Epsom Town Forest/Fort Mountain

 I had done Epsom Town Forest a few years ago in Winter as part of my redlining the AMC 5th Edition. I had also done Fort Mountain up the access road a couple of times when I was first getting into hiking. There is now an expanded small network that combines the 2, so I headed out today to explore. I was a bit hesitant, for some reason I was thinking it wouldn't be as well as established and maybe a little rustic.. it was the complete opposite. Well marked and very well maintained. A really enjoyable day in the woods. I parked at the Epsom Town Forest parking area on Tarleton Rd. First I checked out the cellar hole off the parking area, then continued down Tarleton Rd until I reached a sign at about 1.4 miles indicating the trail headed left off the road and into the woods. There was a nice viewpoint about halfway up the road looking over to Fort Mountain. Just a short climb up, the new blue blazed S Fort Mountain Vista Trail headed off to the right and meandered around the lower slopes of Nottingham Mountain before heading to Fort Mountain. The trail started the climb up towards Fort Mountain before reaching the orange blazed Vista Loop. This was a short, steep little climb up with 2 red blazed spurs off to viewpoints. I went in a clockwise direction once I reached the actual loop portion of the trail, and the first spur I encountered was the nicer with wide open views and an established firepit. Completing the loop, and arriving back at the blue trail, I continued on to what they are calling N Fort Mountain Vista Trail which weaved around the lower slopes of Fort Mountain towards Mill Pond. This side was much more rustic and technical, but still well marked and maintained. The trail skirts the edge of Mill Pond before reaching an old woods road at a dam. Turn right here and follow a short ways (you can either stay on the old road back to Tarleton Rd which I had previously done) or take a left just after the dam onto another orange blazed trail called Mill Sluice Foot Trail. This follows a brook from the pond, which was very dry today. I passed a sign that said Mill Spur Trail and tried to follow it. It's shown on the map, but there are no blazes. I saw some flagging on trees, but it petered out and I didn't see any sign of the old mill sluice apparently at the end of this spur. Back on Mill Sluice Foot Trail I followed it back to Tarleton Rd and returned to the car. 

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Kiosk on Tarleton Rd

cellar hole off parking area

another cellar hole along Tarleton Rd

view over to Fort Mountain from Tarleton Rd

where the trail leaves the road

Neville Peak Trail/S Fort Mountain Vista Trail intersection

view along S Fort Mountain Vista Trail

intersection of Fort Mountain Vista Trail and Vista Loop

at the loop portion of the lollipop on Vista Loop

first view point heading clockwise on Vista Loop

second view spur heading clockwise on Vista Loop

where N Fort Mountain Vista Trail meets the old road at Mill Pond

this was as far as I got on Mill Spur Trail

Cogswell Mountain Conservation Area

 It was a gorgeous day to get out into the woods. I headed to Gilmanton to explore the Cogswell Mountain Conservation Area. Parking is at the Gilmanton Year Round library, which amazingly had a porta-potty with running water and flush!!! The trail starts across a small mowed thruway in a field and into the woods. There are 4 maintained trails in the network and 3 of those also double as snowmobile trails. I started by ascending to the East Peak via the blue blazed, East Summit Trail. I was amazed how well maintained the area was, and the climb didn't feel so bad at all. The summit has a lovely open area with a bench overlooking Crystal Lake. I then continued on the newly created connecting section from the East Peak to the main summit, that is not yet marked on the map, but is well blazed and maintained. This was strictly a hiking path and was easy to follow. This descended down the East Peak before climbing back up to the red blazed Main Summit Trail, which was another snowmobile corridor and wide. The entrance to this section wasn't easily seen from the red trail, so if going in the opposite direction, when the trail took a sharp left turn to make the final climb with a Hiking Trail sign on a tree, look for the the double blue blazes indicating the start of this trail to the right. From here it was a short climb up to the main summit, where there was a picnic table and a short path down to another bench overlooking the lake. The trail continued very briefly beyond the picnic table to the true summit, which was viewless but marked with a large cairn. I descended down the Main Summit Trail to the orange blazed Beaver Loop, which was a super pretty trail that went alongside an unnamed pond with Route 140 on the opposite side. No beaver activity viewable today. Back on the red trail, I went the very short distance back to the blue trail and ascended again, this time to the yellow blazed Summit Connector. This alternated between being a grassy snowmobile trail and more technical hiking trail. This was the only area where it was somewhat buggy too as it was a bit wet in the middle section. Back at the red trail and I descended straight back down to the car. Another really lovely area, super well maintained with some great views. I'm discovering so many new places in this updated edition of the AMC South Guide. 

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Intersection of Blue and Red trail

true summit on the main peak

lovely open area along the red trail

Kuncanowet Town Forest

 Out to Dunbarton today to Kuncanowet Town Forest. The drive in was actually really pretty, and the trailhead is at the end of a small street of lake houses. Almost feels like you're not in the right place, but right at the end, a dirt road leads to a circular parking area with kiosk. I was the only car at 830am, and remained the only car all day! Judging by the bugs present at the kiosk, I geared up with bug spray and headed out. There is only 1 entrance point to the trails, so my goal was to get them all in one go if possible. It was a warm one, and the bugs were relentless, which did take some of the joy out of the day, but I got it done in just under 8 miles. I headed out on Hobblebush Trail, which was really lovely. It followed along a marshy area. At Mill Pond Trail, I turned left. This trail was wide and started nicely, but once past the first intersection with Pond View Loop, it became a bit more overgrown and muddy. Thankfully the mud was mostly dry for me today, but I can imagine after some rains, it's really quite messy. I continued to a bridge and then reached my first small spur signed Mill Sites. This seemed lightly used, but as was the case with the entire network, was well blazed and easy to follow. A short walk out to a cellar hole. Back on Mill Pond Trail, I continued to Gum Tree Trail. I took the left here to follow in an anti clockwise direction. Gum Tree Trail as a whole was a rolling up and down over several small bumps, nothing crazy and no views. The trail itself alternated between clear and obvious, to not discernible at all with leaves and rocks, but remained well blazed the entire way and I had no issues with navigation. The one named bump along the way (per Peakbagger) is Kuncanowet Hill, and the true summit appeared to be just off trail, so I did wander over to bag that. In the middle of Gum Tree Trail, is a short trail called Stone Wall Trail, that follows.. yep, a stone wall. This gives the option to shorten the loop. I did an out and back on this. Back on Gum Tree Trail, towards the bottom there is a spur to Gorham Pond. It dropped steeply at first, for a very short distance, then continued down to the pond. The closer to the pond, the trail became really quite overgrown, but was still blazed all the way to the very end, so I kept following for the sake of redlining. Back on Gum Tree Trail, I took the very short spur to the tree the trail is named after..  I think.. I couldn't see any blazes beyond a giant tree that was surrounded by very soft ground that I also imagine is very messy after rains. I continued on Gum Tree Trail back up to Lost Lake Loop. I needed to grab the section between the 2 branches of Gum Tree Trail, so I did an out and back on that, before continuing around Lost Lake Loop. This was lovely as well, though more rolling ups and downs and I started to get quite tired here. Between the heat of the day and the bugs driving me mad! I retraced my steps on Mill Pond Trail back to Pond View Loop and took that around past Stinson Mill Pond and back to Mill Pond which I followed all the way back to the kiosk and my car. Another lovely area, I just love exploring these unknown to me places!

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