You Are Here: Hanson Top & Green Mountain

More redlining today. 6 years ago, the boys and I visited Green Mountain in Effingham on our Fire Tower Quest. Today Cameron and I returned to finish the trails in that area for my AMC South redlining. There are 3 trails up to Green Mountain. We did High Watch Trail the first time, today we did Libby Road Trail up and Dearborn Trail down as well as the spur over to Hanson Top via Hanson Top Trail. We parked at the kiosk for the Dearborn Trail on Hobbs Road, as I had read the Libby Road Trail was steeper. Even if it takes me longer, I prefer to go up the steeper, rather than down. I'm also glad we did it in this direction as the 1.3 mile road walk from the Dearborn Trail to Libby Road Trail would have been tiring as it would have been more up than down at the end of the hike. From Dearborn to Libby, it was more down than up! From the kiosk, walk back down to Hobbs Road, continue on the Class VI road to the right until you reach Old Effingham Pound. Take a right onto Libby Road and follow about a mile to the trail head (keeping left at the fork with the private drive). Libby Road Trail is the fire wardens road to the summit, so basically it's a gravel road the entire way. It's a grind! Obviously nothing technical, since it's a gravel road, but pretty steady up the whole way. Hanson Top Trail leaves to the left at 1.4 miles from the start and immediately descends a little before gently climbing over to the summit. We encountered some snow/ice and minor slush today, but nothing to impede our journey. From the summit, you can see back over to Green Mountain and the fire tower (at least we could today with the leaves off the trees) and over some of the lakes of the Ossipee region. We enjoyed a brief snack (it was raw and cold, so we didn't want to linger) before heading back over to the Green Mountain summit. Once back on the Libby Road Trail from Hanson Top Trail, before the summit, you pass through some pine forest, my favorite kind of trails, passing the fire wardens cabin and reaching the summit in about 800ft. There are 2 picnic tables under the trees, and the only views are from the top of the fire tower. When we were here 6 years ago, the tower was closed for renovations. Now it is one of the sturdiest towers we have visited. The stairway is narrow, but the structure itself is very sturdy. We took Dearborn Trail down, which definitely was a good option over Libby Road Trail.. however it was very, very slippery with all the leaves. I was wishing we just had sleds to glissade down! Thankfully other than a few skids and slides, neither of us fell and we made it safely down. I was also thankful to have the car waiting for us there and not having to walk back over to Libby Road. I definitely recommend doing it in this direction if you are going to do the loop!

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