Still not ready to Winter hike yet, I opted to stay close to home and begin intentionally red-lining the Southern NH AMC Guide. Without knowing that a spreadsheet existed, I'd done 26% of the trails over the years. I now have the spreadsheet downloaded and it will give me some good options for Winter, since I don't think I'm ready for any big time Winter hikes up North this year. I've been in Pawtuckaway State Park a few times, mostly to volunteer at the Vulcan's Fury Trail Race hosted by acidotic RACING, and once to hike South Pawtuckaway for the Fire Tower list. Other than that, it was all new territory for me. Due to Covid, parking requires a reservation at the 2 main lots and due to a last minute plan, I ended up only being able to get space at the park's main HQ. This required an additional 0.4 mile road walk each way to reach the trail head. I arrived soon after the park opened and headed for Mountain Trail. There were a few other parties heading out at the same time, but we were able to keep our distance easily enough. As most headed for the Fire Tower, I opted to bypass the tower and remain on Mountain Trail. The air was cool enough to be comfortable and it was a bluebird day. All the trails were in great shape. Just about every intersection is well signed. There were a couple spots I had to stop and look around, but overall (and especially with a map as well) it is easy enough to navigate. Boulder Trail was probably the busiest spot I encountered with several groups out rock climbing. I was wondering if there was a class taking place, because at the area near where North Mountain Trail begins, just about every boulder had a climber/mat. It was interesting to stop and watch for a moment. To this point, most of my hike had been relatively moderate in ascent, there were definitely ups and downs but I had been able to keep a 30 min/mile pace or better. As I started to ascend Mt Pawtuckaway (the north peak) I started to slow down and get tired. It was rather steep with a few hand over hand climbs. I passed several parties on their descent and welcomed the opportunity to step to the side and take a "breather break". I ended up stopping for my "lunch break" about 0.5 mile from the summit but past the steepest sections. I needed the break to regroup. Carbs on board I felt better as I headed back out for the summit. The summit of Mt Pawtuckaway is unmarked however there is a geological survey benchmark on top of a rock, which is blazed, but I imagine most bypass as the trail goes just around the rock and if you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't realize it was there. It is also the highpoint for the town of Nottingham. There are no views from the actual summit. I did encounter some clearings as I descended with some lingering colors. Views from mountains in the southern part of the state are definitely different than the north, lots of "flat landscapes". Still beautiful though. I definitely passed a lot more people heading up from this direction and once I reached Reservation Road at the bottom it was packed. I also bumped into a couple I knew from the area who were out hiking with their pup. That was a nice surprise and we chatted for a bit before heading in our separate directions. The last 4 miles were a snowmobile corridor with rolling ups and downs but basically a gentle way to finish out my day. I had a great day and look forward to going back and completing some of the other trails in the park.

Beautiful reflections in the pond along the road walk

Mountain Trail and strict regulations about parking

start of Mountain Trail

Same pond but viewed from the trail on this frosty morning

Intersection of Mountain Trail and Round Pond Trail. I went down Mountain Trail and returned via Round Pond Trail

