I was on a time constraint today, it was raining and I'm not available tomorrow. Bear Mountain Trail seemed to fit the bill. Even if it did take almost as long to get there as I was out on the trail. I wasn't sure what to expect, there's not a lot out there on this trail besides the description on the Newfound Audobon website. I knew it was about a mile long and had some elevation gain to it. I had expected it to be somewhat rustic, perhaps a bit hard to follow. It was the exact opposite. Really well maintained and blazed and overall quite pleasant. Parking is about 3 tenths from the trailhead, around the corner on Cross Road. There is a sign for Hebron Marsh and Bear Mountain Trail parking. I pulled in, it's basically a field, and someone was out with a metal detector! It had rained the entire drive up but magically stopped as I started out. The trailhead is right on West Shore Road, marked with a sign and blaze and immediately heads uphill. The trail meanders up and around through Newfound Audobon property, crossing a brook that leads to Newfound Lake, 3 times. I had thought it might be a tough crossing with all the recent rain, but it was actually very small, with the third crossing barely having a trickle. There was a lot of small debris from the most recent storms, and I spent a lot of time on my ascent moving as much off trail as I could. A few large blowdowns crossed the path as well, with a couple being stepovers and 2 being skooch arounds, but nothing impossible or even difficult. A few short, steep pitches kept the heart rate up, but there is nothing technical about this trail. At about 1 mile from the road, a lollipop intersection is marked with a yellow blaze on a tree and 2 yellow blazes on each side. I opted to go left as the trail description on the website described, which was a short steep climb up to the height of land. The map references a lookout and I saw an area that probably was said lookout over Newfound Lake, however the trees have grown up pretty much obstructing that view. I had a peekaboo view today with the leaves still being down. The loop follows the property boundary line. I heard voices and thought someone was coming up the other direction, but no one did, and then I saw a neighboring road through the trees, so I must have heard someone on the road. Completing the loop back to the intersection was muddy and messy. A completely different experience from the rest of the trail. This section was only about 0.3 miles. Back at the intersection and I retraced my steps back to the car. The minute I got back in the car, it started raining again!

parking on Cross Road

trail head on West Shore Road

zoomed out to see from street view

intersection for the lollipop

peekaboo view from the "lookout"

Sunday, April 14, 2024

Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Section 13

After a glorious start to the week including a Total Solar Eclipse, ending in rain, I knew the trails would be messy. I decided to go back and finish Section 13 of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway. I parked at the Stoney Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Newbury alongside Chalk Pond. I geared up throwing in my spikes just in case (they were not needed) and headed out on Chalk Pond Trail. At about 2 tenths, the trail veered right and started to gently climb. The conditions alternated between wet, very wet, super ridiculously muddy and beautiful and dry. There was one small section where a re-route around one of the muddiest spots is not marked. I was knee deep in mud when I looked up and saw a blaze off to the side. I backed up and could see where the path went, but it was not obvious at all initially. Thankfully I had only gone a hundred feet or so, and as I had been expecting muddy conditions I wasn't upset. The trail continued to gently climb up to a high point passing one very small patch of snow. I saw more snow off trail, but this was the only patch I had to cross all day. There were also some water crossings that ordinarily were small, but with all the snowmelt and rain were extra today and at times it was impossible to not walk through. My boots held up though and kept my feet dry! The trail started to descend slightly and at about the 1.1 mile mark met up with Baker Hill Road. The trail then followed Baker Hill Road downhill for half a mile. This is a paved road, but was quiet and follows alongside a golf course. At the first right, Haynes Road, turn right. This was not marked going in this direction, but there was a blaze on a pole opposite the intersection marking the way for those coming down Haynes Road. The real uphill begins here. Haynes Road is 0.4 miles long and is paved. At the end a gravel driveway begins and bears right with a gate. Kings Hill Road, which is a Class VI road heads straight. This was a true Class VI road and was very eroded in places as well as very wet and rocky. There was a nice ridge alongside the eroded sections most of the way, but even that was very soft in places from the excess water. The trail climbs to a point about a quarter mile from the Kings Hill summit before starting to descend. I followed another 0.7 miles or so, which was some of the most eroded section I encountered all day reaching my turnaround point at a large split boulder in the trail, where I had reached a couple weeks ago in all the snow. Much different today. I stopped for a quick snack before backtracking exactly the way I came. I just have 3 more sections to complete on the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway!

