You Are Here: SRKG Section 5

Having completed half the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Section 5 already, I set out to complete the second half. It's the longest of the sections at 8.4 miles. Today my plan was to do an out and back of the remaining 3.7 miles I needed. I had hoped with the warm temperatures we have had that the snow may have almost melted. I parked in a plowed pullout along Rt 114 in Springfield, right next to where the trail crosses the road from Section 4 to Section 5 and was surprised to see another car there. I saw a decent amount of snow in the woods and peoples yards as I was driving in, so I geared up in snowshoes. The trail starts out on a snowmobile trail, which was just icy. It heads up a short hill and into an open field. Here I passed the owners of the other car on their return, and saw no one else the remainder of the day. A little further along I decided to change into spikes as this section was just ice or bare ground. Following the white trapezoids of the SRKG, the trail veered left into the woods and followed some single track up to Webster Pass. A gravel road rumored to have been used by Daniel Webster back in his day. This was bare gravel. Following that for just a couple tenths, the trail bears left off the road and up a pretty steep little hill (which is apparently an old mica mine, though snow covered any traces of that today). I was starting to sink into the snow cover at this point and maybe 3/4 of a mile into the climb I decided to change back into my snowshoes, which I ended up wearing for most of the remainder of the hike. At the top of the first climb was an open field with some peekaboo views across to the Grantham Mountain ridge, which was pretty. Back in the forest briefly and out into another cleared field. I then took a sharp right onto a straight section that follows a stone wall before turning left and back into the woods. A short distance in, I came across a sign on a tree that said "The Overalls", there was a very short spur to a restricted overlook of some nearby peaks. From here the trails goes up and down and up and down, the snow was anywhere from a couple inches to maybe 5 or 6 inches and was soft, which was exhausting! It had been broken out, but by bare boots, which wasn't always helpful except for guiding the way. The trail climbs up and over Royal Arch Hill, missing the summit which was off trail. In Summer I would probably have made the short trek to nab the true summit, but in the snow I wasn't interested in adding anything additional. Coming down the other side of Royal Arch Hill, I did lose the trail briefly as there were several trees down and lots of debris, which unknowingly hid the trail. I had my pre-downloaded tracks thankfully so never strayed too far. At the bottom of the descent was another overlook aptly named Royal Arch, which was a lovely view over to Mt Sunapee and surrounds. At this point, I was really tired and considered turning around, but I thought I only had 0.7 miles left so pushed on. The trail climbed back up, I lost it a couple more times as this section was completely unbroken, but with my downloaded tracks was able to get back on course. After yet another descent, and looking at my watch vs the map.. my watch said only 0.2 more miles but the map showed at least another 0.7 or so.. and I knew there were at least another couple of ups and downs, I made the decision to call it a day. It was the right decision, as I was really tired and starting to get sore, and knowing I had to backtrack, I couldn't imagine going any further. I'll get the last remaining "hanging chad" at some point! I literally turned around and retraced my steps all the way back to the car. Overall, it was a very pretty hike, as well maintained as it can be in Winter after a few snow dumps and wind. I look forward to exploring more of the greenway.

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