You Are Here: Mt Rowe

The journey to complete my redlining of the Belknaps continued today on Mt Rowe. Having already been up this peak a couple of times previously, I just needed to fill in some blanks. I parked at the Gilford Elementary School and headed over the boardwalk towards the trails. It always amazes me how trail appearances change in different seasons. The last time I was here was icy and sort of snowy and really not a lot of green. This time the green was in abundance and everything looked so lush. That's what makes hiking fun and allows you the opportunity to come back to the same place over and over again. It's always different! First off I hiked the 0.5 mile Gilford Elementary School Nature Trail. A short and sweet trail that skirts a marsh behind the elementary school. Lots of wooden bridges over muddy areas. It was mostly flat and easy to follow. Also used by the Gilford area cross country team there are some markers for them to utilize. The trail ends at the fence to the elementary school, so I u-turned and headed back to the Mt Rowe trail. Once on the Mt Rowe trail, you immediately start to ascend. The BRATTS volunteers have done some amazing maintenance work on this trail lately and the trail is in great shape. Today I took the Yellow trail which begins about 0.6 miles from the trailhead and is marked with a sign stating the trail is not maintained. I had previously read that it was a steep, ledgy trail and to take caution in wet or icy conditions. I didn't have to worry about either today thankfully. The trail does immediately turn really quite steep. I could see some evidence where people had slid in the pine needles (I have to imagine descending) so I just took my time and carefully made my way up. At one point you almost bump into the Mt Rowe trail, looking over I could see the blue blazes and some cairns. When you look at a map you can see that the Mt Rowe trail is designed with switchbacks to ascend the steep portion whereas the Yellow Trail pretty much goes straight up. Thankfully the steep part ended much sooner than I had anticipated and the trail flattened out for a little bit before merging again with the the Mt Rowe trail near the top. Again, I was just astounded at how lush and green this area was compared to my last trip up. Mt Rowe Trail meets up with the Ridge Trail (Belknap Range Trail) and it's about 0.4 miles to the summit of Mt Rowe. I couldn't stop looking around at how pretty everything looked. The actual summit of Mt Rowe is a boring communications tower, so I just did a quick out and back to bag the actual peak and headed back to the ledges just prior where the views are lovely. I had completed all the new portions I needed today, but instead of just heading directly back down the Mt Rowe trail I headed over the Ridge Trail to the Benjamin Weeks trail. The Ridge Trail skirts by one of the outer ski trails of Gunstock, which is completely snow free at this point. The Benjamin Weeks trail is a mixture of terrain. Towards the bottom of the trail it becomes quite muddy and messy with several small brook crossings and a small gradual ascent before rejoining the Mt Rowe trail about 0.3 miles from the trailhead. It was a picture perfect hiking day, warm without being hot, breezy to keep the bugs at bay and clear views for 360 degrees. I have 2 hikes planned to complete the map and if all goes well, this time next week I'll be done!

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