I had surgery a week and a half ago, so I'm restricted on what I can do for the moment. I was getting cabin fever so decided after a follow up Dr appointment to go visit Sandy Point, which is featured in the AMC South Trail Guide (and yes on my redlining spreadsheet). The trails are essentially on the property of Great Bay Discovery Center. The area is open dawn-dusk. Trails begin either at the far end of the playground/picnic area or behind the main Discovery Center building. I headed for the entrance behind the building. There are 2 short trails. They both start together on dirt which soon becomes a boardwalk that lasts the entire distance of the main trail, ending in a lollipop at the end. The Woodland Trail branches off and heads into the woods for a couple tenths of a mile. It really is a very pretty area and I would have loved to have taken more time to read the informational plaques along the way... but I was getting pummelled (and I mean massacred) by mosquitoes, so I kept moving at as a brisk a pace as I could. The area is popular for school field trips. Just as the Woodland Trail starts is a traditional teepee set up, which I imagine is part of the field trip fun. The other point of interest on the Woodland Trail is a giant tree with a plaque denoting it's victory in the NH Big Tree contest! The Woodland Trail ends at a sign indicating "End of Trail". The lollipop on the main trail follows the water line of Great Bay with lovely views and several wildlife viewing opportunities. Along the main trail, I noticed an unmarked trail, which I followed. This ended up being the trail from the playground. There is also a small switchback section behind the Discovery Center that allows wheelchair/stroller access. Once back at the start, I wandered down to the waterfront where there were kayaks stored, not sure if they are for the Discovery Center or not and a little entry area for the water. Short and sweet (in spite of the mosquitoes). A lovely area to explore!

Adams Point

Back on Great Bay, but now the other side of the bay, my coworker Stacey, her pup Zorro and I decided to take a Saturday stroll around Adams Point at the Great Bay Estuarine Center in Durham. More redlining for me and Zorro's first adventure on a trail. The worst part about today was the humidity. We were both soaked, thankfully a breeze caught us every now and again off the water which made it tolerable. Another quiet area, though we did see a couple groups of people. An informal network of trails follow the perimeter of the point with some intersecting trails that I'm sure were made by people looking for the quickest way possible to the water. It was a little confusing, though I imagine difficult to really get lost as everything eventually either ended up at the water or looped back around to the parking area. We tried to follow the perimeter trail as best we could. The area closest to the "mainland" was a little more rustic and rooty, whereas the trail following the tip of the point was smooth and flat. For such a small area, it was interesting to have a variety of terrain also. From a true woods feel to green fields with lots of wildflowers to an almost beachy feel. All packed into basically 1.5-2 miles depending on how far you went! Several staircases led right down to the water and I have since read oyster shucking is a popular activity. The true "point" had a couple unique benches and an area big enough for a nice picnic if you wanted. There was a public boat launch area just down the road from the trail kiosk and as we left it was packed with cars. I had no idea this place even existed! Right in my backyard practically.

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Family memorial to the Adams family, original settlers of the area

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Plymouth Mountain via Plymouth Mountain Trail

My scheduled surgery was bumped a week, so I wanted to take advantage of the bonus day and get out and knock off some redlining. I chose Plymouth Mountain as I had previously been there over Winter and had wanted to come back when all the snow would be gone. You can access Plymouth Mountain from each side, the Fauver Link and Sutherland Trails that I did in December and Plymouth Mountain Trail, which I did today. I had read that the Plymouth Mountain Trail was a little rustic as it had previously been abandoned but some trail work had begun over the past 12 months. My biggest concern had been in finding the trail at all as it is not marked at the beginning. I was able to download a .gpx file from a fellow hiker, and I'm super glad I did. I'm assuming I would have figured it out eventually, but I was grateful for the tracks to be sure. The trail begins at the end of the public portion of Pike Hill Rd in Hebron off Route 3A. Google Maps makes it appear this is a through road, but I encountered a Private sign just after the trailhead. There is no official parking, but there were 2 areas (one on each side) that could cater a couple of cars. I parked in the spot on the left, alongside a brook. To find the actual trailhead, look for the hairpin turn to the left, and the private sign just after. The trail goes off to the right at the bend. Due to the all the rain we've had recently, the start was rather wet and muddy. It begins in conjunction with a snowmobile corridor but at a point where the snowmobile trail veers left (there was an arrow sign on a tree), look right and there is an obvious trail heading off into the long grass (at least in August it was long grass). The trail descends slightly, crosses a brook and it wasn't until after that I finally saw an old Camp Mowgli sign pinned on a tree letting me know I was on the correct trail. It wasn't overly difficult to follow, but there were a couple of places where old roads or even the brook itself seemed like the trail and without the tracks I was following online, I would have found it a bit trickier to navigate. Once past the first Camp Mowgli sign, it was marked almost the rest of the way to the summit, sometimes you just had to look around a bit to see the next one. The lower portion of this trail as it followed the brook was wet and muddy and quite buggy, which wasn't super pleasant. The climb was mostly gradual and once above the brook, became drier, though leafier. Finally near the top the trail turned to pine forest and was my favorite. I didn't see a single soul the whole day and despite it being really humid, it was so peaceful and quiet, even the bugs didn't bother me a whole lot. There were a couple of rock scrambly type sections near the summit. These were short and nothing treacherous. I reached the wooded summit and continued over and down on the Sutherland Trail where I had been in the Winter. This section had more short rock scrambles, and about 0.3 miles later an unofficial (though mentioned in the AMC Guide Book) path heads to the right and the East Cliffs overlook. This is not marked, and I probably wouldn't seen it to know it existed had it not been for the guide book, plus a general idea of where it was having seen the path broken out over the Winter, and most importantly the online tracks I was following. There are a few cairns just as the trail starts if you're looking and then the path becomes obvious and easy to follow all the way to the view spot. Unfortunately today it was very hazy, so not a tremendous view, but it would be well worth the extra if you were up there on a clear day. I backtracked the way I came up and was back to the car in decent time. This completed the Plymouth Mountain trails for redlining the AMC South Guide Book for me.

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