You Are Here: Holbrook Hill

Finally had a chance to dive into the new AMC South Guide 6th edition that I've had for several weeks now. Lots of amazing new places to explore. Holbrook Hill in Bedford was no exception. Honestly some of the most meticulous trails I remember seeing. It was like someone had been through and had leaf blown the debris from the trail proper. They were so clean! I opted to start at what they call the Main Entrance on Joppa Hill Road. There was a roadside pull off for a couple of cars and a kiosk. The guide describes 2 trails in this area, but there is now a third, that I used to create a loop. It was 2 loops essentially with a little out and back on each end and in the middle. I took the right branch of Lo Flo Trail (blue blazes) from the kiosk and followed that around until I reached Holbrook Hill Trail. Turned onto Holbrook Hill Trail (orange blazes) and followed that up and over the summit of Holbrook Hill. The only scenic thing in this area is along this section when you cross over a bridge dividing a pond from a boggy area. These trails are multi use and it felt like they were designed with mountain biking in mind. Long straight aways and hairpin turns created a very mild ascent. You barely realize you are climbing (to be fair, I only did around 470 feet of gain over 6 miles, you really aren't climbing much). The summit is marked with a little circle around a rock formation with a mailbox and sign in notebook and a cairn. This is also the highpoint for the town of Bedford. I continued on Holbrook Trail and descended down the backside to an alternate parking area on Back Mountain Road. Backtracking, I picked up the newer white blazed trail, marked on their website as the Thomas & Robert Shirley Trail. This created a loop and prevented having to go back up and over the summit. This trail connected back with Holbrook Hill Trail not far from the bridge over the pond. I continued back to Lo Flo Trail, this time taking a right to complete that loop. The section from here back to the kiosk was the most "technical" of the entire area, in that it was really the only area with any substantial rocks and roots, and a few manmade rocky sections that were likely designed to help when the trail may be excessively wet.. which it was not today. There is a short spur along this section of trail, that led to another small parking area on Joppa Hill Road. Several areas on all 3 trails had significant mountain laurel plants. I read that peak bloom is in June, I can only imagine how beautiful it must be. Even still, the lush greenery creates a mini oasis even without the flowers. It was a gorgeous day out, temps were pleasant, I would have liked a bit more of a breeze, but the trail is completely under tree cover, so it's not like I was in direct sun or anything. Bugs were mild. Enough to be somewhat annoying, but not enough to warrant the bug net. Overall, a really enjoyable area.

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