Warner Hill Fire Tower

Another relatively uneventful tower as far as hiking goes. You can drive almost to the tower itself. I had looked on googlemaps ahead of time and they showed the metal gate open on Warden's Way in Derry. Today we found it closed, but it's halfway up the road, so no big deal. What was initially a big deal was the large yard of dogs right alongside the road that all came running over to the fence. I wasn't sure they were all penned in, so was a bit hesitant at first, however soon realized they were in fact securely fenced.. and they amazingly didn't make a huge fuss about our presence. I noticed a sign as we were departing that said the property was a Labrador breeder. The tower was a mere 30 second walk along the road. My second hesitation had been a trip report I had read last night from a gentleman who had climbed the tower last year with his 3 year old daughter. As he was about 3 flights up, he encountered a swarm of wasps, their climbing had been disrupted and he and his daughter ended up being stung multiple times and falling several flights in their attempt at a hasty retreat. I also noted a picture my friend Ashley had taken more recently that showed the tower under construction. So, I wasn't sure what we would find. The tower reconstruction appears to be complete, as we encountered what appeared to be a nice shiny new tower! There was still a piece of machinery alongside the tower, so I'm not sure how recently this was all done. Most important thing, the tower looked very sturdy and clear of any nasties. So we headed up. The stairs are relatively narrow and steep and the platforms are tiny, but otherwise we ascended with no issues. There are no views to speak of from the top of this one, but we can say we came and we stood atop.

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