I thought I was going to be done with Bear Brook State Park after this hike.. turns out there are 3 small trails right on the edge of the park that I missed, so I'm > < close to being done. I was on a time crunch again today and weather was forecast to be sweaty again.. so back to Bear Brook. Theme of the Winter/Spring! I still can't get over how different it all looks from season to season! Definitely makes it a little less monotonous for sure. I parked in the Hiker/Biker lot on Podunk Road. Today I started on Squirrel Trail which begins right at the gate. Built for the bikes, it twists and turns and is super smooth for most of the way. I actually like trails like that from time to time, it gives you the chance to look up and around a little more without being as worried about tripping on rocks and roots. By looking up, I saw a most unusual artifact off trail. I'm still not even sure what it was, best I can describe is a rocket ship. I'll have to see if I can find any information about it at some point. Once I met up with Salt Lick Trail, I took another built for bikes trail called Moose Trail, which also twisted and turned and made its way down to Bobcat Trail. From here I picked up Podunk Road and walked around to Bear Hill Trail. It started to get buggy from here. The park is open now as well, so road walking takes a little extra care. Bear Hill Trail was relocated last year due to the fragile ecologic environment on the summit (I think they're referring to the super large ant hills!) so now the trail follows the side of the hill and weaves its way down to Ferret Trail. You can see Podunk Road off and on and there is a cutoff down to the road at one point near the relocated section. Bear Hill Trail was damp and buggy today. At the Ferret Trail intersection, take a left onto Ferret and just a few yards down, Bear Hill Trail continues off to the right through an open field and back into the woods continuing down to the road leading to Bear Hill cabins. Turning left on this road and continuing a few hundred feet, the trail again continues a short distance to Hall Mountain Marsh Trail. Both of these are unmarked, but clearly visible. I followed Hall Mountain Marsh Trail back out to Podunk Road and walked Podunk back to Ferret Trail. Retracing my steps (but in reverse) I took Ferret, made a quick stop at the Bear Hill Pond spur to check out the pond again, and continued back to Hedgehog Ledge Trail where I had been a few weeks ago. Again, with the change in season, it looked totally different as all the green had filled in and the boulder section wasn't quite as impressive. Beyond the boulders it got quite wet and muddy, but you could skooch around the sides without getting too mucky. This time when I reached the Hedgehog Trail connector, I stayed on the Ledge trail, which climbed up and back up to Bear Hill Trail. Near the start of Bear Hill Trail there was some pink flagging which marked the connector over to Hedgehog Trail. Crossing Hedgehog Trail, the trail weaves around and back for a short while meeting back up with Podunk Road. Most of the trails I was on today were designed for mountain bikes, so pretty easy going and cruisy. I took Podunk Road all the way back to my car.

it's a rare glove tree!

interesting artifacts along Moose Trail

the "rocket ship" artifacts

where Bear Hill Trail was relocated

Bear Hill Pond

where Bear Hill Trail continues to Hedgehog Trail

crossing Hedgehog Trail

Bear Hill Trail off Podunk Road

along Podunk Road

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Bear Brook - Pitch Pine & Camp Trail

