Squam Lake Association’s Moon Island -Kayaking & Camping

PHOTO: Bria paddling on glassy smooth water on Squam Lake somewhere north of Long Island and near Little Loon Island on our way to Five Finger Point. West Rattlesnake’s summit ledge is front and center with the Squam Range Mountains Morgan and Percival above and behind.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

When we made our Moon Island campsite reservations last May we had no idea that the last few days of summer would end up being some of the nicest of the season. We felt like we won the lottery with the sunny warm weather perfect for paddling and camping.
Sunday afternoon Bria and I launched our kayaks from the Squam Lakes Association’s headquarters on Piper Cove, Route 3, Holderness. Our kayaks were heavily stuffed with all our gear and food.
Moon Island is about 2 miles from the SLA boat launch. But we didn’t paddle a straight line to Moon Island because the water was choppy from the wind and the zooming motorboats. We pointed our kayaks straight into the waves and ended up at the little Potato Island and then we crossed Livermore Cove. After we passed the Holderness Town Beach we turned and rode the waves to Moon Island.

We landed on a nice small sandy beach not far from our campsite. We carried our stuff up to our site and set up our tents and organized for our two night stay.
Next we explored the island. We found the privy, the caretaker’s cabin and the firewood bundles by the dock. We carried firewood back to our site; one bundle for each night is included in our reservation.
We then hiked all the trails on the island, we hiked maybe 3 miles going around the shore and out and back on the paths. On the nature path we enjoyed the view over the water from Lookout Rock that spanned from Mt. Israel and Mt. Passaconaway to Mt. Chocorua and the peaks in between. It was magnificent.

We introduced ourselves to the fishermen staying at the other campsite. They made their reservation in January. This was their 3rd annual stay on Moon Island. The campsites are spread out and the group site between us stayed empty, so we felt like we had the island to ourselves.
The wind died in the late afternoon so we set up our chairs on the sandy beach and we soaked up the sun between taking dips in the Lake’s refreshing waters. The sunset made us say, “Wow” many times as the bright round yellow and orange light sank behind the south end of the Squam Range. The cries of the Loons filled our ears.

For supper we enjoyed cold pizza and cold beer as we sat next to our fire. The quality of the firewood was appreciated, it was dry split hardwood and easily caught fire using a couple pitchy pinecones as kindle. All night the full moon’s light filtered through the treetops.
The next morning we filtered water from the Lake and used my stove to boil water to make instant coffee. Bria brought her homemade egg-bites for breakfast. We ate at the beach wearing our down jackets while we waited for the sun to warm up the day. The Loons were still singing like they did most of the night.
All day Monday the Lake was a mirror and very few boats on the water, we were amazed. We were in our boats by 9 am and we paddled around the north end of our island, around the east side of Kimball Island, past some tiny islands and then all the way to Five Finger Point. We beached our boats and put on our hiking shoes and hiked the two mile loop around the Point. We went to all the outlooks. We didn’t dive into Rattlesnake Cove but Bria did go swimming when we got back to our landing point.

For our late picnic lunch I pulled chicken salad out of my cooler, along with tortillas, cherry tomatoes and two cans of seltzer water.
We paddled right under West Rattlesnake Mountain; my eyes were always flashing back and forth to the mountains and the water. Bria was the first to see the eagle smash into the water and come flying back up carrying a fish. And Loons so many Loons that seemed to often pop up and look at us and then dive and let us be again.
Past Deephaven, Algonquin & Willoughby Points, Sheep Island, more small islands and Merrill Island and back to our Moon Island beach, we paddled over 9 miles.
We rested on the beach and ate slices of Mom’s apple pie covered with vanilla yogurt! But before the sunset show we decided to get in our kayaks and paddle the short distance over to SLA’s Bowman Island where there are also campsites and hiking paths.
As we paddled around the south end of our island the fishermen were enjoying sitting on the rocks on their beach. They told us they didn’t have much luck fishing. They were amused that we were going hiking.
The islands are right next to one another so it didn’t take ten minutes to reach Bowman. We hiked all the paths and checked out the campsites and the cabin (SLA didn’t rent the cabin this summer due to Covid). It appeared that just one family was staying here.
On our way back to our campsite the fishermen were now in their kayaks and headed to deeper water to try to find some Bass. We wished them luck.
After more swimming and enjoying another wonderful sunset we built a fire in the rock fire ring. There was a grill grate at the site so we set it on the fire. We grilled hot dogs and heated up baked beans and I didn’t even burn either of them. The smoke went straight in the air since there was no wind, that was nice.
The Loon’s sang us to sleep again.
I got up early and went down to the beach to get water and the big full moon was setting a little further south of where the sun had set. I rushed up to camp and woke Bria up and we ran back down to the beach to see the full moon’s last minutes as it went out of sight.

Bria suggested that before breakfast we should paddle to Chocorua Island Chapel, also known as Church Island. The small island is home to the non-denominational open air chapel, =services are held from the first Sunday in August through the first Sunday in September. This was their 118th season, since 1903, and the chapel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The public is welcome to enjoy its peace and beauty and to respect it as a religious sanctuary.
We paddled fast on the smooth water. We heard the music before we saw the boat dragging an X-Games type wakeboarder doing flips. Seriously, who does this at 7 am? The smooth water was perfect for water skiing but the loud music was not cool.
We enjoyed a quiet time on Church Island. On the north end of the island there is a white birch wooden cross and a granite rock pulpit with the water and a view of Mt. Chocorua and all the benches face this natural setting.
On the way back to Moon Island we saw the eagle catch another fish! A couple of Loons made appearances too.
Back at camp we made breakfast and took down our tents and left the campsite just as we found it. . We packed everything into our kayaks and we paddled straight back to Piper Cove. We saw the family from Bowman island in their canoes headed back just ahead of us.
Squam Lake was the perfect place to say goodbye to summer. We sure hope we can get a reservation again for next summer!
Have Fun.