On a day like today, the better part of campus is cursing the schizophrenic weather, struggling to get out of bed for anything less than blue skies and 60-degree days. But not me. I like my beach afternoons on the green just fine, but when the skies turn grey and clouds pile up, the coming rain means good news for me. Rain means river levels come up. Rain means I get to go kayaking.
Kayaking, like skiing, surfing and so many others, is one of those sports that rely on fairy tale weather patterns of stormy rainy nights and warm blue-sky days. So when anything even close to that rolls around Hanover, it's a cause for excitement. Blitzes go out in flurries, everybody sucks up to the kids with cars and does their damnedest to get off campus and out to the rivers.
Running rivers is a good time and all, but getting there and back is at least half the fun. That's why Ledyardites seem like such a cult. You've seen us down there ... those kids in the little boats and goofy neoprene getups flipping and rolling around while you're trying to relax and enjoy your tanning session on the dock at Ledyard.
Kayaking is enough fun on its own to draw all of us out of our beer-filled ivory tower, to make us drive hours round trip to bounce down rivers, get cold and wet, and come back smelling like neoprene. But in truth, the latter is almost the best party anyway.
Rolling home from a paddling trip, it's hard not to have a better perspective on things than when you left; it's hard to focus on worrying about midterms when you've spent the afternoon focusing on not drowning. There's no feeling in the world like knowing that you've gone out and done something with your day that you enjoy and then getting to relax and enjoy the rest of the trip back.
You go out, work hard, get freezing cold, but then get to change back into warm, dry clothes, drive for a while with some good friends, and maybe eat some quality off-campus food. The sun is going down, you're warm and comfortable with your iPod on the stereo, and you've almost certainly got a stop at Stinson's or Bev-King in your future. It's like a low-key aprs ski on wheels.
And that's not even considering the food stops. The I-91 corridor of the Upper Valley is packed with some of the best, most unexpected places to find really good food on the road. Truck stops, diners and gas stations form a network of cheap deliciousness that lines the highway, constituting an essential element of every boating/road trip.
P&H Truck Stop in Wells River, VT, is a Dartmouth kayaker's best friend. Five minutes from the Wells River, our most frequently paddled creek, P&H hosts a huge variety of cheap and delicious road fare. Homemade Rice Krispie treats to put Collis to shame, whoopee pies the size of your head, and dozens of fresh homemade pie varieties available 24 hours a day and all for $2 to $4. When you walk in the front door, the sight of the fridge packed with pies and other goodness is pretty inspiring.
For a longer stop, the diner there is also ridiculously good -- huge stacks of pancakes, greasy-as-hell eggs and bacon, and daily lunch and dinner specials that keep regulars coming in multiple times per week.
Wings Market in Fairlee, VT, just off exit 15 on 91 North is positioned at the center of many a DOC outing. It's right on the way to the Wells, the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge and the Orford Ledges, popular destinations for paddlers, climbers and hikers alike. A few steps beyond your ordinary gas'n'sip, Wings has fresh and pre-made deli food, sandwiches and a surprisingly large mini-market. I personally recommend the classic pre-boating culinary combination of Dr. Pepper and Chef Boyardee Beefaroni. You'll not find a cheaper, more satisfying or sketchier meal anywhere.
In the very same parking lot as Wings Market, you'll find the Udder Delight dairy/ice cream stand. It's supposedly the best ice cream to cost ratio in the Upper Valley, and damn good ice cream too ... but it's only open in the summer. So if you're lucky enough to be around for the summer (whatup '08s), give this place a look next time you get off campus.
Local ice cream legend also tells of a place called Whistlestops in Wilder that has now closed, but used to be a giant in soft serve. The stories tell of dozens of flavors of soft serve, from delicious homemade versions of the classics to kinds beyond your wildest dreams. What better way to get over a rough day on the river than with a big frozen cone of comfort food? Unfortunately for young'uns like myself, we can only imagine, but at least we still have Ben and Jerry's and Udder Delight in the summertime. Because, hey, comfort food is comfort food, wherever you get it from.
For a mellower river run and a closer diner, try the Fort (formerly Fort Lou's), which is right on the way to the Mascoma River. Owing its crazy good and crazy big portions of diner food and 24-hour breakfast to its former association with Lou's of Hanover, it's a less crowded, more accessible version of its old namesake.
The 4 Aces Diner in Lebanon has the best greasy-spoon diner food of all the diners I've visited. Also near the Mascoma, 4 Aces is right around the corner from the class 5 "Downtown" section of the river that runs, shockingly enough, right through downtown Lebanon. 4 Aces, unlike P&H or The Fort, is not open 24 hours, but when 4 Aces is open and Downtown is running, there's no better combination for a quick kayaking excursion.
Perhaps the ultimate inter-DOC connection, the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge is just a stone's throw from the Baker River Valley, home to a number of Ledyard's classic rivers. The Baker's upper section and south branch as well as Pond Brook and various sections of the Pemigewasset are all reasonably situated for a visit to the lodge after your run. I can't imagine a better spring or fall outing than an afternoon of paddling and a night at the lodge.
Well ... I mean there are tons more places to sit and rest your trail- or river-weary muscles over a few cups of coffee, but what would be the fun in giving them all away? Come with us and find out for yourself. I like my ivory tower just as much as the next guy, but sometimes, like once every few terms or something, it's nice to get off campus, even if it's just for an hour. Just imagine hearing about "things going wrong" instead of "rigs getting soiled" for a little while. Wow.
The places you can see boating with Ledyard stretch all over the Upper Valley, to North Carolina and Canada, and every one of them serves just as good Dr. Pepper and Beefaroni as the last.
