You Are Here: Mt Martha & Owls Head (Cherry Mountain)

After a 2 week hiatus from hiking due to other commitments, my sore muscles from Smarts Mountain were ready to take on another challenge. That came on Mt Martha and Owls Head, 2 sub peaks of Cherry Mountain in Carroll, NH. Mt Martha is on the NH Fire Tower list and 52 With a View, so double whammy. There are several ways of reaching Mt Martha, I opted for the shortest, which was from Rt 115 at a gravel parking lot opposite Lennon Road. There is a kiosk here and a trail sign just a short way in from the parking area. The Cherry Mountain Trail leads 1.7 miles to a junction with a spur to the Mt Martha summit (and then continues another 3.6 miles down the other side to Old Cherry Mountain Road). I had read this was a steady climb for most of the way, and that it was. The first half of this was mostly smooth footing with a pine needle footbed, paralleling a brook for part of the way. It gradually gets steeper and steeper eventually becoming an incline of rocks. I knew this was a more popular hike than I had been doing and there were several parties on the trail, however we all managed to stay at a good pace apart from each other and everyone was very polite when passing. I came up behind a group of 3 girls who were slightly slower than I would normally do, mostly because they stopped to rest quite a lot more. I knew I wasn't fast enough to get up and in front of them and hold pace, so I stayed behind them, stopping to rest when they did. This slowed me right down, but honestly I was glad for it as the incline and humidity of the day was having its way with me. I just accepted this was going to be a slow day and enjoy it for what it was. I ended up stopping for an extended period of time to have a (safely distanced) conversation with a lovely couple from Newport, VT which put the girls quite a ways ahead for the last half mile. At the junction for the spur, take a left and head the final 0.2 miles up a snowmobile trail, which improved footing, but the incline was still steady. At the summit, I met up with the girls and another couple plus their dog relaxing and taking a break. Although Mt Martha is on the 52 With a View list, the views are actually quite minimal. A couple of cleared patches give a peekaboo view out. Unfortunately today, the clouds were really low so there wasn't much to see. The remains of the fire tower are just past the summit and quickly becoming overgrown with some lovely wildflowers. Beyond the remains is a short spur to a slightly larger clearing and views (when the clouds aren't obstructing!). I was pretty tired by this point and debated whether to continue to Owls Head, but ended up deciding to give it a go. The views are reportedly much better from there, I just wasn't sure I was up for the 400ft climb back to Mt Martha on the return! Martha's Mile is a 0.8 mile trail between Mt Martha and Owl's Head. It climbs steadily down for about half the way, evens out for just a short while in the col, then climbs really steeply for the final 0.1 miles to Owls Head summit. It started to sprinkle as I was heading down, but I kept going. I had come this far. The final 0.1 mile climb stopped me in my tracks for a moment as the initial rock slab to climb up was taller than my waist, and I honestly wasn't quite sure how I'd get up (and I'm always thinking ahead to how would I get back down!!). Luckily there are just enough trees and roots that I prayed were stable enough to hold me (I always test them first before just throwing all my weight onto it) and went for it. It was a hands and knees, climb in a couple of spots, but I managed to get up and put the thought of getting down out of my mind for a moment to hopefully enjoy the view. The true summit is wooded with no views, but I went up to bag it anyway, then carefully made my way down the now wet and slippery slabs to the ledges with a view. The clouds were still low enough that the true beauty of the view wasn't visible, but I could see enough to imagine what it must be like! What was clear was looking back at Mt Martha and that climb back up! After a snack break it was time to take on that slab down... turns out it was actually much easier than climbing up, not easy... but easier! I didn't stop at the summit of Martha this time, just kept on going. The descent down the rock area did a number on my quads and they were exhausted by the time I reached the area of pine needle footing. I was going really slowly at this point. About half a mile from the parking area, the heavens opened up and it just poured! The rain cooled the air and I was just thankful to be off the rocks and almost finished. Of course when I got back to the car, I started thinking about where to go next week!

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