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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