You Are Here: Bog Mountain via SRK Greenway Sections 6 & 7

Today my buddy Laura and I hiked our first car spot traverse. I was wildly excited about just hiking and not having to double back. So much so, I almost forgot to take the key to the car spot with me as we were heading out. Thankfully I remembered at the last second and crisis was averted. We left my car at Wilmot Town Hall and drove to the trailhead on Lakeshore Drive. Our plan was to hike the Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway's sections 6 and 7. As we were gearing up, another couple of ladies were dropping their car spot for Section 5. Love it. Section 6 starts out coinciding with some trails in the New London Conservation Commission's trail network. The beginning is Wolf Tree Trail which almost immediately climbs up. I knew this thankfully and was mentally prepared. It's not a crazy climb, but a good steady incline, enough to get the blood flowing. The up does seem to go for a long time, but as my Suunto kept telling me, it really wasn't, only about 1.5 miles. We just took our time and enjoyed the picture perfect day. The trail weaves about and up the side of an unnamed hill with no real views, just beautiful trees and nature. At one point we passed a plaque on a stone wall announcing the former homestead of the Bunker family and their 12 children. I'm sure there are more artifacts to see, but for now everything was covered in snow. We briefly joined the Webb Forest Interpretive Trail which had some numbered plaques denoting different points of interest (again all covered in snow at this time) before turning onto the final trail of this section, the White Pine Trail. The NLCC trails are well marked with maps at each intersection. The SRK Greenway is also well marked with white trapezoid blazes. We had no issues at any time during the day following the trail. White Pine Trail meanders down the other side of the unnamed hill through some open areas before reaching NH 4A at Schoolhouse Lane in Wilmot. Here we crossed the road and had an interesting descent down to the Kimpton Brook Trail, which was on the other side of the guardrail. Due to the season the pile of snow/ice created from plowing the road made it a little hairy, considering a slip would send you into the brook below. We made it safely and crossed the bridge over Kimpton Brook. We were now on Section 7 of the SRK Greenway. The first 1.4 miles follows Kimpton Brook Trail which is another lovely walk/mild climb through the woods, crossing Kimpton Brook several times before reaching Stearns Road. Another climb over plowed snow/ice and we were climbing Bog Mountain Trail 1.0 mile to the summit of Bog Mountain. This is a steady incline the whole way which was a little icy in places today with the blazing sun shining on the snow. Our spikes were necessary and sufficient for our travels. We passed a group of 3 on their way down, these were the only folks we saw all day! A beautiful vista over Mt Kearsarge and surrounds greets you just before the final push to the summit. The summit itself has beautiful views over towards Mt Sunapee. I had been up here 6 years ago and was met with total whiteout conditions, so today's crystal clear views were amazing. A memorial bench provides a wonderful spot to sit and enjoy the view. There is also a "Little Library" next to the bench which was all wrapped up for the season. In Summer it would be a perfect place to sit and relax with a book. By this point we were starting to get tired and the slight breeze was making us cold so we had a quick snack and headed on over the summit. This side of Bog Mountain Trail was far less traveled, so the foot bed, while established, was very soft. We slipped and slid our way down off the summit, probably made a little more ridiculous by our fatigue. With the leafless trees there was a gorgeous view over towards Kearsarge. Eventually we reached the trailhead on Pinnacle Road. A quick road walk down Pinnacle to N Wilmot Road and to my car at the Town Hall. We were definitely done by this point, but the day was amazing.

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