Black Mountain Middle Peak

Today was supposed to be iffy in the weather department, so I headed out early and to a peak that was known to not have many views.. that way if it was overcast and/or raining, I wouldn't be missing out. Black Mountain's Middle Peak is in Jackson, but is different than the downhill skiing area of Black Mountain, which is located on the South Peak. The Middle Peak is on the NH Fire Tower list, and until recently was also on the 52 With a View list. It was removed from that list just about a month ago due to trees now obstructing the once panoramic views. I parked at the end of Melloon Road where there is room for several cars. The trail up is actually a XC ski trail, doubling as a hiking trail in the Summer. The trail itself is a great trail, super easy footing, dirt most of the way with no real obstacles or hurdles. On this day it was super, super humid and also very buggy. I had my trusty bug net and doused myself in bug spray, and for the first time this year avoided any new bug bites! The trail is a consistent climb, absolutely no flat portions to "take a rest". Nothing crazy steep, just relentless. There are several brook crossings, but today all but one were bone dry, and the one was just a mere trickle. At 1.4 miles from the trail head is the Black Mountain Cabin. You can rent the cabin for $40/night. It's a rustic cabin with several bunk bends and an indoor fireplace. An outdoor privy (I was told by another hiker I encountered it even had toilet paper!) is several feet away in the woods. I rested briefly here and chatted with a father/son. There is a peekaboo view across to Mt Washington from the front of the cabin. The trail literally goes up the front steps to the cabin and heads either right or left for a loop to the summit. I opted to stay on the Black Mountain Ski trail (to the left while standing looking at the cabin. It steepened up considerably, but only for 0.3 miles at which point you intersect the East Pasture Ski trail and head just under 0.1 miles to the summit. The summit itself is very small with a little cairn and mini views through the trees. After snapping a couple of pictures, I headed back down and this time stayed straight at the East Pasture Ski trail intersection, where the trail descended a little steeply to reach the Black Mountain ski trail cutoff. This 0.5 mile section back to the cabin was lovely and "flat" and was just a nice meander through the woods. Once back at the cabin, I encountered another couple who were resting. We chatted briefly and I headed back down. The weather ended up holding, I passed another couple of groups on my way down. Even without any spectacular views, this was a pretty decent hike. I'm now exactly halfway through the NH Fire Tower list. 50 down, 50 to go. It's going to take me a while to finish though from here, as the remaining 50 are mostly 4Ks or random bushwhacks in out of the way places.. but I'll keep plugging away.

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Blowdown on the trail

Black Mountain Cabin

View from the cabin

view from the summit

the summit

Mt Roberts & Faraway Mountain

Choosing to hike on a 90+ degree day probably wasn't the smartest choice I've ever made.. but make it, I did.. I had completed the Lakes Region Conservation Trust redlining and summit patch several years ago, There is also an unofficial Ossipee 10 list, which incorporates several of the peaks in the LRCT plus others in the Ossipee Range. I had been sitting at 9/10 for 5 years, without any real motivation to finish, as there wasn't an actual patch to collect... until now. A gentleman in the Hiking in the Ossipees Facebook group has created a patch. I figured it was as good a time as any to finish off that list. I knew the forecast was going to be a hot one, but I figured since I was heading a little further north and up into the mountains it might be a little cooler. There aren't a lot of options for reaching Faraway Mountain, my 10th Ossipee Range peak. I chose to head up to Mt Roberts first, then across the High Ridge Trail to the abandoned road up to the communications towers on Faraway Mountain. Then back down the Faraway Mountain Trail to Cold Springs Trail and Cold Springs Road to complete the loop. This would encompass roughly 10 miles. Within a mile of starting, the heat kicked in (even at 8am) and I knew I had to slow it way down if I had any chance of making it through this hike. I'm many years removed from having done a hike that long, coupled with the heat, I had to really pace myself and listen to my body. Many groups passed me on their way up (and back down) from Mt Roberts, but I just took my time.. 1 step after the other. I made it to Mt Roberts with views of an incoming thunder storm and questioned whether I should continue or turn around. I decided to push on, as I had come this far, and I knew most of the rest was in relatively thick woods, so I wouldn't be exposed. As it turns out, the storm took a turn and went around the mountains, so I'm glad I made the decision to continue. I had tried to find the abandoned trail to Faraway about 5 years ago and somehow missed it, so this time I had downloaded a GPX map from a previous hiker and was monitoring that closely so I wouldn't miss it again. The High Ridge Trail was much more overgrown than I remembered from my prior hikes, maybe due to the time of year. I was feeling very hot by this point, and was thankful for the shade provided by the trees, despite the air being thick and soupy. It was very buggy, and I was also grateful for my $5 "beekeepers hat" as my husband calls it (bug net). A little over a mile from Mt Roberts summit, I found the chained abandoned trail and headed on to the Faraway summit. I had no idea how long this little section would be at the time.. turns out it was about 0.4 miles each way. The trail is not maintained, but was in decent shape and easy to follow. Someone has put up some orange flagging tape along the way as well. The summit itself has no views, just a couple communication towers and solar panels. The trails down were as gentle as I remembered, just looooong and boring as there are no views along the way. The heat and my lack of fitness took a toll and I was in pretty rough shape by the time I reached Cold Springs Road and the 0.54 miles back to the parking lot. I wondered where my mental strength comes from to push forward when hiking, that I seem to lack in other areas of my life. I physically felt awful when I finished, but mentally I was proud that I was able to persevere and get it done.