Strava Activity

start at Stoney Brook Wildlife Sanctuary

trail veers right in Stoney Brook Wildlife Sanctuary

the only snow I had to cross

expanded water crossing after the rains

one of the nice and dry parts

end of the trail at Baker Hill Road

road walk on Baker Hill Road

right on Haynes Road

start of Class VI Kings Hill Road

this nice section hiding slippery mud under the leaves

very eroded

my turnaround point

Sunday, April 7, 2024

Wantastiquet-Monadnock Trail - Stones Mill Road

We had a massive snowstorm this past week. My little town looked a bit like a war zone with tree debris and in the vicinity of 16 inches of snow. We were without power/internet for over 24 hours. My trend of wanting nothing to do with Winter hiking continued, so I checked the town by town snow totals for the areas I have left on my redlining spreadsheet and took a punt on the Keene area. I parked at the Beals Road trailhead for Pisgah State Park. I packed snowshoes and spikes just in case and headed off down Stones Mill Rd. The conditions were alternating between dry, wet, very wet, muddy and snowy. The snowy conditions were never more than a few inches at most, so I was able to bare boot the entire way. I was surprised to see a set of tracks on the trail already. I can't imagine this is a highly traveled trail unless you are either redlining or hiking the W-M Trail. There were also some jeep tracks on all the roads where vehicles were allowed. Some of those sections were really "off road" and I was amazed that a jeep was able to navigate, must have been quite the adventure. A couple tenths down Stones Mill Road, the W-M Trail bears left onto Draper Road. Just under half a mile down Draper Road is the Draper Tent Site. I wasn't sure where exactly the tent site was beforehand, just knew it must be along here somewhere due to the name. Luckily the footprints I was following also explored the tent site as I was looking down so intently to avoid rocks and deeper mud/water I almost walked right past. The tent site is about 0.2 miles from the trail and has a logbook and brand new privy. The next half mile was downhill and the messiest part of the day. Lots of water and mud and trees down in places. Nothing that impeded progress, just slowed me down a bit as I was careful with my footing so as not to slip. At the bottom it was so wet, I wasn't sure if it was an actual water crossing or the trail was flooded. A large tree down made it a bit tricky to see which direction the trail went as there was a cross road, but I had a pre-downloaded track which kept me on course. The trail veered right onto Hinds Road and here it really was flooded. At this point, I was over trying to be careful with my steps and just walked right on through the water. It was only a couple hundred yards, and my waterproof boots held up pretty well. A bridge crossed an inlet and then it was dry. The trail briefly joined Old Swanzey Road, which is residential, then veered left onto Old Chesterfield Road, which is a Class VI road. After one tenth, the road heads left and in another 3 tenths the trail turns left at an intersection I almost missed again as there is currently a large tree down in front of the trail, which initially I thought was blocking access.. it probably is, for jeeps, but at the last moment I caught a blue blaze on a tree indicating the W-M Trail heading in that direction. From here to my turnaround point, the trail was all snow, but never deep. It also gently climbs to a highpoint before descending down to a beaver dam. I was surprised to see that the trail actually crossed right over the beaver dam, that was a first for me. Prepare to get wet feet on this section. I was very nervous that the dam would hold me, but it did and I continued another tenth or so before coming to another pond that had a large log bridge crossing. I decided to make this my turnaround point as I was starting to tire and figured this was an easily discernible point to return to from the opposite direction! I crossed the log bridge, then backtracked to Old Swanzey Road. Not really wanting to climb back up the messy section, I decided to road walk back along Old Swanzey Road to Stones Mill Road. This only added about half a mile and was much easier going. These roads are both hard packed dirt road and quiet.

Strava Activity

Parked at Beals Road trailhead

headed down Stones Mill Rd

Left onto Draper Rd

Draper tent spur

some of the varied conditions

that's the trail!

