I had all good intentions of doing the Spellman Trail on Monadnock today. Get one of those "scary" trails done. However when I arrived at the toll gate for Monadnock State Park, there was a big, huge grey cloud overhead and the Ranger said they had received a decent amount of rain the evening prior. So I went with my head instead of my heart, and took on my Plan B. I parked at HQ around 830 to an already half full lot. Headed up the White Dot Trail for about half a mile, then turned on White Cross Trail. Let's face it, every trail up this mountain is steep. Apparently this is one of the "lesser steep" ones. It's still steep. As to be expected, I saw a variety of "hikers" on the trails, many in regular street sneakers and no jackets, barely even carrying water despite the large sign at the trailhead warning you what is needed to remain safe. White Cross Trail is a combination of bouldery goodness, steps made out of rock and just plain rock slab/ledge to ascend. There definitely were some small areas of reprieve to take a break and maybe half a mile before the higher White Dot intersection, the views start to open up and you are reminded why you take on these adventures. I reached the Smith Connecting intersection, about a tenth of a mile below the White Dot intersection. This would be the start of my descent, not needing to hit the actual summit today, but I did need that tenth of a mile up to White Dot. Just as I started on this short out and back, the heavens opened, confirming my decision to not take on Spellman today. I ducked under tree cover and put on my rain gear. I made it up to White Dot and turned around heading back for the Smith Connecting Trail. This trail is marked with S's painted on various rocks along the way. It was much quieter now that I was off the more popular routes, but I still passed a couple groups along the way. Less jean shorts and Dasani bottles on the lesser traveled trails though, more fully prepared hikers! I made my way down to the intersection with Amphitheatre Trail, which finished off the Smith Connecting Trail for my redlining spreadsheet and continued on to Bald Rock. By now the rain had stopped thankfully and I took a moment to enjoy the views before continuing descending on Cliff Walk. I enjoy this trail, but it does remind me of the circus. Lots of up, down and all around. Plenty of butt slides and gymnastics to get up and down those short steep sections. Cliff Walk is marked with Cs painted on the rocks. I made it to Thoreau's Seat, which I had visited a while back. My memory of this landmark was it was a huge rock to climb over and last time I had been way too scared to try and get over it. I was a bit anxious as I came upon it this time, and it does take some creativity for those of us vertically challenged to get up "into" the seat, but when I looked over the other side, I wondered what I had been so concerned about. Yes, it was a butt slide down, but nothing scary about it. I needed that very short section from Thoreau's Seat down to the Lost Farm Trail intersection, which I could literally see from where I stood. There was just a very steep, short scramble down to get to that point. I made it safely down, stopped at the view point at the Lost Farm Trail intersection briefly and continued on my way. Lost Farm Trail seems to go on forever on tired legs. It has a jungle feel with lots of mossy rocks. Once down off the main climb though, it flattens out and reaches Parker Trail for a very gentle exit back to Headquarters and parking. This mountain continues to challenge me in every way possible, but step by step I'm getting closer to completing all the trails.

White Cross

views from White Cross

my turnaround point at White Dot

onto Smith Connecting

zoomed in on all those unprepared heading for the summit in the rain

Smith Connecting-Cliff Walk

looking back up what I came down

Thoreau's Seat

looking down the last big scramble

from the bottom looking back up

Lost Farm Trail

and out on Parker

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Section 14 Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway

I actually did this Section over 2 Sunday's as an out and back from each end, but I'll tell the story in one report. I took pictures starting at the Newbury Harbor end, so we'll begin there. Parking is along Lake Sunapee on Rt 103, which is the same for the Newbury Trail up Mt Sunapee. There was only 1 car when I arrived. I geared up and headed out. Mosquitoes are out at the moment, so bug spray and bug net were put to good use on these hikes. The first 2 miles are on the roads, starting out down Rt 103. A couple short sections do not have sidewalk, so take care on these sections. Take a left onto Old Post Road and start going uphill. I was surprised how busy this road actually was, a relatively constant stream of cars, but the road is wide and I was able to keep way off to the side with no safety concerns. After a couple tenths, turn left onto Old Province Road.. and continue going uphill. At just under a mile, take a left onto grassy road (that is named Bartlett Road on some maps) at the sign for Bly Hill Cemetery. This is an old woods road and continues to head uphill. About half a mile up this there is an SRKG blaze on a tree on the left showing the trail going right up a short little rocky climb to a private driveway. Cross the driveway, and the trail re-enters the woods. There are some SRKG blazes pointing the way. (This was my turnaround point on hike 1). For just over 2 miles, the trail is now in the woods and on what is known as Fishersfield Trail, though only signed on the Chalk Pond side. From the private drive, the trail climbs up a little more and then has some rolling ups and downs. Pass a logged area with peekaboo views of the surrounding area. Initially the treadway is easy to identify and is well marked. Beyond the logged area, the trail becomes a little harder to follow, but is still relatively well marked. I did find that the blazes going in this direction were a little sparser than coming from the Chalk Pond side. I had to turn around and use the reverse blazes several times to stay on track, and did in fact wander off trail 3 times.. thankfully only briefly as it was my return direction on my 2nd hike and I quickly realized things didn't look familiar. A downloaded track helped immensely in those areas. The closer to Chalk Pond the trail got, it definitely became less identifiable, especially through some rocky areas where the small grasses had grown in and there was quite a bit of small debris. The last half mile or so is quite a steep descent (so uphill if coming from Chalk Pond). You can start to see signs of life with houses not far off. The true trail portion ends at a sign for Fishersfield Trail and continues on an old woods road for another few tenths. There were a couple of For Sales signs along the trail too, must be land alongside that is for sale as there were no houses in that immediate vicinity. The woods road ends at Skytop Lane and you turn right. Continuing downhill to a stop sign, take a left on Gerald Drive. I did not see any blazes at this turn in either direction. Walk along Gerald Drive for about a tenth of a mile to another stop sign and turn right onto Chalk Pond Road. Head up Chalk Pond Road a short distance and the Stoney Brook Wildlife Sanctuary parking area is on the left. This is the end of Section 14. Nothing of note along this section, just a relatively pleasant wander through the woods and neighborhoods of Newbury! I now just have 1 1/2 sections left to complete of the Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway.

Strava Activity - Part 1

Strava Activity - Part 2