Stinson Mountain

After a couple of days of driving around and exploring Fire Towers with my boys, I felt we needed to do a "real hike" but continue our goal of checking off those towers. So, I reviewed the list and Stinson Mountain stood out to me. I had seen my friend Ruth post pictures from a hike there in the past and it was on my radar as one to do with the boys. This hike would serve dual purpose, it is on the Fire Tower list, but also the NH 52 With A View. We had a late start as Aidan has been at Vacation Bible School in the mornings. We arrived at the trailhead in Rumney, NH just after 2pm. After gearing up and taking the obligatory trailhead picture we headed out. There was only 1 other car in the small parking area, and we quickly passed them on their way out, so from that point on we had the mountain to ourselves. The trail is straightforward.. and almost a straight line. Part of the trail is a snowmobile trail in the Winter, so it is relatively wide. The grade is moderate, you know you're climbing but there aren't any crazy steep sections. At 1.1 miles you hit an intersection where the snowmobile trail heads left, and the "hiking trail" heads straight ahead. I had read from this point, the trail became a little more technical. There are quite a few rock slabs to navigate with quite a bit of moss on them. The trail was damp today, but we've had a very dry Summer, so we did OK.. I have to imagine with normal rainfall, this is a pretty wet trail at all times. We made our way up the final 0.7 on the "hiking trail" and came up and over to see the beautiful view. Cameron climbs like he's on flat ground, so he was several minutes ahead of me. He had stopped at the top and both of them were saying "wow, that was worth it"! I love that. The Fire Tower no longer stands, but the footings are still visible. We used those as stools and had our snack while enjoying the gorgeous view over Plymouth and surrounds. We decided to take the snowmobile trail back down to the intersection to make a small loop out of it, and also I didn't really want to go back down the rock slabs with moss on them. The snowmobile trail grades were much easier, but the trail is definitely becoming overgrown. There is a relatively defined herd path to follow but the hidden rocks and potholes can be a bit of an obstacle. There was also a really muddy section that was kind of unavoidable so we all had muddy wet shoes, that thankfully dried by the time we got back down. We hit the intersection and made a quick descent back to the car. Overall, not a super eventful trail or hike, but some lovely views at the top.. and 2 checkmarks on our lists.

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