Beech Hill (Keene)

Wow, it has been such a long time since I've had the opportunity to get outside and put some miles on these shoes.. I've re-entered the workforce full time and between that and kid commitments (which I adore) I just haven't had the energy to do more for myself.. silly reasons. Now with the crazy world we find ourselves living in (for future reading, we are surviving through the Covid-19 pandemic). All kids sports and activities have been canceled and everyone is practicing social distancing. Honestly, despite the tragic circumstances for this, I'm loving the opportunity to spend quality time with those I love most. My family. It was a gorgeous day and it was perfect to get out and get some fresh air. Having had little to no real hiking for over a year, I knew it had to be easy. Looking at the Fire Tower list we have very slowly been working on, I chose Beech Hill in Keene. Super quick, just over a mile total with about 120 feet of elevation gain, but that was just what I needed. The "trailhead" is on Chapman Road in Keene, a gated fence to an access road leading to some cell towers. Starting up the access road, you quickly encounter a water tank after which a "trail" heads into the woods and out to Sunset Rock which overlooks downtown Keene. I had seen a variety of GPS routes in which people made a loop from here to the summit and back down. We couldn't really figure out where this occurred (ie - we couldn't see a trail) so we followed an old access road to what we believed was the summit, in which there is an old foundation. I had seen on another hikers YouTube video that this possibly was that built by the former owner who had aspirations of opening an inn up there. Today someone has built a little leafy hideaway, but that's all that remains. We "bushwhacked" over to the cell towers and took the paved road back down.

Strava Activity

Sunset Rock