Intersection of South Ridge Trail and Mountain Trail

South Ridge Connector off Tower Road

Round Pond along South Ridge Trail

start of Boulder Trail at Round Pond

Boulder Trail

I'm not sure if there is an Upper Slab, but this said Lower Slab

Boulder Trail

Intersection of Boulder Trail and North Mountain Trail

Climbing North Mountain Trail, this cool cave was off to my left

Summit of Mt Pawtuckaway

view from summit

descending North Mountain Trail

North Mountain Trail approaching Reservation Road

where North Mountain Trail continues over Reservation Road

Intersection of North Mountain Trail and Round Pond Trail

Round Pond Trail continues over Reservation Road

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Joe English Hill

We had 24 hours of much needed rain. I know we need it, but I have really been enjoying the dry trails! I took the morning off to let the rain subside, then headed out with Mr 14 for a short jaunt up to a summit on the NH Fire Tower list. With snow and ice already hitting the northern (and even some western) summits now, I have to be mindful about where I am going. I have Winter hiked before and do plan on continuing this year, just wasn't quite mentally ready yet to do so. Joe English Hill is in New Boston (New Boston's high point in fact). Most trip reports I have seen started out from the cul de sac on Summit Drive, so we did the same. There is enough space for 3 or 4 cars without blocking any of the driveways or road. A lovely pond abuts the cul de sac, and with the post rain light and fading Fall colors, it was a lovely place to start. The air was crisp and clean. The trail starts up a private driveway and in about 0.1 miles veers to the left. There was a large flat boulder at the intersection. From here the trail becomes rocky and starts to climb gently. In another 0.2 miles or so, you intersect the driveway again, this time above the house. Here there are piles of pallets and some other industrial type equipment. Follow the road to the left. There were lots of side paths/roads going off all over the place but just stay straight on the "main road". Eventually the road peters out and you reach some slab areas. Those were wet for us today, but we were able to walk over them without incident. After the slab, the trail is more of an actual trail and weaves up and around in beautiful forest. I don't know if we just lucked out with the crispness and glowing light, but it was just so pretty, I had to keep stopping and just looking around. The woods are open and you can see peeks through to the surrounding areas. The path is pine needle, my favorite kind to walk on. Eventually you reach an area with a cairn and many paths going off in all directions. We took a couple and enjoyed some open areas. There were some elaborate firepits up there too. I imagine this would be a wonderful place to sit and watch the sunset with a cozy fire. There is even an area set up with adirondack chairs and information about viewing raptor migration. It really was a hidden gem. The good thing too, without an actual blazed trail and parking, I imagine it's much quieter than other areas that see an abundance of traffic. We saw 2 fellow walkers out with their dogs, but that was it. A practically perfect afternoon.

Strava Activity

Private driveway where trail starts

Pretty pond alongside cul de sac

Beautiful open woods approaching the summit

One of the firepits on a spur path off the summit

Raptor migration viewing information

Firepit and chair at the raptor migration viewing area

Adirondacks at the raptor migration viewing area

Firepit and view from the raptor migration viewing area

Monday, October 12, 2020

Blueberry Mountain

It had been a while since I'd done 2 hikes in a weekend, and even then they had been much shorter and less elevation, so I picked a much easier hike as my 2nd on this beautiful Fall weekend. Today I had my 14 year old son with me too. I like when he comes along, we don't necessarily talk a lot, and he's usually miles ahead of me, but I like knowing we're out there together. Blueberry Mountain is on the 52 With a View list and much like some of the other hikes I've been doing, seems to be less popular. There are 2 ways to reach Blueberry Mountain, the most common being from Long Pond Road to the East, and the way I chose being from Blueberry Mountain Road to the west. I like the idea of a quieter trail, not only due to our Covid times right now, but also so I don't have to keep stepping off trail to let others pass since I'm so slow! Blueberry Mountain Trail from the west begins at the gated end of the road, much like so many I have been doing lately on an old logging road. I actually don't mind these sorts of starts to a hike, gets the blood flowing and the legs warmed up gradually without going straight into a steep climb. This trail was blazed in yellow blazes, sometimes sparsely and sometimes faded, but they seemed to be there most of the way. Around 0.5 miles up the logging road, you will turn right at another old logging road, blocked off by boulders and with a sign indicating foot traffic only. This road will meander gently up and down and over several seasonal streams (mostly dry at this time) until it veers to the left onto a trail at an old logging clearing. The climb starts very gradually, the footbed becomes much leafier (at this time of year, though unlike other trails it didn't seem to be hiding a lot of rocks and holes, which was nice). At around 1.5 miles the trail becomes very wet, I imagine this is a consistent occurrence as there was some old logs and stepping stones to help you cross. The trail veers left here and begins a more moderate climb before passing through a pine area and popping out on the northwest facing ledges where the views are. The slab was wet for us today, but thankfully not extensively and the rock seemed grippy enough that we had no issue crossing it. The true summit is a few tenths past the ledges, reached by a side path marked with a small cairn. We located the side spur easy enough, however several hundred yards in, the path passes through a rock crevice and heads to the right, we had been looking straight and headed in that direction, quickly realizing we were not on a trail any longer. I kept thinking that I hadn't read about any bushwhacking of any sort, but couldn't see signs of the path. I had my map out on my phone and could see we were very close, so we just pushed through the woods until we popped back out on the path again and followed it to the true summit. There are restricted views here, mainly of Mt Moosilauke next door and over towards Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube. We started the bushwhack again back to the main trail, and ended up crossing the path again, this time in a different place and realized we were almost back at the true summit. The path had approached from the opposite side than we had, and once we followed it back, we saw where we had erred and I laughed at how obvious it actually was. Just goes to show though how careful you have to be, and how easy a trail can be lost sometimes. We made our back to the ledges, took a few pictures of the views and headed back down to the car. We didn't encounter anyone until about half a mile from the car. Another perfect day in the mountains.

