You Are Here: Metacomet-Monadnock/Wantastiquet-Monadnock Trails Troy Depot to Fern Hill

This year for some reason, I am just not into Winter hiking. I'm doing all I can to avoid it! In downtown Troy at the Troy Depot, the Metacomet-Monadnock and Wantastiquet Monadnock Trails merge and head over Fern Hill to Gap Mountain and on to their ends at Mt Monadnock. I had come up Fern Hill from the Gap Mountain side, so today I decided to park at the Troy Depot and finish the small section up Fern Hill from the Troy side. Initially I was going to park at the end of Prospect Street and do the road walk down to Troy Depot, but the small area described on the Metacomet-Monadnock guide for a couple of cars had not been plowed. So Plan B was to start at the Troy Depot. There is a train car currently parked at the Depot as well, and there were folks working on it today. I wonder what they're turning it into! It lightly snowed my entire drive over but stopped when I parked. Since this was majority road walking, I just wore my boots, but threw my spikes in just in case the road was icy, or the short section I needed on Fern Hill warranted traction. First I headed up to the Troy Tent Site, one of the few overnight options along the Wantastiquet-Monadnock Trail. From the Depot, head one block over to High Street, turn left and walk about a quarter mile. You will see a green house on the left, then a white house. Immediately after the white house is a small stone wall with a sign indicating the spur to the tent site. I had looked this up on Google Earth previously, otherwise I'd have probably missed it. The spur heads down between 2 houses to an area the landowner has set up for 3 tent sites. They currently have some equipment stored in the area, so I could really only make out 1 of the sites, which was in a fenced area. Very generous of the landowner to allow this. Back on High Street, I walked down to Rt 12. Turned right and walked up to a pedestrian crossing just past Water Street. Crossed here and walked down Rt 12 where thankfully there is a sidewalk the entire length until Quarry Road. Turn left on Quarry Road. The town recycling station is down Quarry Road and being a Saturday when it's open, it was a busier road than I expected. The recycling center is halfway down the road, it got quieter after that. Head up a pretty steep little hill to where pavement ends and it's hard packed dirt. Continue to the end of Quarry Road where Lloyd Lane goes left, and a fork is in front of you. The left branch of the fork is a private drive. The right fork is the trail, a Class VI road. It is marked here with a map. From here to the top of Fern Hill is about 0.3 miles and was completely snow covered with a couple inches, but I was still able to make do with just my boots. I was also completely surprised to see fresh tracks that continued on over Fern Hill. I wonder if it was a Winter thru hiker! I reached the summit of Fern Hill, which was my turnaround point and retraced my steps to the car.

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