The weather called for a gorgeous day, so Vanessa, Henry and I set out for some more redlining/peakbagging in the Belknaps. This will be "home" for a while. We have patches to earn, the trails are in fantastic shape.. and most importantly, it is a place we can hike several miles with fantastic views in between school hours! This time we took 2 cars and spotted 1 at the bottom of the Carriage Road in Gilford. We then drove over to the trailhead of Whiteface Mountain and geared up to start. I hadn't been up Whiteface in 2 years. Once you find the trailhead (it is between 2 houses, so can be a bit tricky to find).. it is a moderate climb up, but once you reach the summit you are rewarded with some pretty views over the lake and back to Piper Mountain. It's a wide open summit (a snowmobile/ATV trail is actually the latter half of the hiking trail so it is a fairly well used area in all seasons). On our way we had passed the trailhead for Mt Major and there were a lot of cars and several school buses already there.. we passed no one and had the summit to ourselves. I love that. After a quick break, we headed back down to the junction with the Piper-Whiteface Link Trail, which I needed for redlining and started up towards Piper. This was a bit steeper. I love Piper Mountain as the summit area is huge, so should it get crowded (which it wasn't, we had it to ourselves) there are plenty of areas to tuck away and enjoy the views in peace. We had lunch and enjoyed the warmth of the sun for a while before heading back down Old Piper Trail to the White Trail and down the Carriage Road back to the car. 2 more peaks for Vanessa and Henry and 2 more trail completions for me.

Strava Activity

Whiteface Mountain trailhead on Belknap Mountain Road

junction with Piper-Whiteface Link trail

Henry heading up the Whiteface Mountain Trail

Whiteface Mountain summit

Whiteface Mountain Summit

Vanessa & Henry on Whiteface Mountain

Henry scouting our next stop - looking at Piper Mountain

Whiteface Mountain Trail

back at the junction, now taking Piper Whiteface Link

Piper Whiteface Link Trail

views along the Piper Whiteface Link Trail

Piper (South) summit is around here somewhere

Piper Mountain (North summit)

looking back down the Piper Whiteface Link trail

enjoying the warm sun while we eat lunch

Old Piper Trail

views along the Old Piper Trail

looking at Belknap Mountain from Old Piper Trail

looking over to Belknap Mountain from Old Piper Trail

back at Old Piper Trail and White Trail junction

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Straightback & Anna

Today was an incredible day to be outside. I'm so glad Vanessa (and Henry her chocolate lab) and I were able to take advantage of that. More redlining in the Belknaps. It was quite the adventure. I had read all the trail reports I could find, which I tend to do when exploring somewhere new. I knew some of the trail was unmarked, but supposedly easy enough to follow and find. We parked in the small turnout I had read about at the end of Alton Mountain Road. Found the split in the rock wall I had also read about, and the field of scarecrows. At this point, I had anticipated taking a right onto Old Stage Road for 0.5 miles before Blueberry Pasture Trail (the unmarked one, essentially a snowmobile trail) ventured left. We turned right and quickly ended up back almost where we started on Alton Mountain Road. So that wasn't right. We turned back to the scarecrow field, and went in the other direction. I kept my eye on the GPS knowing the Blueberry Pasture Trail was unmarked, but that it was 0.5 miles down the road. We hit the 0.5 mile mark, and there was no indication of a left that we could see. We obviously inadvertently went left without really realizing it.. at this point we knew we were on a snowmobile trail, and could see the direction we needed to be going. This "trail" we were on was heading up and in that general direction.. so our thought process was, OK we'll just follow it.. see where it goes, and bushwhack if we have to. I have a topo map app on my phone which we used to verify we were at least in the right vicinity.. a couple of times we hit what we thought might be junctions and questioned which way to go.. but again, my thought process was, well we are on a very obvious snowmobile trail.. it's going to go somewhere, let's just stay on this.. and wouldn't you know it, 1.7 miles in and we hit the next intended intersection with the Straightback Mountain Trail. We had been on the Blueberry Pasture Trail all along, and just didn't realize it. There was a tree with some small signs that verified this also. I had made peace with possibly not being on Blueberry Pasture Trail, and just making it up to Straightback however possible.. but it was a very welcome relief to know we had been on the right path all along! The ledges opened up, the views were incredible and we followed Straightback Mountain Trail the 0.5 miles up to the summit. It was a bit chilly up there, but really quite a gorgeous day. After a quick snack, we headed over the Straightback-Anna Trail (also the Belknap Range Trail) towards Anna Mountain. There was another redlining party there with some Springer spaniels that Henry made friends with until they got a bit feisty. I knew the Anna-Goat Pasture Trail was blazed red, so we headed out on the "red trail" until Vanessa pointed out that it didn't seem we were headed in the right direction. After pulling out the maps, I looked back at a picture I had just taken on the Anna summit and did realize that it appeared we had taken the trail heading for Belknap. So we backtracked (thankfully we hadn't really gone too far) to the Anna summit where the redlining party still was and they pointed us in the correct direction.. also blazed red, but opposite where we had been headed. Whoops! The Anna-Goat Pasture Trail is very well blazed and easy to follow.. but clearly not well used. The leaf bed is thick and was at times slippery.. also a couple of quite steep descents at times.. but we made it without incident. At the bottom of the Anna-Goat Pasture Trail, I knew we had to follow Old Stage Road back to the car.. this time we did encounter a couple of forks and things we were not anticipating.. but luckily another hiker was coming down one of the forks and was able to confirm which direction we needed to go as she was parked in the same little lot we were! 2 more Belknap peaks for Vanessa and 2 new trails for me and my redlining. I'm now at 56% on trail completion.

