Beauty Ledge & Piper Mountain - Moose Mountains Reservation

 Many people ask me what "redlining" is. In terms of New Hampshire hiking, it involves hiking every trail in the AMC Guide Books. I'm working on the AMC South Guide Book. The book is broken into sections (regions) and today I reached 100% on the Lakes Region tab (or at least my version of it for the 5th Edition). I'm a little disappointed in myself that I saved this hike for last, as it wasn't my favourite, but that's OK. Looking back, it wasn't as bad as I felt actually in the moment. I headed back to the Moose Mountains Reservation in Middleton for the final 4 trails I needed on the Lakes Region tab. They are definitely far less traveled than many trails in the area, but all were easy enough to navigate, even if a little messy in places. I started on Burrows Farm Trail, which I've done before. Today the deer flies and bugs were pretty bad. I ended up wearing a bug net as I couldn't stand them flying around my face. Today I took the right hand turn onto North Trail, which is an old logging road. I continued up to Beauty Ledge Trail, which is marked with a sign. Beauty Ledge Trail is a short steep climb up to some ledges looking over Strafford County and into southern Maine. I continued onto Beauty Knob Trail which was a short, steep descent to meet up with the top end of North Trail. According to maps, North Trail continues and another trail sometimes called Mountain View Trail also departs from this area, but I'd say they are very scarcely traveled and although I did see some flagging tape on what appeared to be Mountain View Trail, these appear to be no longer maintained. Even where Beauty Knob Trail emerged onto North Trail, had I been coming from the opposite direction, I'm not sure I would have found it. There is a very old faded blue blaze on the tree, but that's pretty much it for any indication there is a trail there. The trail itself is well marked, it would just be locating the start from North Trail that could be tricky. North Trail is pretty messy. Being an old logging road, it was grassy in some areas, rocky in others and several small blowdowns all over the place. Back down near the bottom is a large cleared area with an intersection for Piper Mountain Trail. This was my last trail for the Lakes Region tab. Another old logging road, it descends moderately and is much like North Trail. Grassy, rocky and rather messy. With all the bugs out today, it really wasn't my cup of tea, but I persisted not wanting to have to come back another day to finish. The trail reaches Bowser Pond and takes a sharp left, following the perimeter of the pond for a ways before heading up towards Piper Mountain. You're basically on old logging road/snowmobile corridor for the remainder of this hike. So not really maintained for Summer hiking, though still passable. The trail climbs until it meets with Piper Mountain Road as marked on the map, which was a rough Class VI road, that really only dirt bikes or ATVs could pass on. I have read about some folks who have driven, but I'd say they came in from the opposite direction, as nearer the path to Piper Mountain summit, the road did widen and smooth some, but was still quite rough. I wouldn't recommend trying to drive unless you had an off road vehicle. There is no indication where the side path to the summit and view ledges are, but I was following an online tracker which led me in the right direction. If you were just doing it on paper, the trail is open and obvious, just not marked. If you were looking for it, you should be able to see it easily enough. This section was a little muddy and there was indication a dirt bike or something had been through here recently. The trail goes up and over the unmarked summit before descending to some ledges that overlook Bowser Pond and the surrounding area. There is an old firepit and there were several signs of social gatherings (ie beer cans left laying around). The view is pretty, but not really a hike I'd readily recommend to anyone unless redlining. I wasn't looking forward to the hike back and considered trying to navigate an older unmaintained trail, but decided against it. I actually made decent time back and it was then I realized the old logging roads weren't as bad as I felt on the way out. I'm glad I did the hike and I'm psyched to have reached 100% for the Lakes Region. Onto the remaining 7 sections!

