Pawtuckaway South

So this one time, when I met a fellow Australian who lives in the same town as I do.. and loves to hike! What are the chances! Vanessa and I were introduced through a mutual friend and once we discovered we both love hiking, we immediately made plans to do some exploring. The weather this month has been amazing for almost Winter, so we took advantage and headed over to Pawtuckaway State Park. I had been in the park a couple times for the Vulcans Fury Trail Race, but never before to do any real hiking. There are 3 peaks within the park boundary and the South Peak is on the NH Fire Tower list. We parked on Round Pond Road in the small parking lot, and walked down the remainder of Round Pond Road, skirting the edge of the pond and up to South Ridge Trail. Pawtuckaway State Park is an extinct volcano, and this trail skirts the south rim. It starts out gently around the pond, but gets rather steep as it climbs up to the fire tower. Being Fall, there were lots of leaves on the ground, which made it a bit slippery at times, but we had no real issues. Lovely views even on this grey day. 

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Round Pond from South Ridge Trail

Cardigan Mountain

 When one of your best friends creates a Bucket List of 40 Things to Do Before Turning 40.. and one is hike up a mountain.. you step up and do your part! Today I took my friend/long time hair stylist Laura on her very first hike.. knowing it was probably going to be her last hike (of this magnitude) also, we went for bang for buck! Cardigan Mountain it was. We went up and down West Ridge Trail. Took it slow. Enjoyed everything the mountain gave us. Unfortunately it was so very windy on the summit, we couldn't linger for too long as it was cold, but we got the summit and she got the check mark on her bucket list!

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Laura at the trailhead

I'd never noticed a benchmark on my previous visits

Completing the LRCT Redlining

 Amazing day in the woods today with Robin. I completed redlining the Castle in the Clouds Conservation trails. Today was my 6th trip to the Castle grounds and we had a bit of a puzzle filling in my blanks but got it done in just over 16 miles and a visit to Black Snout, as well as one baby bear sighting up a tree! Started on Shannon Brook Trail, over to Cold Spring Road via the Pond Trail. Whitten Trail to Settlement Trail. Cold Spring Trail to Faraway Mountain Connector. Oak Ridge Cutoff to High Ridge Trail. An out and back on High Ridge to Faraway Mountain Trail. Stayed on High Ridge over to Black Snout Trail. Out and back to the summit. Down Turtleback Mountain Trail and back out on Shannon Brook Trail. 

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Mt Chocorua

I came back to conquer Chocorua without snow today. It was an amazingly perfect day and my experience was vastly different. Much less fear this time! Robin and I tackled Piper Trail, which was beautiful from top to bottom. It's as challenging as you would expect. Starts off on the more moderate side and gets steep and rocky and technical in the second half. As the views open up, looking up at the summit cone is daunting, but also exciting knowing that is the end destination! The colors were in full bloom and I could have stood on top forever just taking it all in. Absolutely one of my most favorite trails I've done to date. 

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Little Blue Job Sunset

 All Summer I've been talking about wanting to do a sunset hike. Today while my husband and eldest were at football practice, the youngest and I finally checked that bucket list item off my list. We just hiked to Little Blue Job, which is a nice and easy 0.8 or so miles. Ease into the night hiking with an easy one. We had headlamps and flashlights, which was all the motivation Cameron needed to go! We were rewarded with a beautiful sky. Highly recommend. 

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Doublehead and Squam (Maybe)

I've seen conflicting reports about where the true summit of Mt Squam is, so I'm not sure if I can call that one done, if not, I got close! I started at the trailhead on Holderness Road, walked down Thompson Road which was easy going, then turned onto Doublehead Trail. It starts gradually and gets steeper. The views from the ledges about 0.2 miles below the summit were awesome! Crawford Ridgepole Trail between the 2 summits was a bit more technical with lots of ups and downs and a few rock scrambles. Just below what I believed to be the summit, if you veer off trail just slightly there are some great views behind you over towards the Whites. I retraced my steps back to Doublehead Trail from Squam and back to the car. I worked for that one, but the views were well worth it!

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