Odiorne Point State Park

 Inevitably the day after a snowstorm is beautiful. Today was no exception. I chose Odiorne Point State Park as I anticipated the seacoast area to have received less snow than interior portions of the state. I was right. I wasn't feeling up to breaking trail, so this was a perfect choice. I had been to the park a couple times several years ago on field trip with one of my kids and with the family, but we hadn't really explored the trails, just the Seacoast Science Center. I opted to park at the Boat Launch parking area, put my fee in the Iron Horse for it being a State Park and set out with a map and a general idea of attempting to do a big circle of the property, filling in the blanks with the interior trails by looping or out and backs if necessary. None of the interior trails are particularly long, so I wasn't concerned about having to double over trails. As it turned out, I was actually able to do it all with only a couple spots of doubling up. Worked out well. The "tricky" part about redlining this park is nothing is labelled or blazed, so at intersections you just had to assume by reading the map that you were where you thought you were. There were also a lot of offshoots all over the place where people had created shortcuts, so a couple times I wondered if I was still on the "official" trail or if I had wandered somewhere else. It wasn't that it was difficult to navigate, I was just concerned in making sure I hit every trail! About 5 miles and 2 hours later, I'm pretty sure I got every trail I needed to, with the exception of the Bike Path, which I'll go back and do at another time. The weather was breezy, but not unpleasant if wearing enough layers. The snow was minimal and easy enough to traverse in bare boots. I was surprised at the number of people out and about, and tracks already in the snow! It was nice to see the ocean much of the way and enjoy some completely different scenery than all the other trails in the Guide Book. Turned out to be a great day!

Strava Activity

Trail kiosk at Boat Launch parking area

per the Seacoast Science Center map - this is along the Sagamore Trail

Frost Point breakwater

Battery Seaman Gun #2 Casemate

Monument to the 1st settlers of NH

Gun mounts

other side of the 1st settlers monument