Knights Hill Nature Park

 After a big day yesterday, I was looking for something smaller today, so I decided to check out Knights Hill Nature Park in New London. Double whammy for redlining AMC South as well as the New London Conservation Commission Trails. This area is maintained by New London Outing Club. It was far more rustic than I had originally anticipated, but was well marked and I imagine once Spring really hits, will be well maintained. There was quite a bit of blowdown/debris on the trails, but that is to be expected coming out of Winter. The park is made up of 4 loops, and I recommend grabbing one of the paper maps available at the kiosk to keep yourself right side up. I had to use the maps a lot to make sure I was going in the right direction in order to cover all the loops! I started on Fern Loop which is just a quarter mile and has lots of little markers for trees and plants along the way. Of course right now, nothing is green so I wasn't really able to tell what was what. The loop ended in a field with a field house. Here I crossed the field and did Moore's Loop, another short loop that was sometimes in open field and sometimes through the woods. All was good to this point. Next was C.O.R.E Loop. There was a short spur with a bench overlooking a little pond. Then things started getting rustic. A roughly 1 mile loop, it was very wet and muddy in places, and appeared to be an old road. The maps show a little off shoot loop, which I didn't see at all at first. There was a lot of debris on this trail, which I just chalked up to Winter debris. A lot of the bridges are also rough, but I'm sure will get fixed once cleanup begins. The trail is well marked though, so even in areas where the footbed was covered in leaves, it was easy enough to follow. Once I realized I had missed the smaller loop, I decided to go back around and see if I could see it. The map showed a Summer House, which is a little enclosed bench and the smaller loop not too far past that. I tried using the topo lines on the map along with my digital map to figure out where it was, and did end up seeing it. It was not marked (save one very faded red blaze a little ways in) and a tree had fallen where the trail started.. I followed the best I could, it definitely seemed this section has been abandoned (my path upload looks like I got it pretty well though). Towards the outer point on the loop there was a bench overlooking a little stream. My final loop was Glen Loop, which had the most snow/ice on it for the day, though thankfully avoidable for the most part. There was a large blowdown at the intersection with the short connector to Lyon Brook Trail, which if you weren't looking for it, might miss it until the blowdown is cleared away. There was also another bench overlooking a vernal pool. NLCC loves their benches, and I love them for it! This completed my loop-de-loop at Knights Hill Nature Park. I imagine it's much prettier and more pleasant in the Summer, but I enjoyed my adventure all the same. 

Strava Activity

first time seeing a "No Running or Jogging" sign!

where I believe the possibly abandoned loop was

entrance to Knights Hill Park from Lyon Brook Trail

Pisgah State Park - Kilburn Loop

 I headed back out to Pisgah State Park. This area is huge and is going to take me several trips to get it all completed, so one trip at a time! I parked at the Kilburn Trailhead and was the second car at around 9am. When I returned around 1pm, the lot was full.. but ironically I had only seen 3 people (and heard a couple others) during my entire hike. The entrance from this trailhead begins on a nice wide road and heads down to an intersection with the Kilburn Loop Trail and Town Forest Trail. I opted to do an out and back on the Town Forest Trail first. The sign states the trail is 2.5 miles long, but it's really only about 1.1 miles, so I'm not sure where they are factoring the extra miles. The trail started out flat and passed some artifacts which I had read were part of some old munitions testing sites! It then became really wet and muddy for a bit before gradually starting to ascend over a knob. At this point it dried out and was much more pleasant. On the small climb you pass a really pretty area that has some old ruins of a mill with a small cascade. At the top of the small climb you can see through the trees to Baker Pond. I went to the end which intersects with the Baker Pond Trail and Pisgah Ridge Trail before turning around and backtracking my steps. This time at the intersection with Kilburn Loop Trail, I took a left and crossed a bridge before starting a gentle climb. I saw an intersection with sign saying John Summers Trail, but couldn't see this trail marked on any maps. I started down it as my digital map showed it as a small loop connector with Kilburn Loop Trail, but it wasn't.. it continued and I realized it must be a newer trail that is not mapped yet (though was blazed and well maintained on the short section I covered. I've since read lots of reports on this loop, it seems to be a popular loop around Kilburn Pond itself). I turned around once I realized as I wasn't sure how long it was, and I already had a pretty decent day planned out. I went back to Kilburn Loop trail and continued gently uphill until it reached the intersection with a connector to Pisgah Ridge Trail. Heading right here, I stayed on Kilburn Loop Trail and did the 4.4 mile loop. This trail covered all sorts of terrain from what appeared to be an old road, to true forest with decent leaf coverage (thankfully well marked). It was really wet in some places and had a couple blowdowns you had to navigate around, but nothing crazy. At times I felt like I was a million miles away with just the birds chirping. As the trail came closer to Kilburn Pond and the hairpin turn, it sort of followed a stream and you could hear the rapids/cascades. I could see peaks of it here and there and wished the trail went a bit closer. It was here I saw my first people of the day, 2 hunters that wandered off into the woods (always throws me off a bit when I see people do that!). The bridge at the bottom of the loop has seen better days, but I got across it OK and started the return. This side climbed a little and you could see the stream with the rapids just a little more. I still wished it went closer! Eventually the trail came up alongside Kilburn Pond (and the intersection with the other end of John Summers Trail) and followed the pond around to the start of the loop. I really enjoyed this area overall, despite some of the extra muddy/wet spots. Just over 9 miles total once back at the car. 

