Mt Rowe & Gunstock

Spring hiking can be tricky. Snow, ice, mud, animals coming out of hibernation, cold, hot.. you name it, any number of obstacles can prevent a Spring hike from being enjoyable. But we still do it. Because we love it. Today, I took the chance and headed out to Gilford. I was surprised to learn the Gunstock ski area had already closed for the season (since I know they make snow), and took the risk that the snow/ice situation would be manageable. I pulled in to virtually an empty parking lot. There is quite a bit of construction occurring around the resort, so other than the workers there, I only saw 1 other car with a gentleman preparing for a hike himself. Having already achieved my BRT Hiking patch, I'm now working on "redlining" the area. Redlining officially exists in the White Mountains and is defined as "The term red-lining comes from the days when people marked each route they had hiked on a map, using a red pen. Most red-liners now track their progress on computer spreadsheets. But the practice is about much more than keeping a list." I have since seen the term used here in regards to the Belknap Range, so have taken it upon myself to work towards 100% achievement. I'm all about patches ;) So, today I hiked up the Ridge Trail to Mt Rowe, which is essentially an access road to the cell tower. There are no views at the actual summit, but a few tenths of a mile beyond the summit, ledges open up to some beautiful views over the ski trails and Lake Winnipesaukee. A bit different than when I was there a few weeks ago with Vanessa. That's what I love about visiting peaks in various months of the year.. might be the same mountain, but the view can be completely different! From Mt Rowe, I continued on the Ridge Trail.. took a quick side trip down the Benjamin Weeks trail for redlining purposes (having completed the rest of that trail a few weeks ago, I just needed the final 0.2).. and finally up to the Gunstock summit. I had read trail descriptions of the Ridge Trail meandering and switchbacking up to the summit.. it sure did, at times it felt like you were in the middle of nowhere.. and at other times the trail paralleled the ski trails, which was unique! Within about 0.5 mile of the summit, the ice became more prevalent, but thankfully with care it was avoidable. I had the summit to myself. Odd to be up there with absolutely no one around. Like a ghost town. I descended via the Brook Trail, which was not my favorite. It was icy, it was choppy, it was messy and muddy.. but at times it was completely fine as well. Spring hiking at its best. The trails are relatively well marked in the region, only a couple times on the Brook Trail did I have to look around for the next blaze to be sure I was headed in the right direction. It crosses ski trails, I think 4 times.. which was a bit confusing, but I always found the next blaze within a few moments. As I completed the Brook Trail, oddly the gentleman I had seen at the start also popped out back in the carpark.. but I hadn't seen him at all the rest of the time, so I'm not sure where he had been. Overall, a gorgeous day to be out enjoying nature's best.

Strava Activity

The Ridge Trail aka access road up Mt Rowe

Unexciting summit of Mt Rowe

Finally onto trail and into the woods

Ridge Trail on the way to Gunstock from Mt Rowe

If you like science..

view from the ledges near Mt Rowe summit

The intersection of the Ridge Trail with the Mt Rowe trail

Today I'm taking the Ridge Trail

Looking back to Rowe from the col on the way to Gunstock, soon I imagine this view will be filled in with green

I've made it to the ski trails

Thankfully this was alongside the trail.. but remnants of Winter still around

For redlining purposes, I took 0.2 of the Benjamin Weeks trail back to the North Spur intersection to complete the Benjamin Weeks Trail

found this neat little view heading up the Ridge Trail

Intersection of Ridge Trail and Gunstock Mountain trail

more ice on the Ridge Trail

View from the Panorama Pub atop Gunstock Mountain

View from the Panorama Pub atop Gunstock Mountain

looking right into the sun

With the snow banks, it was actually a bit hairy making the descent onto the Brook Trail

This was about the extent of the Brook Trail I enjoyed

my goal became to make sure it took me less than 90 minutes.. took me about 55!

One of the ski trail crossings

Love my Salomon Toundra's, especially on water crossings like this.

Redlining on Mt Rowe

Vanessa and I did a little more redlining on Mt Rowe today. Parked at Gilford Elementary. Took the Mt Rowe Trail to Benjamin Weeks Trail. Followed Benjamin Weeks Trail to North Spur Trail. Met up with Ridge Trail to summit. Back down Mt Rowe Trail to the car. Perfect Winter hiking day. No wind, relatively mild temperatures. Lots of mixed terrain from packed snow base (just a couple inches), to ice, to bare ground, to mud. Wore microspikes the whole way and had no issues. Actually took them off on Ridge Trail as ground was mostly bare, what little snow/ice there was, was easily avoidable. Perfect views from ledges before summit. Water crossings were OK, frozen enough to rock hop or jump across.

Strava Activity

Gunstock & Belknap

 Today Vanessa and I did a lollipop hike over Gunstock and Belknap so I could pick up a couple more trails for my redlining patch. Up the Gunstock Mountain Trail utilizing the Winter Shortcut. Wore spikes, thin snow cover, icy in several spots. Glad to have the spikes on. Bluebird day atop the summit. Quiet on the slopes due to it being a week/school day. Headed down Brook Trail towards Belknap. Made the mistake of following cross country ski markings which was nicely packed and ended up off trail for a few tenths before realizing the blazes had disappeared! Whoops! Backtracked and got back on course. Snow became a little deeper once on the Blue Trail heading up Belknap, however spikes were still sufficient. Another perfect view atop the Fire Tower. No ice on the tower at all. Red trail down, a little less packed but easily navigable. Carriage Road back down to gate and the car. Great hike.

Strava Activity

Mt Oscar - Bretton Woods Snowshoe Expedition

I took a snowshoe expedition with a Bretton Woods Guide (Heath Brewer). It was an awesome day. We took the chairlift up the Bethlehem Express and then snowshoed over to the Mt Oscar summit via the snowshoe trails. Took some pictures then snowshoed back down to the base via Avalon and Crawford Ridge ski trails. 

Strava Activity

Caverly Mountain

 I took Vanessa over to Caverly Mountain today as she had not been there before. Parked on Kings Mountain without blocking the trail and started down the snowmobile corridor. This time at the first intersection we stayed straight to loop around from the backside on Caverly Mountain Trail. We were first tracks up the mountain on this side. We were able to get away with just microspikes even though there was a couple of inches of snow/crust on the ground. Overcast skies, which just added to the drama of the pretty views over Merrymeeting and Winnipesaukee Lakes. Perfect first hike for 2016. 

Strava Activity

Pawtuckaway South

So this one time, when I met a fellow Australian who lives in the same town as I do.. and loves to hike! What are the chances! Vanessa and I were introduced through a mutual friend and once we discovered we both love hiking, we immediately made plans to do some exploring. The weather this month has been amazing for almost Winter, so we took advantage and headed over to Pawtuckaway State Park. I had been in the park a couple times for the Vulcans Fury Trail Race, but never before to do any real hiking. There are 3 peaks within the park boundary and the South Peak is on the NH Fire Tower list. We parked on Round Pond Road in the small parking lot, and walked down the remainder of Round Pond Road, skirting the edge of the pond and up to South Ridge Trail. Pawtuckaway State Park is an extinct volcano, and this trail skirts the south rim. It starts out gently around the pond, but gets rather steep as it climbs up to the fire tower. Being Fall, there were lots of leaves on the ground, which made it a bit slippery at times, but we had no real issues. Lovely views even on this grey day. 

Strava Activity

Round Pond from South Ridge Trail