Bear Hill

Another perfect day to get out and explore during this time of social distancing and self isolation. As devastated as I am for the world and its current state, I'm blessed that my family is well and has been accompanying me on these adventures. Today we headed for Bear Book State Park in Allenstown. Ironically, my husband and I had just watched an episode of 'Dateline' the day before about a horrific series of events that took place in this park over the past 40 years or so involving a serial killer. We reflected somewhat as we walked on this beautiful day about the sadness involving that story and the families affected.

Our destination was Bear Hill. A small "mountain" in the park that is on the NH Firetower list. Being March, the gates to the park are still closed (although we found them open upon our return and encountered a couple of out of state cars who had meandered down the road, I suspect following GPS directions. Not sure why the gate was open and if they were able to drive all the way through!).. we parked in the hiker/biker lot at the gates on Podunk Road. The lot was full, not surprising on this gorgeous day. Amazingly though, on our 2 hour, 4.5 mile hike, we only encountered a couple of mountain bikers, a group of horse riders and a team of sled dogs training with an ATV! That was quite the sight!

We walked down Podunk Road until we reached Bear Hill Trail. From here it is 1.2 miles to the summit, an easy hike. Relatively flat until the final small stretch, and even here the grades are minimal. There are no views really anywhere along this trail. Just a matter of enjoying nature. Just below the summit are the foundations of the former fire tower and lots of anthills. Thankfully not active at this time of year! I had planned on continuing to make a loop, per the map I had printed, on Ledge Trail joining up with Hedgehog Trail and back to Podunk Road. Once we were at the summit though, we found no trace of Ledge Trail or any trail continuing at this point. Therefore we just turned around and headed back the way we came. Instead of taking Bear Hill Trail the entire way back, there is a shortcut to Podunk Road not far from the summit, which we took and then just followed the road back to the car.

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