It was forecast to be a scorcher today. Plus I had a commitment I needed to be back for in the afternoon. Back to Bear Brook. I knew it would be sheltered most of the way and would hopefully help protect me from the sun a bit. Today I decided to finish off Pitch Pine, Camp and Broken Boulder Trails. I parked at the Hiker/Biker lot on Podunk Road. Today I picked up a new map from the toll booth office as well, which had me realize there are 3 additional short trails I will need, that I hadn't planned on, so instead of this being the second last hike, it will be my 3rd last. I started on Camp Trail and quickly turned onto Pitch Pine, retracing my steps from over the Winter. I was amazed at just how different it looks from season to season. I was also pleasantly surprised at the lack of bugs, which I was anticipating on a hot Spring day! I reached the Archery Pond and found a few early anglers settled in for the day. I continued on Pitch Pine grabbing the last section I needed on this trail, having been here and there over it several times. When I reached the Camp Trail intersection that is right near Lower Campground Road, I turned onto that. I needed the last mile on Camp Trail down to the campground. This trail is primarily used as a snowmobile trail, so it is nice and wide and gentle. The bugs however decided to come out and play on this section. I passed a few bikes and made good time to the campground, despite constantly swatting. I made use of the facilities and was thankful for running water to splash my face of the sweat/salt I had accumulated in the high 80 degree temps. The campground was buzzing (with campers and bugs), I walked through and down to peek at the pond before heading back. This time I decided to road walk back to my intersection with Pitch Pine, rather than go back on Camp Trail. Hoping to find less bugs (I didn't) but able to make better time on the smoother road surface. I turned left onto Pitch Pine and made it to Broken Boulder in much quicker time than my last visit that was an icy, slushy mess. I decided to go back to the Smith Pond Shelter to see if I could get a better look at the pond itself, but found it occupied with campers who had taken over the area with tents/hammocks etc, so I didn't disturb them and turned back. I finished the section I needed on Broken Boulder, headed back to the Archery Pond on Pitch Pine and road walked back to the car anxiously thinking about the air conditioning on my drive home.

Strava Activity

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Birch Ridge Community Forest

After yesterday's adventure, I wanted something a little more low key and closer to home. Birch Ridge Community Forest is briefly mentioned in the AMC South Trail Guide and initially I had decided not to hike there as it seemed to still be under development by SELT. I have really enjoyed SELT properties in the past, so I figured I'd wait till it was complete. In continuing to look at trip reports and any information I could find, it seemed that SELT had done all they were going to do, so I decided it was maybe time to go check it out. I've heard the area is rough with a lot of logging slash and debris. I parked at the Rattlesnake Mountain parking area, which I was amazed to see was huge. So many cars could fit here, alas today it was just me and would stay that way the entire morning. Many of the trails follow snowmobile corridors or logging roads. From the parking area, the trail (road) follows the side of the slope through the logged area. This is the worst of the slash/debris in the area that I was in. I reached the intersection with the branch to Rattlesnake Mountain and was pleasantly surprised to see it became more "trail" rather than road. All the prior clearing and logging has left the whole area feel very open and bright, which helps the dreary feel of the surrounds with all the mess. The branch up to Rattlesnake Mountain climbs and switchbacks moderately over the summit (the true summit is a few feet off trail on an unmarked rock). The maps all indicate that this trail ends just after the summit, but I found the blazes kept going, heading down and ended up intersecting Corridor 22 snowmobile trail (which is marked in yellow and on the SELT map). Thankfully I had a copy of the map downloaded, so I knew this would meet up with Lake Trail a little ways along, which I had also planned on hiking today. The snowmobile corridor was wide and thankfully not overgrown, in fact it was mostly gravel. At Lake Trail, I took a left and followed back to the intersection with Mt Eleanor Trail and the connector back to the Rattlesnake Mountain intersection. I took a right here towards Mt Eleanor. Back on an actual trail, I really enjoyed the climb up to the summit, although it was along this section the little black flies decided to come out and play, completely ruining the mood, although motivating me to keep moving! I took a little side path that could be seen up to a rock that had peakaboo views over Merrymeeting Lake. The summit of Mt Eleanor has no views, but a peanut butter jar cannister was hanging from a tree. I went to sign in, but found the jar full of water and bugs, so took a picture and will call that my entry instead. Continuing over the summit, the trail switchbacks down to meet up with Corridor 22 again, just few hundred feet from the Lake Trail intersection. Lake Trail is also a snowmobile corridor, so wide and gravelly. I followed all the way to the end at S Shore Road and was surprised to see a small parking area, as it's not marked on the map, so I'm not sure if parking is allowed here for these trails. I backtracked to the 4 way intersection with Mt Eleanor Trail and this time took the connector trail back to Rattlesnake Mountain and down the trail/road back to my car. Not the prettiest of hikes, but also not the worst. There are more trails in Birch Ridge Community Forest, but they are accessed off another road, and I will save for another day.

Strava Activity