Strava Activity

my watch measured 1.1 miles, not 2.5

former munitions testing site

new bridge on Town Forest Trail

former mill site along Town Forest Trail

my turnaround at Baker Pond Trail 

Baker Pond from Town Forest Trail

flooded section of Town Forest Trail

at the hairpin curve on Kilburn Loop Trail

Kilburn Pond, these rocks looked really cool

Kilburn Pond

Pulpit Rock & Joppa Hill Farm

 The warming temperatures have continued and we had a good batch of rain this week. I decided to head back to Pulpit Rock after my first visit back in January. I knew I wanted to hit it up in Spring to finish the trails there in the hopes the waterfalls would be flowing. I parked in the parking area on Pulpit Road. The section of trail from here to the main network is graded gravel, so easy going. I got a bit turned around finding my first intersection as it wasn't marked right at the intersection, but I had pre-downloaded tracks so I was able to figure it out. Other than that, the trails are all well blazed and easy to follow. I did a lollipop out to Joppa Hill Farm first, which leaves the Pulpit Rock Conservation area and joins trails maintained by Amherst Conservation Commission. This was a really pleasant walk through the woods. Nothing particular to see, but the trail was really well maintained. I encountered some mud from the recent rains and a little ice here and there, but nothing that impeded moving forward. I took the Joppa Hill Farm Loop trail to make it a lollipop and was surprised at the top of a moderate climb to find a big open field and then actual Joppa Hill Farm. I wasn't expecting an actual farm that you can visit and see the animals! There were several families already here and I enjoyed seeing the ducks, donkey, horse, goats and alpaca! Definitely an unexpected thing to see along the way. Continuing on, I did the out and back to Horace Greeley Road, which had some bridges across a pond. Encountering all the terrain types on this hike! Back on the loop and I continued back to Pulpit Brook Trail and back to where I started. This time I continued along to the Tufts Trail intersection, however I was coming back that way, so I stayed right on Pulpit Brook Trail. A little scrambly bit of area made it fun and I passed a huge erratic, that I didn't realize at the time was Indian Rock (on the NH 24 Rocks that Rock list). Before long I was back at the intersection where I got turned around on my last visit. This time coming from the opposite direction, it all made sense. I took Ravine Trail again, it was the iciest part of the hike, but thankfully was still doable in bare boots (I had my spikes just in case, but never needed them) with some care. There was still a lot of ice in the area, but the waterfalls were mostly flowing. I definitely think it was much prettier in the full Winter though. I headed up Granite Trail, which is a short steep connector to the top of Pulpit Rock. I took Tufts Trail back, which was super smooth and easy going. Near the bottom of Tufts Trail, I picked up Martin Trail, which was an out and back to nowhere really. Up a moderate climb with some left and right turns to a big open field. All in the name of redlining though! Back on Tufts Trail I continued to Pulpit Brook Trail and retraced my steps along the section of graded gravel and back to the car. A definite hidden gem of a place not so far from the city!

Strava Activity

it was here I got turned around, Joppa Hill Farm trail is to the left of this intersection

Indian Rock

end of Martin Trail

Gages Mill site, I was too tired to go down and explore

looking over at Gage's Mill site from Pulpit Brook Trail