Middle Sister

 My schedule over the Summer this year is pretty full with family commitments. I'm super excited to do those activities, but bummed it means I won't be able to get out much. With one more day open before the madness begins, I wanted to go out big. I haven't done a "big" hike since December and that still wasn't even over 1000ft in elevation gain.. it had been since mid-Fall since I had done anything over 2000ft in gain.. I was ready. It was a bluebird day, so Vanessa and I headed for Middle Sister in Albany. The middle peak of the "Three Sisters" alongside Mt Chocorua. We opted for Champney Falls Trail off the Kancamagus Highway. Knowing this is a popular route, we headed up early and were the 5th car in the lot at 8am. The lot was full and overflowing on our return. We geared up, it had been unseasonably cool over the weekend, but was pleasant today. One of those "pack everything just in case" hikes. Champney Falls Trail is meticulously maintained and overall, the first 2 miles or so has easy footing. There are a couple of water crossings that were easily rock hopped today. At about 1.4 miles, we reached the intersection where you can take a left and head for the falls. We opted to do this on our way up as we knew we'd be tired on our descent. Turned out to be a great decision as we had the area to ourselves, whereas we passed lots of families and folks heading for the falls as we came down. There are 2 "bigger" falls, the first is right off the trail with some careful rock hopping to get a head on view. Continue carefully across the water and you end up in a gorge type cavern! It was stunning! I have seen pictures of people ice climbing here in Winter, today the flow was gentle, but with the lack of people around it was just beautiful. We could have stood there forever just enjoying the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. Knowing we had all the climbing ahead of us, we continued on. Beyond the falls is where it starts to get much steeper, though the trail consists of lots and lots of rock steps (sometimes this is good, and sometimes for those of us vertically challenged, it's quad crushing!) As the trail continues to climb, the "easy footing" turns into boulder hopping and switchbacks up to the intersection that leads right to Chocorua and left to Middle Sister. We happily went left as most folks were heading right. Champney Falls Cutoff is a wonderful 0.3 or so miles that traverses the slopes of First Sister and about 3/4 of the way across the views open up and are incredible. Even though we knew there were 360 degree views on the summit, we couldn't help but stop for a long break and take alll the pictures! We also met David and Moose, a fan favourite on the many Facebook hiking pages for NH. I was super stoked to meet someone from FB that I actually recognized (well, Moose I recognized, David never shows himself in pictures! LOL). Energized we continued on. About 0.1 miles below the summit, we met up with Middle Sister Trail and made the final climb up to the fire tower remains and the most amazing views. I've been on Chocorua twice and while the views are mostly the same, the fact that this summit is so much quieter just makes it magical. We did encounter 3 groups while we took an extended lunch break, but they were all passing over on their way up or down from Chocorua. It was perfect. Initially we were going to head over First Sister on our way back down, but after seeing the climb up, and knowing the views wouldn't really be any different than where we had just been, we opted to do a straight out and back and headed back down Champney Falls Cutoff. We encountered lots of people heading up as were heading down. Some seemed unprepared for the type of hike this is, I think sometimes when you read something on paper, it doesn't always translate to reality if you're not used to hiking. We even turned a group of ladies around, that had been heading for the falls as they had no water with them and one was carrying a designer purse. Another family were all wearing flip flops and sandals. People see "1.4 miles to the falls" and think, oh that's easy.. and while yes, the trail is definitely on the easier side compared to other trails in the area, it's still a muddy, rooty, rocky trail! Overall, a truly amazing day!

Strava Activity

Pisgah State Park - Pisgah Ridge Trail

 I had initially thought of tackling one of the 52 With a View that remain on my list, but the high summit forecast called for clouds and possible showers in the afternoon, so I decided to stay south and check off some more miles on my redlining spreadsheet instead. I use a Random Number Generator app to choose which hike I'll do from my pre-planned hiking list! Pisgah State Park came up. I headed for Reservoir Road, the map showed a parking area within the park off Rt 119. When I arrived, I found the entrance but it was a tiny, narrow, gravel road that steeply went up hill.. and I could see a gate at the top of the hill around a bend. I was afraid that the gate would be closed, and I'd have to reverse back down this steep, narrow road.. so I went a little further down and found the next parking area, which had a few cars already. I wasn't feeling the hike that would entail from that parking area so decided to go back to the original and just give it a shot. I headed up the hill and found the gate open, so proceeded. There was OHRV signage, but nothing indicating regular vehicles were prohibited. The road was narrow and really quite rough, so I took my time. I encountered a power line swath with utility vehicles staged.. initially I thought I'd be stuck at this point, but they didn't even look at me so I just continued. For 2 miles I wondered if I was doing the right thing, when I eventually came to the parking area and found a truck already there.. huge exhale. The bugs were horrendous, so I sprayed and geared up. The road was gated at this point and turned into "Reservoir Trail" as opposed to Reservoir Road. I started up the trail and was surprised to find a really steep incline that switchbacked up the side of the hill. Some areas were paved (though severely eroded) and the rest was gravel. An ATV passed me about halfway up and another as I approached the top. I was glad to reach the point where Hinsdale Trail branched off Reservoir Trail as this was gated and ATVs were prohibited. Pisgah Reservoir begins here and there was a herd path over to the waters edge. Back on Reservoir Trail, it is a snowmobile trail in Winter, so wide and easy footing. It was muddy in places, but that was all easily avoidable. The further into the park I got, the buggier it became, which was the biggest downfall of the day.. but also expected at this time of year and with lingering mud and water. I took a left at Pisgah Ridge Trail. The trail climbs up the ridge and follows right along with lots of ups and downs as you go over various knobs and unnamed peaks. I really enjoyed this trail. There was a beautiful vista just before the summit of Mt Pisgah with views over to Monadnock and the surrounding area. Mt Pisgah summit is wooded and unmarked, I guessed at the high point and the elevation matched. Continuing along Pisgah Ridge Trail, the terrain changed from pine needle to mossy rocks and back several times. There were a few more scenic vistas, with much of the same view from slightly different angles. After 3.4 miles I reached Baker Pond Trail, which I had been on earlier in the year. It looked completely different as it was covered in snow on my last visit. I followed Baker Pond Trail, which is also a snowmobile trail until it joined up with Reservoir Trail and followed that all the way back to my car. Nothing to see along this section of trail. The lack of breeze made the day feel warm, even though the temperatures were only in the low 70s and the bugs were so bad, my bug net made its first appearance of the year. I only saw 1 group of 2 the entire day (besides the ATVs). I had considered doing an out and back on Hinsdale Trail as well to check that off, but my legs were done by the time I got back to that intersection, so just continued on to my car. I was surprised to see the parking area completely full when I returned! I also passed a Fish & Game officer on his ATV waiting in the woods on my drive out and he didn't say anything to me, so that must be an acceptable road for cars if not a really rough one!

Strava Activity

start of Reservoir Trail from parking area

where Hinsdale Trail branched off

the only non buggy section of the day

Mt Pisgah summit