bridge on Hinds Rd

left onto Old Chesterfield Rd

left at this tree into W-M Trail

this section was all snow

cross the dam

my turnaround point

view from the log bridge

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Section 13

After my trudge last week in just a small amount of snow, I wasn't interested in repeating that adventure.. so headed for some road sections. I decided on half of Section 13 of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway, beginning where I had left off at Wadleigh State Park in Sutton. I found the entrance to Kearsarge Valley Trail on Penacook Road was plowed with enough room (and no signs forbidding) to park without blocking the gate. It was exceptionally windy today so all the Winter gear came out. I started out down Penacook Road, which begins by following the shore of Kezar Lake. Aside from the wind, it was a gorgeous day. There were actually quite a few people out walking along this hard packed dirt road. About halfway down there is a great view across to Mt Kearsarge. The road leaves the lake and gently starts to climb towards Kings Hill. At the end of Penacook Road, turn left onto Kings Hill Road. I knew this was only drivable part of the way, then became a Class VI road, but I was surprised to see the plowed section was much further down than I had expected. Initially I was hesitant to continue as I wasn't really interested in any snow trudging, but as I got closer I could see it had been broken out by a couple sets of footprints, so I decided to give it a go with the mindset of turning around if it became too unpleasant. The snow depth was maybe 3-4 inches, but the prints were well set in and I was able to literally walk in this persons footsteps. I was surprised to see a parking area a short ways along for Maple Leaf Nature Area that consisted of some trails which had seen snowmobile use as well, making the path even more tolerable! The road climbs quite steadily, but being a road there is only the ascent to contend with, no tricky footing. I reached some signs for Sutton Conservation Land and a road (named Poor Farm Rd on the map) went left. The snowmobile and foot traffic followed the road, whereas the SRKG continued straight on the now Class VI portion of Kings Hill Road. Immediately I was met with major flooding and mud. I only made it up a few hundred feet before calling it a day, deciding to come back when it was drier. I didn't finish too far short of my intended turnaround point at the height of land, so I was pleased with the days accomplishment. I turned around and headed back downhill enjoying the peekaboo views across to Kearsarge. Once back at Penacook Rd, I decided instead of doing a straight out and back I'd continue around the lake. The mileage wasn't really any different and it would provide a change of scenery. I'm really glad I opted to do that, the neighborhood around the lake is just gorgeous. Slowly but surely I'm checking off the miles on my redlining spreadsheet!

Strava Activity

starting point on Penacook Rd

Mt Kearsarge across Kezar Lake

Left onto Kings Hill Rd

where the plowed section ended

some nice tracks to follow though

start of Class VI section

my turnaround point

Kings Hill from Keyser St

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Metacomet-Monadnock Trail Section 5

We had a big snow/ice storm yesterday, so my concern was staying as far south as possible in the area that received the least amount of snow. I decided to finish Section 5 of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail. I hit the nail on the head with snow totals, what I grossly underestimated was the conditions from the ice part of the storm. I parked at Rhododendron State Park, which had not been plowed, but was drivable to access. Geared up and headed into the park. The low hanging rhododendron plants were like a wall at times from the leaves being covered in ice. I left the park boundary and started the climb to the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail intersection just below the Little Monadnock summit. I was first tracks this morning, but the trail is well marked and was easy to navigate. The snow did not give any issue either being only a couple inches deep. It was a gorgeous bluebird day and the ice on the branches made everything sparkle. Once at the M-M intersection, I headed right to complete Section 5 that Laura and I had half done a few weeks ago. The trail is well marked, but the low hanging branches, trees down sporadically and the white blazes against the white snow sometimes made them hard to see. Immediately I had issue finding the trail down, but thankfully had a predownloaded track that I was able to use to help me navigate. The next 1.5 miles consists of coming down the slopes of Little Monadnock Mountain plus a couple bumps to reach Old Richmond Road. I knew it was going to be downhill, but had not expected how steep it would be in places. Once I finally found the trail coming off the highpoint, it opened up to a gorgeous view across to Mt Monadnock. Leaving this area, I had trouble finding the trail again, I eventually spotted a blaze at the bottom of a very steep, short descent. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to get down with the snow, definitely not standing anyway. I looked around for a safe spot to slide, probably spent way more time than necessary.. everything just looked super steep. I eventually settled on a spot right at the blaze, and then spent even more time building up the courage to slide down. I kept thinking about amusement park rides and waterslides way bigger and longer than this that people do without even thinking about it! I made it down safely. The trail then continued to descend through the woods. At one point it crossed a powerline swath which is marked with small stakes and a white blaze.. it was very wet/muddy in this area. Although very shallow snow, it was a trudge and started to feel a bit never ending! Eventually I met up with Old Richmond Road, and encountered my first person of the day. This Class VI section was about 3/4 of a mile and was very wet and slushy. I was very glad to make it to Prospect Street, an actual road. The road walk was a mile and goes down a rather steep hill. I had known this having driven it a couple months ago, and knew I did not want to go up that hill! I reached the Troy Depot, and this completed what I needed for Section 5. I did need to get back to my car however, and not wanting to return the way I came, I had looked on the map beforehand and saw that the Cheshire Rail Trail ran south and intersected with Rookwood Road, which led back to Rhododendron State Park. I hoped these were all passable after the storm. They were and it made the walk back much less difficult. I was surprised how well traveled the Rail Trail already was after the storm. It was easy going, but ever so slightly uphill. Rookwood Road initially was residential then became a Class VI road that had already been well traveled by Jeeps. I made it back to the car, tired but feeling accomplished!

Strava Activity