Lake Sunapee

New London, Newbury and Sunapee, NH

4125 acres
105’ maximum depth
37’ average depth

Sunapee stretches eight miles from Georges Mills in the north to Newbury Harbor in the south. Curiously, it is home to three of New Hampshire’s five lighthouses. (The other two are on the Seacoast.) The lake’s southern end is dominated by 2700-foot Mount Sunapee, home to a large ski resort. The remainder of the shoreline is rugged but not mountainous. There's a small cluster of islands just south of the ‘Broads’ in the lake’s midsection. A good access point is Blodgett's Landing off Route 103-A, halfway up the east shore of the lake. From Blodgett's Landing, it's easy to reach the islands, and two of the three lighthouses. Georges Mills in the north is also a convenient launch spot because of its proximity to Interstate 89.
Because of its size, Sunapee rarely freezes before January except for shallow coves and harbors. Once frozen, it becomes quickly snow-covered in a typical winter, but it stays frozen until April. The best skating is often in February and March when freeze-thaw cycles can create spectacular smooth ice. Once I skated a round trip from Georges Mills to Newbury Harbor and back in 1 hour 17 minutes. More typically, smooth ice on Sunapee is a good excuse for a relaxed tour, exploring coves, harbors and islands and taking photos.
Most of Sunapee’s shoreline has been developed, but it still has a wilderness aspect in the winter when the lakefront cottages are deserted. The lighthouses have their lights switched off. Docks are pulled up out of the water so the ice won't damage them. Boats are safely tucked into their boathouses. But the boathouses themselves need protection from the ice, and the solution is to rig up a ‘bubbler’ to keep the water moving so it won't freeze. As a result, every boathouse is surrounded by a patch of open water, with a large sign reading "Danger - Thin Ice" facing the lake.
Away from the boathouses and docks, the ice thickness was more than adequate: 14 inches (35 cm), according to a local ice fisherman (right photo) who had drilled several holes through the ice with his power auger. Fishing over a deep hole, he and his partner had already caught their daily limit of lake trout and were packing up to head home. Their collapsible tents were mounted on platforms that could be hitched to the back of a snowmobile or ATV and dragged across the ice back to shore.
A fleet of iceboats were out testing the wind. These contraptions slide across the ice on three steel runners, and they can reach amazing speeds in a strong wind. On my trip north to Georges Mills, the sailors were walking and pushing more than they were sailing, but on the return trip to Blodgett's Landing, the wind came up and they rocketed past me at 30 MPH.
The ice was definitely not smooth -- it had an ‘orange peel’ texture, and there were ‘fossilized’ snowmobile tracks to contend with. Approaching Georges Mills in the northwest corner of the lake, the ice became crusty, snow-covered and unskateable. But everywhere else, the skating was effortless.
There were very few cracks, but there was one large pressure ridge running west to east, from the mouth of Sunapee Harbor to Owls Nest near Soo-Nipi Park. As pressure ridges go, this one was not especially dangerous, and I was able to easily find a safe crossing point.
My favorite part of the lake is cruising around the islands, particularly Great Island and Burkehaven Island, which have sizeable summer cottages. Burkehaven Island can be reached by a rickety wooden bridge from the mainland, but Great Island is accessible only by boat in the summer. In the winter it's a different story, and the ice displays the evidence of various crossing methods -- on foot, on skis, on snowmobiles, in cars and trucks. You need a truck to tow your ice fishing hut or ‘bobhouse’ across the ice to your favorite fishing spot. These bobhouses (photos right and below) were part of a ‘fishing village’ near Blodgett's Landing.
On March 16th, a sunny, warm and windless day, I attempted one last excursion on the ice. Plowing through the snowdrifts with difficulty, I passed the north tip of Great Island and skirted the south shore of Burkehaven Island to the wooden bridge, then retraced my route back to Blodgett's Landing. The return trip was much faster, as I could skate in my outbound tracks. I saw just one ice fisherman that day, a retiree from Massachusetts who was enjoying the ultimate in peace and quiet and beautiful scenery. It's hard to imagine a more perfect setting.
Copyright © 1998-2024 by Jamie Hess. All rights reserved worldwide.