Strava Activity

Gated end of Blueberry Mountain Road

Right turn off logging road onto another logging road

Crossing the really wet area

Cairn between the ledges and the side path to true summit

True summit

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Eastman Mountain

Another perfect weekend in New Hampshire. Another opportunity to check off a mountain peak on the 52 With a View list. This time I chose Eastman Mountain. I knew with it being a holiday weekend many peaks would be busy, Eastman seems to get less traffic from the reports I could find. There are a couple different ways to reach Eastman, I opted for the longer, but much more gradual ascent via Slippery Brook Trail and the Eastman Mountain Trail. My day started with a massive bonus prize in seeing a moose just a couple tenths from the trailhead. Only the 2nd time I've seen a moose while on a hiking trip and definitely the closest encounter I've had. The trail starts at the gated end of Town Hall Road in Chatham. It begins with a 2 mile walk on an old logging road, which is very gentle and peaceful as you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. The Fall foliage is past peak, but had a soft yellow glow on this crisp morning. Follow the main road as a couple of older roads merge in. At 1.8 miles there is a tiny arrow sign pointing left and about 0.2 miles after that a large log blocks the road with another arrow pointing right and onto the actual trail portion of the hike. From here the trail ascends and descends, sometimes moderately, sometimes a little more steeply, but nothing ever really crazy. The hardest part about this for me was making sure I stayed on the trail. I didn't see any blazes at all (however I have since read there are apparently some sparse and faded blazes, I must have just been looking down when I passed them). I did lose the trail very briefly just once at a blowdown, in which the trail followed what I thought was a dry stream.. I'm not sure if it does ever get wet, either way, follow the streambed for a few hundred yards and the trail heads off to the left. For the most part the footbed was obvious, though I did feel like I was off trail many times due to the deep leaf cover, but other than the one time, I wasn't. Eventually you wind your way around to a pine forest, which is my favourite kind of trail. Along the way there were glimpses over to Sable and Chandler Mountains and occasionally South Baldface came into view. It was just a very lovely walk in the woods. At roughly 4 miles, you reach an intersection with Baldface Knob Trail and Eastman Mountain Trail. I headed down Eastman Mountain Trail which reaches the summit in 0.8 miles. The first half is relatively flat, even descends a little. You can see brief glimpses of Eastman ahead. The second half was what I considered rugged and steep. Even though these sections are sometimes hard for me and I am very slow in ascending, I can do it knowing they are short! I reached the summit in which there was a large cairn and while it isn't completely open with 360 degree views, there are outlooks and paths in almost all directions to create a 360 degree panorama. It had warmed considerably for a Fall day and I enjoyed the summit to myself for quite a while having a snack before heading back down. One of the best parts of the day was in 9.5 miles and 6 hours, I only encountered 5 people total. 2 on Slippery Brook Trail, 1 on Eastman Mountain Trail and a couple on the logging road when I was practically back at the car. After seeing the massive amount of cars at the Piper Trail for Mt Chocorua on my way home, I knew I had made a good choice.

