By Marty Basch

A few miles from Lake Winnipesaukee, Tuftonboro's Copps Pond was waking up as the sun rose. A small 180-acre pond with a dam in its northwest end, migratory geese flew overhead while the first light of the day reached over the surrounding hills and mountains.

Aside from the geese, there were cackling crows and a few water fowl couples swimming about before venturing to other places. A number of wood duck nesting boxes were scattered around the marshy shore while muddy mats of floating sphagnum kept the paddling interesting in the shallow Copps Pond Management Area overseen by New Hampshire Fish and Game. The quiet waterway with just a handful of tucked away homes is located on an unnamed dirt road off Route 109A about a quarter mile east of its junction with winding Route 109. The homes are fairly hidden by trees as is a highway shed near the put-in.

The seasons of color and Indian summer are prime time for local exploration. Post-Columbus Day autumn brings incredible bursts of hues with generally less-congested roadways. Leaf peeping continues but its time for those off-the-beaten path possibilities like the Lakes Region's curving 23 miles or so on Route 109 between Center Sandwich and Wolfeboro. The roadway is home to resplendent white steepled churches, ancient stone walls and sleepy villages more awake during summer. Outdoor adventurers might use the route to get to hiking trails in the Sandwich Range, the Loon Center  at the Markus Wildlife Sanctuary in Moultonborough and the eastern shores of the Big Lake.

But there are also little known treasures like Copps Pond and the nearby wooden Abenaki Tower with its vistas over the eastern coves of Winnipesaukee and over to the Belknap Range.

Copps Pond is loaded with lily pads, the yellow and white flowers gone until next year. Marshy coves invite exploration giving the pond a feeing that it's a lot bigger than it first appears. There aren't any motorboats  and the tranquility is alone broken by the occasional road noise of a big vehicle passing by. The pond is picturesque, in the shadow of the Ossipee Mountains with 2,990-foot Mount Shaw its tallest, with many dead tree stumps poking their wooden skeletons above the water, giving them an a appearance more like boney sculptures than dead wood. Mount Shaw is in itself a story. Portions of its western shoulder is teaming with carriage roads on the property of Castle in the Clouds, a Lakes Region Conservation Trust property. According to the Trust, the Ossipee Range is some 9 miles in diameter with views of Red Hill, the Presidentials, Mount Monadnock and the Belknaps in its scopes.

Towering views

The same wall of low-lying mountains—2582-foot Roberts and 2782-foot Faraway— viewed from the pond can be spotted from the top of the Abenaki Tower, a short drive away on Route 109 with its stone pillared entryway.

The tower is maintained by local volunteers under the auspices of the Abenaki Tower Association in Melvin Village. The tower, though marred by scrawls of graffiti, is some 80 feet high. It was first built in 1929 and restored in 1979. The storied tower was used to spot aircrafts during World War II and for fire detection as well.

Located on Abenaki Hill, the viewing platform also has an association with the old Wawbeek Hotel and cottages. The 26-room hotel and surrounding cottages and cabins was a well-known central New Hampshire vacation spot on the northeast shore of the Big Lake that was once serviced by a mail boat.  Like many old hotels, it burned to the ground, only kept alive in the memories of those who spent time there in their youth.

A wide, benign path leads to the tower. The walk is perhaps a couple hundred yards, easy for those looking for views without much effort.

From the top, the lake's islands dotted the horizon. The ski trails of Gunstock waited for snow while clouds muted any chances of seeing a Presidential peak if possible. So put the kayak on top of the car and point it to a road less traveled lined with a kaleidoscope of color and surprises.