Freedom — October 15, 2007 — After a long summer season of well-controlled water depth for Ossipee Lake, the fall/winter drawdown started last Wednesday. Level was holding at 407.25 for many weeks with half a gate open, the weather was warm and the boats were active.There were a few PWC and fast boats each day this last week, but for the most part docks are out and parking areas are full of covered boats.I have been holding off on writing this report until we got through the last few days of predicted rain. We had some rain early last week that brought the lake up about three inches over summer level by Wednesday. Two more gates were opened at 9 am – light rain returned but cleared by Friday morning morning.Water level got down to 407.25 by Friday and continued to drop until this morning when the level was about 6″ below summer level on the big lake. Some gates will be closed this morning to slow discharge from 825 down to 650 cubic feet per second. Next rain predicted for Thursday but is expected to be light.

Level Control Is On Schedule

The report from the Dam Authority in Concord is: “My goal is to see that the lake drops at a slow to moderate pace over the next month or so, but short duration increases due to rain are to be expected. As the level of Berry Bay drops we’ll arrange for the stoplogs to be removed.”As for fall color, yesterday was probably peak on the lake. Should hold for the week. We took the “Notch Train Ride” out of North Conway yesterday – last train of the season and first real cool day in the area. We had to book tickets two weeks in advance.It was a great trip with lots of information on life in the area in the 18 & 19 hundreds. There was some snow on a few mountain peaks. Best part of the trip was to be home in less than an hour from North Conway and in time to view all of the color across the bay at Camp Huckins.