probably hang at the edges of almost any of the sites.
Hike up, setup and sit by the lake for a nice dinner - you can wade out into the lake to cool your feet off and collect some water to filter. The main view from the sites and lake's edge includes Owl's Eye, a granite outcropping from the site of one of the hills that partially enclose the lake. The sun rises just between Owl's Eye and the next hill which makes for a spectacular sunrise.
I liked the lake so much that I plan to make this a yearly hike in late Summer...who knows...I might even try a winter hike if I get myself a full UQ.
A few equipment comments - The MacEntyre IX UQ: This is a second generation MacEntyre creation and, man have things progressed. I really liked the original IX UQ...but this new version really works much better. First of all, the two layers of IX are stitched all around on this new model, which provides additional still air gap and more warmth and comfort. Second, the UQ is now marked for top / bottom and in / out which really helps for setup. I added a couple of tabs that match up to the tie-out points on my HH and a short piece of shockcord keeps the IX UQ well positioned under the HH.
Second, the KAK Owyhee is really nice...it's light, very packable and provides good warmth, though it was overkill for the temps on this particular trip.
Finally, a big shout out to Shug - I used to be a groundsleeper, and never really considered that there was ANY option to tossing and turning all night. Shug's videos helped me understand all the bits and pieces of getting equipped and gave me a comfort level (pun intended) with hammocking.
Parking lot at 43.99953/-71.35458
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...UTF8&z=12&om=1
Pond's edge at 44.04906/-71.38055
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...UTF8&z=12&om=1
John
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