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Mt Roberts summit

start of the abandoned trail to Faraway Mt summit

Faraway Mt summit

view from High Ridge Trail

Mt Agassiz

Second hike of the day took us to Bethlehem, NH and Mt Agassiz. I had read this was a combination of paved/gravel driveway leading to a private residence, in which the owner has kindly allowed access to hikers so they can enjoy the view. Parking is roadside near the driveway, where there is enough room for a few cars to safely park off the road. You will see a run down building with some junk, and a black mailbox. Keep right as you start up the drive as there is another house to the left. A gate is at the start of the drive warning of no vehicle access, but hikers are welcome. The walk is only 0.8 miles in each direction, however what I had not anticipated was just how steep that 0.8 miles is! Quite a doozy of a walk, but easy footing the entire way, so just the incline to deal with. The view at the top is absolutely worth it though. The owner just asks that any hikers stay away from the house and outbuildings, and he has made an obvious pathway through to the viewpoint making that easy enough. There is a wonderful cleared area with a bench to enjoy views over the Pemigewasset Wilderness, Cannon Mountain and beyond. There are some remains of the former fire tower if you look over the railing and down the side of the slope. We lucked out with a clear day and amazing views for miles.

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looking over at the firetower artifacts

the private residence at the summit

a pretty flower at the summit

Great Hill

It was a completely perfect day for hiking. I had my boys +1 with me today, so we opted for 2 relatively easy walks. I will call them walks, as the first was super short and the second was a paved/gravel driveway. We went to Great Hill first. It is on the NH Fire Tower list. There are a couple of ways of reaching the tower, we opted for the snowmobile trail beginning at the intersection of Great Hill Road and Hemenway Road in Tamworth, NH. There is a small parking area, enough for a few cars. A kiosk indicates where the trail heads into the woods. Follow this for 0.2 miles, the trail you are on continues straight, another heads off to the left. The only indicator was an orange snowmobile arrow on a tree, there are no other signs/ blazes on this trail. Take the left and follow another 0.3 miles to the tower. The road will pass an abandoned Scout cabin as it turns right. The summit itself is obstructed by trees, but climbing the tower will give you amazing views in all directions. The tower itself is no longer used as a fire tower, but the cabin is maintained for hikers with signage indicating which mountains you are looking at. Massive bang for your buck on this quick and easy walk.

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Russell Hill

My second hike of the day was Russell Hill in Brookline. Another on the NH Fire Tower list. Again, I was glad to have read several previous trip reports from other hikers as I would never have found where I needed to go, and even when I did, I was hesitant to proceed.. but did anyway, and it all worked out OK. I parked at the logged parcel of land on Russell Hill Road, which seemed awkward. It's a smaller parcel of land, right in between 2 houses, with a rock wall across the front. There was an opening in the rock wall just big enough for a vehicle, so I pulled in off the road and hoped my car would still be there when I returned. The logged land is very messy and muddy, so care needs to be taken not to trip and fall! The trip report I was following said a skidder road headed off from the right of the logging cut, but to me that was a house.. I noticed what appeared to be a road at the back left, so I headed in that direction to check it out and this turned out to be the way. Immediately I encountered a large deer, we scared each other before I could grab a picture, but it was a beauty! I followed the old logging road for 0.25 miles, I had read it could be flooded and very wet, however I was lucky enough that while muddy, it wasn't excessively wet and I could walk easily enough. At 0.25 miles, you meet up with a snowmobile trail marked with orange arrow signs on the trees. Take a left here and follow the trail easily to the summit in another 0.5 miles or so. This trail is easy footing with just pine needles. There was a cairn on a rock outcrop, which seemed to be marking the summit. I continued another 0.1 miles to a rock memorial and firepit. The memorial has a plaque with information on the Russell family who own the land. Trees unfortunately obstruct any real views. I had seen GPX tracks of a loop from here, but the snowmobile trail seemed to continue on in the wrong direction, so I just backtracked the way I came up and was happy to see my car still in its place when I returned. Overall an unexciting trail really, but it's done and checked off my Fire Tower list.

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