Strava Activity

A friendly welcome?!

That moment you realize you were in fact on the right trail all along!

What I am pointing at in the previous picture

Looking back down the Blueberry Pasture Trail we had just ascended

Looking down the Straightback Mountain Trail

views from Straightback summit

Henry on Straightback

Vanessa and Henry on Straightback

me and Henry on Straightback

Intersection of Quarry and Anna-Straightback Trail.

Vanessa captured this moment as I was completing a little boulder scramble

coming along the Straightback-Anna Trail (also Belknap Range Trail)

Henry on Anna

Vanessa and Henry on Anna

An old cellar hole at the bottom of the Anna-Goat Pasture Trail

The BRATTS organization does a wonderful job maintaining these trails! Thank you!

Looking back at where we had been. Gorgeous.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Belknap Mountain

Today's plans changed last minute.. which is totally fine. So I figured I would work on my redlining of the Belknap Region. It's been snowing/raining off and on all week, so I was a bit hesitant on which trails to tackle for fear of ice. I knew it wouldn't be completely awful, but I also know there is quite a bit of rock ledge on some of those trails, so even minimal ice can be tricky. I decided on Belknap Mountain ascending via the Blue Trail and descending via the White Trail. This would complete my redlining of the trails that actually take you directly to the Belknap summit. I had read in a recent trail report that the gate on Carriage Road was closed, and likely to remain that way indefinitely as there is a dispute over some contracts with the gatekeeper volunteers.. I was bummed as I had hoped the gate would be open and I could park in the upper Carriage Road parking area. The road walk isn't my favorite. Upon arrival, the gate was in fact closed. So, I got myself ready and headed on up the road. Ironically, 2 electrical contractor trucks went through the gate and drove up. I briefly considered sticking my thumb out and hitching a ride ;) There were a lot of busy brooks and cascades along the road which made it pleasant. All the rain lately has made these very active. Finally reached the parking area and headed for the little 0.1 mile trail called Wayne's Way, which takes you from the parking lot to a lovely overlook.. Ideal for those folks who don't want to hike for some gorgeous views! I then headed for the Blue Trail and was met with lots (and lots) of mud and water and leaves and general muck. I had expected this and wore my Winter hiking boots as I knew my feet would stay dry even if I had to trek through some water.. which I did.. and they did! I ascended the Blue Trail up to the junction with the Saddle Trail and Overlook Trail, took the right and kept on the Blue Trail up to the summit of Belknap. I wasn't going to climb the fire tower as it was fairly breezy.. but I did and was thankful as the views were quite clear. I then descended via the White Trail which I really enjoyed.. a nice combination of woods and rock ledges. I started to get a bit too confident with my pace and took a nice slide down one of said rock ledges.. that always seems to happen in slow motion, I felt it happen the moment I put my foot down. I landed on my butt, which is well padded so nothing worse for wear. I then cautiously continued and passed a gorgeous overlook, particularly of Piper Mountain. Made it back to the Carriage Road and continued back to my car. I'm now 52% complete on my redlining. I shall now think of it as "the home stretch"!

Strava Activity