Sawyer Pond camping 9/15-9/16/12

The day after my traverse of the Presidential Range, my Dad and a couple of his buddies were going to be up off the Kancamagus Highway on a little backpacking trip to Sawyer Pond. My legs were feeling a little tight and fatigued still, so I waited out most of the day to let them rest before taking the hike in to meet them.

The hike was going to start at the Sawyer Pond trail on the Kanc and a 4.5 mile hike into the pond. We had figured that it may be a little bit quieter up there than usual at the campsite because Sawyer River road was closed thanks to TS Irene, making the easier way in a few miles longer.

So the hike went by easy enough for me, the legs were definitely 'feeling it' a little still. The fact that I was carrying in 5 liters of Newcastle Brown Ale in a mini keg I'm sure didn't help.

I arrived at the campsite around 5:30 or so and there were the old men set up at site 1, well into their cocktail hour and feeling good. I got my tent set up and joined in fast as I could.

If you haven't visited Sawyer Pond, it's a beautiful spot tucked up in the mountains below Mt. Tremont and Owl Cliff.

Mt. Tremont (left) and Owl Cliff

Our thought that the lean-to and tentsites would be on the quiet side was not to be, as every one was taken by a group. Many of them, unaware of the road closure and trucked their gear up the road and the trail anyway. Didn't bother us any, we still got to do our thing. Dad cooked up a good meal and we all ate well.

After setting up and eating I went out and around gathering up firewood, because there was no way I wasn't going to have a fire here. I had brought in a pruning blade, so I was able to cut up good sized dead pieces. The immediate area was picked pretty clean, so I had to go out a little further to find anything but I made out pretty good. We ended up having a pretty ripping fire and it made the night go by all the better. Can't beat an adult beverage or two by a campfire.

The next morning dawned cold, but beautiful and I went down to the pond for a picture or two. Real nice morning with the fall colors just barely starting to show, sure felt like fall.

We had our breakfasts and broke camp for the 4.5 miles back the way we came in to the cars. It was a nice hike out with the good ol' boys and we were back at our cars and home in time for the Patriots game. Good to be out with my Dad, as always.

A slideshow of all images taken on this trip cam be found here: Slideshow