NH Cohos Trail: Fourth Connecticut Lake and Canadian Border

Starting out by headlamp

After seven years of sporadic section hiking up from Long Island Sound, today was the day I would finally reach the Canadian border and take a spin around the source of the Connecticut River. And the forecast was terrible. Showers in the morning and steady rain in the afternoon.  It was pitch dark when I headed down Sophie's Lane, trying to cover some ground before the rains hit. The Milky Way had stretched across the sky above my tent, so the clouds hadn't moved in yet, which was encouraging.

Sophie's Lane at dawn

The Cohos follows Sophies Lane, an old road and snowmobile trail, all the way to the border, so it was very easy going, even by headlamp. I kept my eye out for the eye-shine of moose or deer but didn't see anything.

Sophie's Lane. No rain yet.

It was six miles to the border, much of it on gravel. As the sky lightened and the sun rose, the colorful leaves and dark green spires of spruce and balsam were revealed. Those last few miles were bittersweet. I was eager to get reach my goal but also sad the journey was about to end.

Willow Midge Galls that look like Rhododendron flower buds

Eventually the gravel part ended and the lane continued on as a rough and often muddy snowmobile trail, and my pace slowed as I dodged the worst of the mud.

Sophie's Lane now just a rough snowmobile trail

Still no rain when I reach the Third Connecticut Lake. Another day, another Connecticut Lake. This one was originally called St. Sophia and is 100 feet deep.

Third Connecticut Lake

After exploring the Third Lake, it wasn't very far to the Canadian border. There was a funny moment where I passed a sign demanding that people PROCEED SLOWLY, and I reflexively started walking more slowly. The sign is, of course, for snowmobilers.

Getting close!

And there it was! The trail came out beside the U.S. border station, a rather cold and intimidating complex surrounded by chain link fencing, and took a sharp turn at a trail register and a sign for the Nature Conservancy's Fourth Connecticut Lake Trail.

Border facility and Nature Conservancy traihead

The Cohos follows this lollipop-loop trail up the hill right through the border clearing. It was pretty overgrown down at the bottom, and the tall vegetation was soaked, so I stopped to put on my rain pants prior to wading through it.

Following the border clearing

The trail starts out pretty steeply and there was one ledge that was a bit of a challenge to get up with a full pack on, but the view was worth it. I was not expecting that. And it still wasn't raining! Luck was with me.

Unexpectedly spectacular views going up the border hill

This is one of the most interesting trails I've ever been on. The treadway meanders through the border clearing, sometimes in the U.S. and sometimes in Canada. Back and forth, back and forth. There are lots of survey markers along the way marking the border, with placards on nearby trees calling out the often hidden survey monuments.

boundary marker

Once the border trail got through the thick vegetation and up the hill it was a breeze. The Verizon coverage map had suggested there might be a signal here, so I gave it a shot. And there was signal, though it was a roaming area. Amazingly, my husband had just texted that he was at the Brattleboro rest area at 8:55 am, only a few minutes ago. This was earlier than expected. I replied that I was almost to the Fourth Lake. He was still at the rest area and saw the text. Sometimes things just work out.

I don't speak French, so I'll go with 'no trespassing'

The Brattleboro rest area was about a four hour drive away, so I'd be getting picked up around 1:00 pm. The original pickup time was 2:30 pm, but my husband left early knowing I'd be waiting in the rain. Sweet. And he'd made it through I-91 rush hour traffic through Hartford and Springfield. So anyway, I had about four hours to kill. And it still wasn't raining. 

The trail then turned off the border clearing and headed southwest down towards the Fourth Connecticut Lake. Since I would be mostly just hanging out and killing time from this point on, I used the occasion to getting into some warmer layers and full rain gear.

First Connecticut Lake

And there it was, the source of the Connecticut River. A far cry from Long Island Sound, where it empties out. It was so peaceful. Not a soul was out there.

First Connecticut Lake

I somehow managed to spend a couple hours slowly circling the lake and exploring the trail. The trail was quite full of roots and there were a number of low areas with bog bridges and moose tracks.  Mostly I remember the thick blanket of vivid green moss and creeping snowberry carpeting the ground under the spruce and fir.

The lake is surrounded by a carpet of moss and Creeping Snowberry

There were several small streamlets flowing into the pond, but only one flowing out: The Connecticut River. It was barely flowing at all. I tried filling up my water bottle, but honestly the water looked pretty stagnate and I dumped it back out. I got water from one of the inlets instead.

The Connecticut River!

Somewhere earlier in this journey I'd seen white berries that I later identified as Creeping Snowberry. It may have been up on Mt. Lafayette. After reading that you could eat them and they're minty, I had regretted not getting a chance to taste them. And here they were once again, so I popped one in my mouth and indeed, they are minty. I just had one and left the rest. Leave the berries to the animals.

Creeping Snowberry - Minty!

Eventually I started back down towards the border station, going as slow as possible. Instead of the predicted rain, the sun came out and now I was sweating into my layers.

Heading back down the border clearing

Ah, but it was glorious. The official end of the Cohos is a tiny fenced area guarding a pair of monuments topped by the Canadian and U.S. flags. And the sun was out. What a perfect ending. It was noon and the predicted morning showers never happened. What a moment.

The end of the line

So now it was just waiting for my ride. I got confused about where I was supposed to wait. There was a little gravel area next to the fenced monuments that looked like a parking area, so I thought that was the parking area for the Fourth Connecticut Lake Trail, but I wasn't sure. I thought of trying to ask someone inside, but I couldn't tell how to approach the border fortress. I thought about walking around it on the lawn but wasn't sure if that was allowed. So I just stayed where I was, sat down, and opened up the Kindle app on my phone to read a book. I was there for maybe half an hour when a guy from the U.S. border complex came out and told me to move. Actually, he first asked if I was OK, and if I was American or Canadian, and when I said I was American he took my word for it and directed me to walk on the lawn around the fenced facility to the designated parking area. Never asked to see my passport, which I'd kept handy just in case.

Waiting in the wrong location for my ride. 

That made a lot more sense. The correct parking area is well signed for the Nature Conservancy Trail and a second sign directs hikers over the lawn to where I had been sitting, but none of that can be seen from the back side.

Meanwhile the sky had darkened and a cold wind had risen. It was getting really chilly. And then the promised rain finally hit. A cold, steady rain. That's OK. It held off in the morning so I couldn't complain.  It got cold though, and the rain was pretty heavy, so eventually I started walking down Route 3 just to warm up. Happily, the misery was short-lived. My husband pulled up shortly and I jumped into a warm, dry car. And with that, we set off to retrieve my car at Dixville Notch and explore Pittsburg.

Metallak commemoration on the way back to Dixville Notch