Strava Activity

upper ledges at Beauty Ledge.. keep going though

views from the lower ledges at Beauty Ledge

looking back at where Beauty Knob Trail came out on North Trail

Piper Mountain

looking over Bowser Pond from Piper Mountain

looking back at Phoebes Nable & Moose Mountain

and that's a wrap on the Lakes Region tab of the AMC South Trail Guide

Bowser Pond

trail carnage

Pitcher Mountain, Hubbard Hill, Jackson Hill via MSG

 July 4th! The rains stopped, but it was still very wet. I headed back to the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway to log some more miles. I started at Pitcher Mountain. It's a short, moderate climb from the parking lot to the firetower. Having been here twice before, I didn't go up the tower today, but continued on the Greenway towards Hubbard Hill. I'd read that the stretch between Pitcher and Jackson Hill was some of the more interesting trail on the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, so I was eager to see what it was all about. The trail was more grown in than I had anticipated and with the rains the past few days, I was instantly soaked. Ironically, hiking actually in the rain all day yesterday, my feet stayed mostly dry. Today they were wet within minutes. Thankfully it wasn't cold, so my wet clothing wasn't a hindrance. This annoyed me a little bit, but I pushed on. Soon I was in the woods on a more traditional trail. Overall, the trail stayed wet for most of the day, there was a lot of standing water and mud, but I was able to avoid most of it. Just had to be careful as the roots and rocks were rather slippery. The trail meanders through the woods for a while, crossing a gravel road and continuing into the woods before actually joining the road and following it for a while. I believe this is a snowmobile corridor in the Winter, but this section is mostly gravel with good footing. I was grateful to have an online map tracker on me as in several places, snowmobile corridors branched off, although the MSG is pretty well blazed with white blazes for the most part. This section of snowmobile trail petered out at a cleared section and the trail continued through a grassy area, which actually kind of reminded me of a beach as there were no trees in the immediate vicinity! The variety of terrain was definitely fun to navigate through. I passed the halfway marker for the MSG, 24 miles to Sunapee and 24 miles to Monadnock! Hubbard Hill was the next summit, which was an open hilltop with some restricted views of the surrounding area. The clouds were low today, so no great vistas. Continuing on, the trail re-entered the woods and descended quite a bit towards Fox Brook. This was the most rugged area of the trail, and the wettest, so I had to take extra care with footing to prevent slipping. I took the short spur to the Fox Brook Campsite, which is a tent platform for thru hikers of the MSG. As I came back down the spur, I encountered the first person of the day. A southbound thru hiker who was in the middle of a 24 mile day. Not the best weekend for a multi-day hike, but we can't pick the weather when planning in advance for an adventure like that unfortunately. We exchanged pleasantries and went off in opposite directions. I had 2 small water crossings after that, in which the water was flowing decently, but the crossing was relatively narrow. Having wet feet already, I just went across really only taking care not to fall. The trail merged again with an old road and moderately started climbing up Jackson Hill. The trail here was wide and the footing was good, just a little steeper. The summit of Jackson Hill was wide open and grassy with some pretty wildflowers. A little more view than Hubbard Hill, but still with low clouds I didn't have a lot to see today. I had a quick snack and headed down the short section to meet up with one of those snowmobile offshoots I had passed earlier. I had decided to take this all the way back to the parking area, rather than backtrack my steps. This would provide a quicker and more straightforward route. These roads do tend to get rather boring after a while, but also allow you to increase the pace. I met a large group heading up Jackson Hill from the other side. Then I re-encountered Mr Thru Hiker as he was coming off Hubbard Hill at the fork where the snowmobile corridor I was coming down merged with the trail for a bit. The remainder of the hike was uneventful and I was back at the car in no time. 

Strava Activity

Kiosk on Rt 123 at Pitcher Mountain

Passing a lovely view on the way up to the firetower

Pitcher Mountain

the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway is well marked

that's the trail in there somewhere

a less narrow section

heading up Hubbard Hill

when Mother Nature strikes

varied terrain on this section of MSG

Fox Brook Campsite

water crossing

second water crossing

Jackson Hill

some pretty wildflowers on Jackson Hill

my favourite kind of trail

where the MSG meets the snowmobile road

Mr Thru Hiker on the MSG/snowmobile road section

Pawtuckaway State Park

 It's July 4th weekend and it's cold and pouring rain. I have had family commitments the past couple weekends, and will the next couple weekends, so I had anticipated a big weekend of hiking this weekend. I couldn't let the rain stop me, but needed to plan accordingly, so I figured I'd head back to Pawtuckaway to grab some more trails in an area that didn't need fine weather for any views. Laura decided to join me. We parked at the Fundy boat launch, thinking on this dreary day it would be quiet. Wrong. The lot was practically full! Those anglers and boaters are hardy folk! As we set out, there was a fine mist, but not really raining. We started on the Fundy Trail, which crossed the cove and headed along a snowmobile corridor. Wide and smooth. Before long the heavens opened and it started pouring. We put on our hoods and kept going. It was actually fun walking in the rain! We took a right onto Shaw Trail, which has a warning about inexperienced hikers and not relying on phones for navigation. I had seen the other end of Shaw Trail a few months ago with a similar sign and wondered what made this trail tricky. We didn't find it difficult at all, though there were definitely a couple times we had to stop and look around for the next blaze, and I had zero cell service in that area, so I can certainly see the need to warn people to be prepared. There are an amazing number of huge boulders in this area which are super cool to explore around. Had it not been raining we would have taken more time to do so, but we kept moving for the most part. We took a left onto Split Rock Trail, which definitely lived up to its name, then continued onto Woronoco Trail and finally back to Fundy creating a lollipop route. There were no scenic views or anything outstanding on these trails, just the amazing glacial erratics and some really cool trees in funky shapes and sizes. The rain and low clouds created an almost enchanted forest feel about our adventure and not surprisingly we saw no one else all day. I now just have a few fill in the blank areas on trails I need to finish and 1 entire trail, and I'll be complete for Pawtuckaway State Park. 

Strava Activity