You Are Here: Hamlin Eames Smyth Conservation Area

Hiking is not always about bagging a peak, of course that's a lot of fun, but sometimes it's nice to just take a walk in the woods. I decided to visit the Hamlin Eames Smyth Conservation Area in Meredith today. My initial goal was to hike the entire parcel, which the AllTrails website had told me would be about 11 miles with roughly 1600ft of elevation gain. I arrived a bit later than I should have to take on this task, and despite 28°F temperatures, I layered up and set out. The trail network here is really well marked, which was a good thing as the fallen leaves really hid the trail a lot of the way. I would have had no clue where to go if the trails hadn't been so well marked. Every intersection (even view spurs) had a wooden sign, many indicating which way parking was as well as the trail junctions and the 4 trails were marked in either yellow, red, white/pink and blue. I took lots of pictures of the intersections to indicate how well marked it all was. I did wander off course a couple times, but realized quickly and was able to locate the next blaze without incident and continue on. There is 1 parking area on Chemung Road, which holds about a dozen cars easily, along with a kiosk and map. All the trails loop out from this point, so you can make the day as long or as short as you'd like. Crocketts Ledge Trail (yellow) leaves the parking lot and I followed it all the way to Crocketts Ledge. I passed 1 lady walking her dog, and that was it until much later in the afternoon. There is a pretty view over Lake Wicwas from Crocketts Ledge. From here, I continued on the Lake to Ledges Trail (red) which descended steeply in some places (an adventure with all the fallen leaves) and skirted the edge of the lake, with 1 view spur that went out to a private camp and a lovely view across the entire lake. From here the trail climbed back up through some massive glacial erratics to White Mountains Ledge, which was signed as Sub-Alpine and to ensure staying on the trail to preserve the environment. Here I came across a very little trace of ice and snow. What makes this trail network really cool is there are a large variety of terrains and trails to keep it all interesting despite no major peaks to climb over. I was lucky in that I didn't really have to double back a whole lot to complete all the loops and trail sections that I had wanted. Just a couple sections here and there. From White Mountains Ledge I descended to the Arbutus Hill Pond Trail (blazed in both white and pink) which crosses into the Barbara Smyth Conservation Tract. This is private land gifted to the town of Meredith and the trail here is definitely a lot more rugged, but still easy to follow. The trail winds around and up Arbutus Hill. I stopped at a small cleared section with a nice view across the higher peaks in the area for lunch. As I continued, I came across another view spur, but this led to a wooded area, the trees have grown up and around the view, but I followed it anyway for the sake of redlining! It was here that I started to realize I was probably not going to reach my goal of finishing all the trails. The AllTrails calculations were a little off, the trails were a little longer and the elevation was definitely greater than I had thought and I was starting to run out of gas. I was also concerned that I would run out of daylight, so while I continued with my original plan I started to mentally think about where I would bail out and return to the car. After crossing back into Hamlin Park, the trail skirts some ponds and beaver marshes and became a lot damper than previously. Here the trail definitely goes up and down and in and out a lot more. I was thankful to have a print out of the map as it started to get confusing (though still well marked). I would recommend having a map in hand if you are going to hike in this park and aren't familiar with the trails. It was here I also started to bump into more people. The trails in this area are wide enough, plenty of space to step out of the way and keep safely distanced. I started out on the Pond Loop Trail (blue) and it was here that I ended up calling it a day. Once I reached the yellow trail again, instead of completing that and doubling back to finish blue, I headed back to the car. All in, I hiked 10.6 miles with roughly 1700ft of gain and ended up about 2 miles short of completing the entire park. I'm still happy with the day and will be back to finish. I am definitely enjoying discovering these new, less popular destinations that still showcase the beauty of our state!

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