Strava Activity

Nice surprise along Town Hall Road

Arrow at about 1.8 miles on the logging road

Arrow pointing you into the woods off the logging road

There's a trail there somewhere under the leaves

Eastman Mountain summit

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Rogers Ledge

I set out for my longest hike of the year (actually in probably 4 years) with butterflies in my belly. Rogers Ledge is a new addition to the 52 With a View list with this years evaluation of the peaks by the Over the Hill Hikers who created and maintain the list. I couldn't find a whole lot of information or trip reports about it ahead of time, so went with what little I could find. There are 2 ways to reach Rogers Ledge, one hiking up from Unknown Pond which I had read was steep and rugged, the other coming from South Pond, longer but much less elevation gain. Considering this was my longest hike to date, I opted for less elevation gain. I knew I could definitely do the gain, it was the length that had me nervous. The closest I've come this year, I was toast at the end, but with many more miles on my legs between then and now, I just felt confident I could do it. The Kilkenny Ridge Trail begins at the South Pond Recreation Area, which unfortunately due to Covid this year is closed, thus requiring parking outside the gate, and adding an additional 1.3 mile road walk at the start and finish of the hike (which I knew ahead of time and was the reason this became my longest hike to date). The weather report for this weekend was a little iffy, the high summits forecast called for some Winter precipitation and we had our first rain in many weeks yesterday. I packed extra clothing/Winter gear just in case and headed out. Driving up through the Mt Washington Valley area, the sun came out casting a magical glow over everything and I felt awake and ready. Upon reaching Gorham and turning left onto Route 2, only about 20 miles from the trailhead, the skies were dark and gloomy and clouds were low. Bummer. I just thought positively that in the few hours it would take me to reach the summit, the sun might find its way through the clouds. After all, this peak is on the 52 With a View, I hoped for a little something to actually view! I reached the gate on South Pond Road, there was already a truck there and another car arrived at the same time I did. This actually made me feel a little at ease, I knew there would be other people out on the trail. This just felt really remote to me (it really isn't, there are houses/camps right around the gate) and knowing other humans were within range calmed me! Weird how things like that work. I set out on the road walk and hit South Pond pretty quickly. Kilkenny Ridge Trail starts at the south end of the beach area and the first couple tenths are very flat and smooth as it also serves as a handicap accessible trail for the pond. Once that ended and the "trail" began it definitely became a little more rugged. Yesterday's rain made the trail a lot wetter than I had anticipated and all the fallen leaves hid many mossy rocks, mud and slippery roots. There were 3 stream crossings, that really for the first time this year I had to cross with actual water in them! The wet rocks made one of them a little more difficult and I ended up getting a wet shoe, but compared to other water crossings in the White Mountains, these were very tame. There is an intersection at 0.7 miles for the Devils Hopyard, which I opted to pass on this time due to the wet conditions and not really wanting to add any extra miles this time around. If I ever come back, I'll head up the 0.3 miles to explore that area. The 4.1 miles of the Kilkenny Ridge Trail to Rogers Ledge summit, is really just a nice long walk in the woods. Terrain varies from flat and smooth to mossy boulders to tight pine alleys that made me all wet from the rain yesterday! It doesn't really get steep until the final mile or so and even then it's not a bad steep. I was just tired and started to get concerned about the 5 miles back, but wasn't about to turn around. I just watched my pace, took lots of breather breaks and enjoyed the perfect temperatures. The summit was a lot more open than I had anticipated, thinking "ledge" I just envisioned rock slab and not much else. It was very pretty and flat. The actual "ledge" was just a small area off to the side, which of course were where the views were. I had the summit to myself and sat to have a snack and regroup. The clouds had mostly cleared and the views were very pretty. The ledge has a complete drop off the edge, which always makes me nervous and I was glad no one else was there. I always get very anxious watching other people in areas like that. The break was just what I needed and I felt energized to head back down. First I walked around the flat summit area, I knew there was a spur path to the true summit with a benchmark. It wasn't difficult to spot and I walked over and took a picture. The walk down was uneventful, mostly just being careful on the wet, to not slip and hurt myself. I passed several groups of both backpackers and day hikers and said a silent thank you that I had timed my summit just right again. I've been very lucky this year to have had most summits to myself! The time seemed to go very quickly and before I knew it, I was back at South Pond and the 1.3 mile road walk back to the car. Another great day to be outdoors.

Strava Activity