It was a spectacular day, albeit it windy.. I knew I wanted something with some views potentially, thinking the wind would clear the skies. I decided to head back to Mt Sunapee and finish the Newbury Trail that I half hiked last year and grab the last tenth of a mile I needed on Solitude Trail down to Lake Solitude. Having read all the trail reports and descriptions, I knew parking was a little ways away from the trailhead on Rt 103 at Newbury Harbor near the Visitors Information kiosk. Parking on Lake View Ave where the trailhead is, is prohibited by the town of Newbury. I arrived sort of early and was surprised to find only a couple cars there ahead of me. Carefully crossing Rt 103 and heading up Newbury Heights Rd, the second right is Lake View Ave. Heading up this, the trailhead is just a little ways up on the right, about 0.2 miles from the parking area total. The trail starts on private land and immediately crosses a small brook. We had some decent rains yesterday, so it was nice to see water flowing and a little cascade after all the dry weather we've had. I had read there were some steeper sections on this trail, and those started almost immediately. The first mile and half is a pretty steady up most of the way. There were some small reprieves, but mostly up. At 0.4 miles there is a cairn in the middle of the trail. This marks the Eagles Nest Trail, which I took 0.2 miles to the Eagles Nest outlook. Starting to become restricted with tree growth, nonetheless a pretty overlook over Lake Sunapee and surrounding mountain tops. At about 1.3 miles the Rim Trail intersects Newbury Trail. This is where I had turned off last time I came down Newbury Trail. Continuing up Newbury, there are a couple of steep, yet short scrambles. A scenic overlook, again becoming restricted with tree growth is about 0.2 miles from the Rim Trail intersection. About 2 miles in, you pass just below the true summit of Sunapee South Peak and the trail really levels out. The last couple of tenths over to Solitude Trail were really pleasant, if not a bit muddy. I turned left at the intersection with Solitude Trail, and descended gently about one tenth of a mile to the Andrew Brook Trail intersection and Lake Solitude. Until now I had only passed 2 groups. It started to get busy from here, which I expected on such a crystal clear day. I didn't summit Mt Sunapee as I know the Solitude Trail once it reaches the service road for the ski trails is a steep incline and I wasn't interested in that today. Instead I retraced my steps from Lake Solitude (excluding a revisit to Eagles Nest) and carefully made my way back down, with only one slide on a wet root that had me sitting on the trail briefly! Thankfully no one around to witness that graceful move.
Strava Activity
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| Newbury Harbor - where parking is located |
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| Trailhead on Lake View Ave |
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| Trail marker for Eagles Nest Trail |
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| view from Eagles Nest |
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| view from Eagles Nest |
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